1908 Japanese general election, Electoral system
The 379 members of the House of Representatives were elected in 51 multi-member constituencies based on prefectures and cities. Voting was restricted to men aged over 25 who paid at least 10 yen a year in direct taxation.


1908 Kansas Jayhawks football team
The 1908 Kansas Jayhawks football team represented the University of Kansas in the Missouri Valley Conference during the 1908 college football season. In their fifth season under head coach A. R. Kennedy, the Jayhawks compiled a perfect 9–0 record (4–0 against conference opponents), shut out five of nine opponents, and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 131 to 20. The season is, as of 2018, the last season the Jayhawks finished undefeated without any ties. The Jayhawks have been undefeated four other seasons but in each season they tied in at least one game. The Jayhawks played their home games at McCook Field in Lawrence, Kansas. G. T. Crowell was the team captain. The Jayhawks were MVIAA champions, their first conference championship in program history.


1908 Kansas State Aggies football team
The 1908 Kansas State Aggies football team represented Kansas State Agricultural College (now Kansas State University) in the 1908 college football season. In their fourth year under head coach Mike Ahearn, the Aggies compiled a 6–2 record, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 182 to 74.


1908 Kansas gubernatorial election
The 1908 Kansas gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1908. Republican nominee Walter R. Stubbs defeated Democratic nominee Jeremiah D. Botkin with 52.49% of the vote.


1908 Kendall Orange and Black football team
The 1908 Kendall Orange and Black football team represented Henry Kendall College (later renamed the University of Tulsa) during the 1908 college football season. This was the first season that the institution was located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In its first season under head coach Sam P. McBirney, the team compiled a 2–3 record and outscored its opponents by a combined total of 80 to 43. The team played no intercollegiate football games. Four of its games were played against local high schools, and the fifth was against the Outrigger Canoe Club from Pawhuska, Oklahoma.


1908 Kentucky Derby
The 1908 Kentucky Derby was the 34th running of the Kentucky Derby. The race took place on May 5, 1908. Muddy track conditions made the winning time 2:15.20 the slowest Derby ever. The winner was 61-1 and marked the last (most recent) time that the winner lost his most recent race by 10 or more lengths.


1908 Kentucky State College Blue and White football team
The 1908 Kentucky State College Blue and White football team was an American football team that represented Kentucky State College (now known as the University of Kentucky) as an independent during the 1908 college football season. In its third season under head coach J. White Guyn, the team compiled a 4–3 record.


1908 Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship
The 1908 Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship was the 20th staging of the Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Kilkenny County Board.


1908 Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship
On 16 May 1909, Mooncoin won the championship after a 5-17 to 3-05 defeat of Threecastles in the final. This was their fourth championship title overall and their first in two championship seasons.


1908 Kincardineshire by-election
The Kincardineshire by-election, 1908 was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Kincardineshire on 25 April 1908. The seat had become vacant when the sitting Liberal Member of Parliament John Crombie died on 22 March 1908.


1908 Kincardineshire by-election
The election saw the picketing of polling stations by suffragettes protesting at the Liberal government's unwillingness to bring in votes for women.


1908 Kincardineshire by-election
The Liberal candidate, Arthur Cecil Murray won the seat in a straight fight with his Conservative opponent S J Gammell.


1908 LSU Tigers football team
The 1908 LSU Tigers football team represented the LSU Tigers of Louisiana State University during the 1908 college football season. The Tigers were coached by Edgar Wingard and posted a perfect 10–0 record, outscoring opponents 442 to 11. The team played its home games at State Field and competed as members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA).


1908 LSU Tigers football team
Triple threat quarterback Doc Fenton led the nation in points scored. The Tigers were retro-picked as co-national champion by the National Championship Foundation, and the NCAA recognizes LSU as national champion for that season along with Penn. However, LSU does not officially recognize this season as a national championship season.


1908 LSU Tigers football team
The season was clouded by accusations of professionalism by Grantland Rice and rival school Tulane. The SIAA conducted an investigation that cleared LSU of any wrongdoing, but since many publications voted for the SIAA champion prior to the conclusion of the investigation, they did not recognize LSU's title.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Before the season
In 1908, football used a one-platoon system, with players featuring on offense, defense, and special teams. Also, the field was 110 yards in length, touchdowns were worth 5 points, and field goals earned 4 points. The team that scored a touchdown had the option to kickoff or receive. The ball was also much fatter.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Before the season
The Tigers lost few players from the 1907 team and prospects were bright. Several members of the team came from Pennsylvania, including Doc Fenton, Mike Lally, John Seip, and coach Edgar Wingard. End Rowson "Little" Stovall and center Robert L. "Big" Stovall were brothers.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Before the season
Lally and Fenton had both previously played for Mansfield Normal School, and Lally was one of the best blockers for Fenton. One of Fenton's favorite plays was the "tackle over tackle" play. In this play, Fenton faked a handoff to a back, then gave the ball to a tackle and led the blocking behind the other tackle. "Doc was the hub," recalled captain and tackle Marshall 'Cap' Gandy, "and we were the spokes." Fenton earned the reputation of doing everything well with a football.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary
LSU opened the season with two warm-up games, one against the Young Men's Gymnastic Club and the other Jackson Barracks-New Orleans.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Y. M. G. C.
LSU beat Tad Gormley's Young Men's Gymnastic Club, winning 41–0.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Y. M. G. C.
The starting lineup was: Seip (left end), Gandy (left tackle),  Pollock (left guard), R. L. Stovall (center), Hillman (right guard), Noblett (right tackle), Fenton (right end), Gill (quarterback), Stovall (left halfback), C. Smith (right halfback), and Lally (fullback).


