Events January–March January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America. Mark Twain started writing Puddn'head Wilson. January 6 – The Washington National Cathedral is chartered by Congress; the charter is signed by President Benjamin Harrison. January 13 The Independent Labour Party of the United Kingdom has its first meeting. U.S. Marines from the USS Boston land in Honolulu, Hawaii, to prevent the queen from abrogating the Bayonet Constitution. January 15 – The Telefon Hírmondó service starts with around 60 subscribers, in Budapest. January 17 – Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii: Lorrin A. Thurston and the Citizen's Committee of Public Safety in Hawaii, with the intervention of the United States Marine Corps, overthrow the government of Queen Liliuokalani. January 21 The Cherry Sisters first perform in Marion, Iowa. The Tati Concessions Land, formerly part of Matabeleland, is formally annexed to the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana. February 1 – Thomas Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio in West Orange, New Jersey. February 11–19 – White Star Line sinks without a trace in heavy seas on the Liverpool–New York transatlantic passage. February 23 – Rudolf Diesel receives a patent for the diesel engine. February 24 – American University is established by an Act of Congress, in Washington, D.C. February 28 – USS Indiana, the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to other nation's battleships of the time, is launched. March 4 – Grover Cleveland is sworn in as the 24th President of the United States. March 6 – The Liverpool Overhead Railway opened with 2-car electric multiple units, the first to operate in the world. March 10 – Ivory Coast becomes a French colony. March 20 – In Belgium, Adam Worth is sentenced to 7 years for robbery (he is released in 1897). April–June April 1 – The rank of Chief Petty Officer is established in the United States Navy. April 6 – The iconic Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is dedicated, after 40 years of construction. April 8 – The first recorded college basketball game occurs in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, between the Geneva College Covenanters and the New Brighton YMCA. April 17 Belgian general strike of 1893: Riots erupt in Mons; the day after, the Belgian Parliament approves universal male suffrage. The Alpha Xi Delta Sorority is founded