1893 |
Lost to Time: The Inventions of Prof. Archibald Balthazar Campion |
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| September 6 Hawaii Deposed Queen Lili‘uokalani released from prison with help from Campion November 28 Chicago-Evanston First car race in U.S. BP runs special race w/one car 1896 February Morocco March-April Egypt BP invited to demo for Italian govt. in Ethiopia. Campion & BP arrive too late, after Battle of Adua/Adowa (March 1, 1896), in which Italian forces were decisively defeated. Geological Survey of Egypt Campion & BP join the Geological Survey – archaeological dig of Pharaoh Pioupi I. May-December Sudan BP helps build railroads for Kitchener but doesn’t see combat. 1897 January-May Sudan July-December Klondike - Gold Rush Campion lives with Eskimos Jack London writes about BP 1898 January-March Klondike May-September Cuba Spanish-American War BP charges up San Juan Hill (July 1) 1899 February-December Philippines BP in combat Archie & Lily travel in Asia 1900 July-August China Boxer Rebellion – Lily caught up in attacks on foreign compounds Archie collects BP from Philippines; they rescue Lily They see the Great Wall on their way to port as they leave September-December The Campions travel to Australia w/Frank Reade for vacation and to celebrate New Year in a new country 1901 January 1 Australia Commonwealth of Australia becomes official Lily hooks up w/Aussie suffragettes March-July Paris March 17: showing of 71 van Gogh paintings, 11 years after his death, creates a sensation. June 24: 19-year-old Picasso has his first exhibit in Paris. BP rides the new Metro (first line opened in 1900) September Washington, DC T.R. becomes prez after McKinley is assassinated. Invites BP and Campion to White House. 1902 June 15 New York The New York Central railroad inaugurates the 20th Century Limited passenger train between Chicago and New York City. BP makes appearance at launch party. Rides train from NYC to Chicago. November Southwest – New Mexico BP and Apache December 28 San Francisco BP at the Cliff House The cableship Silverton linked the cable from Sans Souci beach at Waikiki to San Francisco. 1903 July 3 Gettysburg 40th anniversary of battle September-January 1904 Japan BP & Campion travel w/scientific delegation 1904 February-January 1905 China Russo-Jap War – Port Arthur under siege until January 2, 1905 Campion and Boilerplate observe the conflict 1905 July Japan Meet up with Lily, Alice Roosevelt, and W.H. Taft September New Hampshire Treaty of Portsmouth signed, officially ending Russo-Japanese War. Mediated by T.R. 1906 February Washington, D.C. Alice Roosevelt marries Ohio Congressman Nicholas Longworth in a magnificent White House ceremony. April-July San Francisco earthquake BP helps with cleanup and restoration November Panama Canal BP with T.R. & wife visit canal - first president to travel outside the country while in office 1907 March-November Chicago BP as cop – too honest Hinky Dink & Bathhouse; Levee district; First Ward ball (Dec. 14) December Virginia Great White Fleet departs on first circumnavigation of the globe by a national naval force 1908 January-February 1909 Great White Fleet on tour USS Illinois – top-secret fuel cell experiment w/Fullerton 1909 February 22 Virginia Great White Fleet returns March New York Theodore Roosevelt leaves for a post-presidency safari in Africa, sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society. Campion and BP see him off. April-May Chicago BP at Essanay Motion Picture Studio June Seattle Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (June-Oct. 16) September-October Gulf Coast Cleanup in Louisiana and Mississippi after big hurricane December New York Manhattan Bridge opens 1910 April Connecticut Visit Mark Twain just before he dies. Halley’s comet returns. June Germany First commercial flight of Zeppelin passenger airship. October England Campion learns about Balkan Wars and fragile political situation, foresees WWI. 1911 March 19 Copenhagen, Denmark International Women’s Day is celebrated for the first time. May 23 New York Dedication ceremony for the New York Public Library. June-September Travel with Lewis Hine – child labor photos October-November Belgium First Solvay Congress - meeting of physicists. 