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Jackson Barracks-New Orleans
LSU swamped the Jackson Barracks-New Orleans 81–5. Fenton was switched to quarterback, swapping places at end with Reuben Gill. One account reads: "In Lally and Fenton the University has a pair that can hardly be equaled. In the game Fenton showed that he has lost none of his ability to dodge, his swiftness as a runner, his power as a punter and kicker, and his cool hard work. ... The two work splendidly together." The soldiers at Jackson Barracks made the only touchdown scored all season on the Tigers, when their halfback Culligan picked up a fumble and ran it back 105 yards. Captain Gandy once had a 40-yard touchdown, and Lally had one score of 60 yards.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Texas A&M
The Tigers beat the Texas A&M Aggies 26–0 at Pelican Park in New Orleans in the rain. The Aggies once ran the wrong way.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Texas A&M
The first scoring drive was highlighted by a 14-yard pass from Fenton to Little Stovall, and ended with a Stovall touchdown run around left end. On LSU's second scoring drive, Lally had  a 25-yard run, and Fenton eventually went around left end for the score. Before the half ended, Fenton kicked a 25-yard field goal from placement.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Texas A&M
LSU's next touchdown came on a fumble recovery by Willie Hillman. The final touchdown was the most exciting, as Mike Lally had a 40-yard touchdown run around right end.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Texas A&M
The starting lineup was: Gill (left end), Gandy (left tackle),  Pollock (left guard), Hillman (center), Thomas (right guard), Noblett (right tackle), Stovall (right end), Fenton (quarterback), C. Smith (left halfback), Lally (right halfback), and B. Smith (fullback).


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Southwestern Presbyterian
Southwestern Presbyterian (today known as Rhodes College) fell to LSU 55–0. SWPU did not make ten yards all day.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Southwestern Presbyterian
The starting lineup was: Stovall (left end), Gandy (left tackle),  Pollock (left guard), Hillman (center), Thomas (right guard), Noblett (right tackle), Gill (right end), Fenton (quarterback), C. Smith (left halfback), Lally (right halfback), and B. Smith (fullback).


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Auburn
Undefeated LSU met undefeated Auburn for the top spot in the SIAA at the Auburn athletic field. LSU won 10–2, the only game it did not win by more than 20 points.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Auburn
The first touchdown came on a run from John Seip. Later in the half, Auburn's T. C. Locke blocked an LSU punt which was recovered by Fenton behind his own goal for a safety. According to one source, Fenton was knocked unconscious by a spectator's cane as he tried to get out of the end zone. LSU made the second score using conventional football.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Auburn
"We won every game that fall except LSU," Auburn star Walker Reynolds told Clyde Bolton in 1973. "But LSU had a pro team."


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Auburn
The starting lineup was: Stovall (left end), Gandy (left tackle), Hillman (left guard), R. L. Stovall (center), Thomas (right guard), Noblett (right tackle), Seip (right end), Fenton (quarterback), Tally (left halfback), C. Smith (right halfback), and B. Smith (fullback).


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Mississippi A&M
LSU won easily over the Mississippi Aggies 50–0, using substitutes by the end of the game.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Mississippi A&M
The first score occurred after five and-a-half minutes had passed, Clarence Smith going through right tackle. LSU then scored a safety by tackling the Aggies punter. Seip then went around end for another touchdown. On the next drive, Seip went 20 yards on a cross play, Fenton hit Seip with a forward pass for 8 yards, and Bob Smith then scored on a trick play. Clarence Smith then got another touchdown, of 25 yards. The highlight of the game followed as Fenton had a 95-yard kick return for a touchdown.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Mississippi A&M
In the second half, Fenton went 30 yards for another touchdown on a return. Gill went around left end for another touchdown. Fenton went 40 yards for the next touchdown. The last touchdown came from Clarence Smith.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Mississippi A&M
The starting lineup was: Seip (left end), Gandy (left tackle), Hillman (left guard), R. L. Stovall (center), Pollock (right guard), Noblett (right tackle), Stovall (right end), Fenton (quarterback), C. Smith (left halfback), Lally (right halfback), and B. Smith (fullback).


