Jan 5th A fire in Prescott, AZ destroys property worth $90,000
Jan 16th The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act with the goal of reforming the spoils system becomes law
Feb 1st The Liberty V nickel is placed into circulation. Some fraudsters plate it with gold to give the appearance of a $5 gold piece
Feb 28th The first vaudeville theatre is opened in Boston, MA
Mar 3rd Congress cuts the cost of first class postage to 2 cents per half ounce
Mar 24th Telephone service is put into operation between Chicago & New York
April Sitting Bull watches Annie Oakley perform in the Sells Brothers Circus. He's so impressed with her sharp shooting, he calls her 'Little Sure Shot'
May 1st The first National League baseball game is played (Philadelphia vs. Providence)
May 24th The Brooklyn Bridge opens after 13 years of construction
Jul 4th Buffalo Bill Cody presents a circus of cowboys , Indians, sharpshooters in Omaha, Nebraska which is a prototype of his Wild West show.
Nov 3rd Black Bart gets away with his last stagecoach robbery by leaving an incriminating handkerchief at his last holdup. A Wells Fargo detective will trace it to a San Francisco laundry.
Nov 17th Black Bart pleads guilty to the November 3rd stagecoach robbery & is sentenced to 6 years in prison.
Nov 18th For the first time, railroads agree to 4 standard time zones across the U.S.
Other
Depression of 1882-1885
Mark Twain publishes Life on the Mississippi, the first manuscript submitted with the aid of a typewriter
Robert Louis Stevenson publishes Treasure Island
Life magazine is established
Births
Jun 5th John Maynard Keynes (Economist)
Jul 29th Benito Mussolini (Italian Prime Minister)