1912 March France French aviator Henri Seimet makes the first non-stop flight from Paris to London in three hours April England April 16 - Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly across the English Channel. April 17 - Solar eclipse in Europe. May Sweden The 1912 Summer Olympics open in Stockholm, Sweden. BP competes in exhibition match w/ Jim Thorpe July Arizona A meteorite with an estimated mass of 190 kg explodes over the town of Holbrook in Navajo County, Arizona, causing thousands of pieces of debris to rain down on the town. Campion goes to investigate/collect pieces. BP helps clean up. August Chicago Dissident Republicans form the Progressive or Bull Moose Party, and nominate former President Theodore Roosevelt as their presidential candidate after the Republican Party snubs him. BP as icon of progress October Wisconsin While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, former president Theodore Roosevelt is shot by saloonkeeper John Schrank. BP tries to intervene and protect TR, but doesn’t make it in time. With a fresh flesh wound and the bullet still in him, Roosevelt delivers his scheduled speech. November 5 - U.S. presidential election. Democratic challenger Woodrow Wilson wins a landslide victory over Republican incumbent William Howard Taft. T.R. finishes second, ahead of Taft. Eugene Debs gets a million votes. 1913 February New York - Grand Central Terminal opens as the world’s largest train station. - The Armory Show opens. It displays works of artists who are to become some of the most influential painters of the early 20th century. There’s a small section of BP-related works. March Washington, D.C. March 3: Suffrage march. Ohio March 25: Two days of rain in the Miami Valley flood the region and mark the worst natural disaster in Ohio’s recorded history. BP helps with rescue and cleanup. May-January 1914 London - May 30: First Balkan War officially ends. Second Balkan War begins in June. Campion despairs. Pitches BP to Kitchener, now U.K. Minister of War. - June 4: Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of the king’s horse, Anmer, at the Epsom Derby. She is trampled and dies a few days later, never having regained consciousness. 1914 June Hamburg, Germany Travel on the Imperator from Hamburg to NYC, with T.R. Houdinis’ wedding anniversary. WORLD WAR I BEGINS - June 28: Archduke Ferdinand is assassinated. - July 28: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia and bombards Belgrade with artillery on July 29. On July 30, both Austria-Hungary and Russia order general mobilizations of their armies. Archie goes to D.C. 1915 February-June Washington, D.C. – Archie helps found NACA, the predecessor of NASA • May 9: National suffrage demonstration. • May 7: WWI - The RMS Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat, killing 1,198. • June 9: U.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigns. August-September Hawaii BP helps raise the sunken F-4 submarine, the U.S. Navy’s first sub disaster (sank on March 25). 1916 January-February England Birth of the tank. The 30-ton “Big Willie” tank, together with the prototype “Little Willie,” undergoes trials on 29 January and 2 February. Attendees at the second trial include Lord Kitchener and Campion. Archie tries to sell Kitchener, now U.K. Minister of War, on mechanical soldiers. March-April Mexico Boilerplate joins Pershing on punitive expedition against Pancho Villa. November Montana With Lily’s help, Republican Jeanette Rankin of Montana becomes the first woman elected to the United States House of Representatives. (Women got the vote in Montana in 1914.) 1917 January London Archie and BP help British cryptographers decipher a telegram from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German Minister to Mexico, von Eckhardt, offering United States territory to Mexico in return for joining the German cause. February-April Washington, D.C.? The British wait until February 24 to present the telegram to U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom Walter H. Page. The American press publishes news of the telegram on March 1. It has such an impact on American opinion that it helps draw the United States into the war. Campion tries in vain to sell Wilson and the War Department on mechanical soldiers. • April 6: The United States Congress formally declares war on Germany. • June: The first American troops arrive in Europe. June-July Arabia Churchill invites BP to join the British military campaign against the Turks and help Lawrence blow up railroads July 6: BP and Arabian troops led by T.E. Lawrence capture Aqaba from the Turks. October-December Palestine • October 31-November 7: Third Battle of Gaza - Brit forces capture Gaza from the Ottoman Empire. • November 16: British troops occupy Tel Aviv and Jaffa in Palestine. • December 11: BP and British troops take Jerusalem from the troops of the Ottoman Empire. 