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Baylor
The Tigers romped 89–0 over Baylor, the second highest score in school history. The highlight of the contest was Mike Lally's 105-yard return for a touchdown. Pat Ryan also had a 75-yard touchdown run.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Baylor
After the game, Baylor's coach Enoch J. Mills said: "You have, without any doubt, the strongest team in the South by far. The playing of your team here was something wonderful. We were simply badly beaten. You could run up as large a score on Tulane as you did against us without any trouble."


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Baylor
The starting lineup was: Stovall (left end), Gandy (left tackle), Pollock (left guard), R. L. Stovall (center), Hillman (right guard), Neblett (right tackle), Seip (right end), Fenton (quarterback), I. Smith (left halfback), Lally (right halfback), and C. Smith (fullback).


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Haskell
LSU defeated the Haskell Indians, 32–0, outweighing the Indians and needing little strategy.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Haskell
Clarence Smith bucked the line for 15 yards and the first touchdown. Fenton later added a 30-yard field goal.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Haskell
In the second half, Gandy made a touchdown on the "tackle over tackle" play; Bob Smith made another. Clarence Smith made his second touchdown of the day around right end. The final score was a 32-yard end run by Mike Lally.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Haskell
The starting lineup was: Stovall (left end), Gandy (left tackle), Pollock (left guard), R. L. Stovall (center), Hillman (right guard), Neblett (right tackle), Seip (right end), Fenton (quarterback), C. Smith (left halfback), Lally (right halfback), and B. Smith (fullback).


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Louisiana Industrial
The Tigers beat Louisiana Industrial of Ruston, 22–0. Fenton was the star of the game, with two interceptions for touchdowns.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Louisiana Industrial
The starting lineup was: Stovall (left end), Gandy (left tackle), Thomas (left guard), Hillman (center), Pollock (right guard), Noblett (right tackle), Seip (right end), Fenton (quarterback), C. Smith (left halfback), Lally (right halfback), and B. Smith (fullback).


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Arkansas
LSU defeated Arkansas 36–4, with Fenton's runs and kicks featuring throughout. The crowd was the largest ever to see a football game in Arkansas.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Arkansas
LSU made three touchdowns in the game's first four minutes. On the Tigers' first possession, Fenton went 22 yards around right end and Lally then went 40 yards for  a touchdown. On the ensuing Arkansas possession, Fenton intercepted a pass and returned it 45 yards for the score. Big Stovall made the third touchdown on an onside kick from scrimmage. LSU also had touchdowns using a triple pass and a double pass.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Arkansas
Arkansas got its points after a 35-yard pass from a fake field goal led to a field goal from the 30-yard line. Fenton had the lone score of the second half, on a 55-yard run and fake pass.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Season summary, Arkansas
The starting lineup was: Stovall (left end), Gandy (left tackle), Thomas (left guard), R. L. Stovall (center), Hillman (right guard), Noblett (right tackle), Seip (right end), Fenton (quarterback), C. Smith (left halfback), Lally (right halfback), and B. Smith (fullback).


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Postseason, Disputed title
The season was clouded by accusations of professionalism by Grantland Rice and rival school Tulane. Rice claimed V. Smith, C. Smith, Seip, Fenton, Lally, and Gandy were all paid salaries to play football, and that Clarke was a former All-Western player. Amidst fears of many players being ineligible under SIAA rules, most sportswriters instead gave the Southern title to Auburn, and left LSU players off their All-Southern team. A subsequent SIAA investigation cleared LSU of any wrongdoing, but since many publications voted for the SIAA champion prior to the conclusion of the investigation, they did not recognize LSU's title.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Postseason, Awards and honors
Fans presented coach Wingard and referee James Halligan with gold-handled umbrellas.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Postseason, Awards and honors
Fenton's 125 points (132 by modern rules) led the nation in scoring. He had a school record 36 extra points and 6 field goals. Fenton, Lally, and Willie Hillman were selected All-Southern by Nash Buckingham in the Memphis Commercial Appeal.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Postseason, Awards and honors, Legacy
The 1908 team is said to be LSU's first great team, and was considered the greatest until 1958.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Postseason, Awards and honors, Legacy
Fenton and Seip were nominated, though not selected, for an Associated Press All-Time Southeast 1869–1919 era team. Fenton, Lally, Seip, and Noblett made the first-team of an all-time LSU team selected in 1935. According to Tony Barnhart, Fenton is considered the first great football player in LSU history. The National Football Foundation selected Fenton as the retroactive Heisman Trophy winner of 1908.