1918 January-October France • March 21: Second Battle of the Somme begins • March 23: The giant German cannon, the Paris Gun, begins to shell Paris from 114 km (75 miles) away. Boilerplate is called in to spike the guns. • June 1-26: BP fights in the Battle for Belleau Wood, with the 2nd and 3rd Divisions of the U.S. Army. • July: Second Battle of the Marne. The disastrous German defeat led to the cancellation of General Erich Ludendorff’s planned invasion of Flanders and was the first step in a series of Allied victories that ended the war. • August 8: Battle of Amiens. Opening phase of the Hundred Days Offensive, which ultimately led to the end of World War I. Ludendorff would later describe the first day of the battle as “the black day of the German Army.” • September: BP fights in St. Mihiel campaign (starts 9/12). Pershing commands the American First Army, seven divisions and 500,000+ men, in the largest offensive operation ever undertaken by U.S. armed forces. • October: BP fights in Meuse-Argonne campaign (9/26-11/11); Pershing commands more than a million American and French soldiers. • October 7: BOILERPLATE VANISHES WITHOUT A TRACE |
Brief references to Boilerplate in text: The Explorers Henry Gruppe (Time-Life Books, 1979). The Rough Riders Theodore Roosevelt (Scribners, 1899). Dispatches from Cuba Stephen Crane (Hearst Publishing, 1899). Exciting Experiences in the Japanese-Russian War Marshall Everett (Neil Publishing, 1904). The Lost Squadron Don Lawson (Parcel Press, 1962). Blackjack and Pancho: General Pershing's Punitive Expedition Against General Villa Richard Fullerton and George Monroe (Strategy Publishing, 1991). Fire and Blood: A Modern Chronicle of Mexico T.R. Fehrenbach (Macmillan Publishing, 1973). One or two photos of Boilerplate: A Photographic History of the World's Fair James Wilson Pierce (R.H. Woodward & Co., 1893). The Chicago World's Fair of 1893 Stanley Appelbaum (Dover Publications, 1980). Chicago at the Turn of the Century in Photographs Larry Viskochil (Dover Publications, 1984). American Labor M.B. Schnapper (Public Affairs Press, 1975). What George Wore and Sally Didn't: Surprising Stories from America's Past Rosemary Adams (Chicago Historical Society, 1998).
Scientific discoveries in the century preceding Boilerplate's construction 1789 - Uranium 1794 - Ball bearings 1795 - Hydraulics 1800 - Infrared; metal submarine 1803 - Spray gun 1805 - Amphibious vehicle 1806 - Carbon paper 1807 - Gas-drven automobile 1814 - Steam locomotive 1820 - Electromagnetism 1821 - Electric motor 1825 - Binoculars 1826 - Gas stove 1827 - Microphone; water turbine; aluminum 1828 - Differential gear; stethoscope 1833 - Differential calculating machine 1835 - Automatic revolver 1837 - Daguerreotype; telegraph; Morse code 1839 - Vulcanization of rubber; fuel cell; protoplasm 1841 - Incandescent lamp 1842 - Ether 1847 - Nitroglycerine; chloroform 1851 - Flash photography 1852 - Steam-powered airship; piloted glider; microfilm 1853 - Hypodermic syringe 1855 - Stopwatch; safety match 1858 - Cell-replication theory 1859 - Darwin’s evolution theory; cathode rays; internal combustion engine 1860 - Linoleum; snap buttons 1861 - Pneumatic drill 1862 - Machine gun 1863 - T.N.T. 1864 - Electromagnetic wave transmission 1865 - Genetics; electric arc-welding; reinforced concrete 1866 - Transatlantic cable 1867 - Bicycle; typewriter 1868 - Stapler; plywood; margarine 1869 - Color photography; celluloid 1875 - Mimeograph 1876 - Telephone; refrigerator 1877 - Phonograph; liquid oxygen; switchboard 1878 - Cathode-ray tube; electric alternator; carbon filament 1879 - Incandescent bulb; arc lighting; cash register; saccharine 1880 - Roll film; hearing aid 1881 - Telephotography (fax); rechargeable battery 1884 - Steam turbine 1887 - Mach scale; contact lens 1888 - Data-processing computer; alternating-current motor; monorail 1890 - Motion pictures; electric subway train 1891 - Electric motorcar; silicone; flashlight; zipper 1893 - Photoelectric cell; diesel engine; electric toaster 1894 - Helium; escalator 1895 - X-rays; wireless telegraph; motorcycle 1896 - Electrons; radioactivity 1898 - Neon; krypton 1899 - Aspirin All contents copyright 2000, 2010 Paul Guinan. Boilerplate, Archibald Campion, and all related marks and indicia are trademarks of Paul Guinan. guinan@bigredhair.com |
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