1908 LSU Tigers football team, Personnel, Scoring leaders
The following is an incomplete list of statistics and scores, largely dependent on newspaper summaries.


1908 Lafayette football team
The 1908 Lafayette football team was an American football team that represented Lafayette College as an independent during the 1908 college football season. In its first and only season under head coach George Barclay, the team compiled a 6–2–2 record, shut out six opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 102 to 57. George McCaa was the team captain. The team played its home games at March Field in Easton, Pennsylvania.


1908 Leeds South by-election
The Leeds South by-election, 1908 was a parliamentary by-election for the House of Commons constituency of Leeds South in the West Riding of Yorkshire held on 13 February 1908.


1908 Leeds South by-election, Vacancy
The by-election was caused by the death of the sitting Liberal MP, John Lawson Walton. Lawson was Attorney-General in the Liberal government of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and had been MP for Leeds South since 1892 when he himself won the seat at a by-election.


1908 Leeds South by-election, Candidates, Liberals
The South Leeds Liberals selected William Middlebrook, a 57-year-old solicitor to be their candidate. Middlebrook had been a local councillor in Leeds and Morley and it seems that one of the reasons he was selected was his ability to give financial aid to the Leeds South Liberal Association. John Lawson Walton had had paid the salary of his political agent and Middlebrook undertook to pay the constituency £100 a year.


1908 Leeds South by-election, Candidates, Conservatives
The Conservatives originally seemed to be favouring the candidacy of Sir Henry Fairfax-Lucy, scion of the well-known Lucy family. Sir Henry had fought Leeds South for the Tories at the 1906 general election. However Sir Henry was a free-trader, which was a traditional Liberal policy and the Conservatives feared that tariff reform would become a controversial topic in the election if they chose Sir Henry as their man. Perhaps to enable the local Conservatives to overcome this problem, Fairfax-Lucy diplomatically announced that he was not able to stand for Parliament at this time because he was too busy with the Territorial Force Association in Warwickshire of which he was chairman.


1908 Leeds South by-election, Candidates, Conservatives
At a meeting on 27 January 1908, the local Conservative organisation in Leeds South adopted R J Neville, the Recorder of Bury St Edmunds as their candidate. Neville was 44 years old and had unsuccessfully contested South Leeds for the Conservatives on four previous occasions.


1908 Leeds South by-election, Candidates, Labour
The Labour candidate at the 1906 general election, Albert E. Fox, the secretary of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen expressed his desire to stand again at the by-election but members of a rival railway trade union, the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants had protested against his candidacy and this caused some doubt over Labour's participation. It seems there had been a falling out between Fox and some railway workers over the tactics and policies to be adopted in respect of union campaigning for improved working conditions and union recognition by the employers.


1908 Leeds South by-election, Candidates, Labour
There was considerable discord between the two unions over strategy   and Fox's loyally to the labour cause was questioned. For some of his labour colleagues it was clear that Fox's socialism did not go far enough. It was reported that Fox had secured the approval of party headquarters but the local Labour Representation Committee (LRC) were required to endorse him   and there remained a danger that if he stood, a rival Labour candidate would enter the field as well. The National Council of the Independent Labour Party had considered standing T R Williams who had been the Labour candidate in Huddersfield in 1906 among other possibles but these men withdrew their interest due to lack of funding to fight a campaign.


1908 Leeds South by-election, Candidates, Labour
In the final week of January, the Labour party had officially appointed Joseph Pointer as their candidate. Pointer was aged 32 and a trades council activist from Sheffield, a member of the United Patternmakers' Association. It was reported he and his supporters had started campaigning in Leeds   but by the end of the month Pointer had withdrawn from the field, the internal struggles in the Labour organisation having taken their toll. Fox emerged after all as Labour's candidate for the by-election   despite the reservations of the local LRC about whether or not they should actively support his campaign. In the end the LRC voted by 89 votes to 85 not to endorse Fox's candidature but, despite this setback, he carried on as the representative of labour in the election fight.


1908 Leeds South by-election, Election issues
Neville issued his election address on 30 January, declaring himself a loyal supporter of Arthur Balfour. He agreed with Balfour's policy to reduce unemployment by taxation reform. He spoke in favour of freedom for Roman Catholic, Nonconformist and Jewish parents to choose to have their children taught about their religion. Neville was expected to carry the 900 or so votes of the Catholic community  who strongly opposed national and local measures taken by the Liberal Party in respect of education and training which they claimed would destroy the character of Catholic schools.


1908 Leeds South by-election, Election issues
However Irish voters in the constituency were divided in their loyalties, supporting Neville's stance on Catholic education but disliking his party's opposition to Irish Home Rule. Neville also opposed the Licensing Bill, which proposed restoration of local control of drinking establishments, a reduction in the number of public houses and the abolition of certain rights to compensation of suppressed licence-holders. Neville called this an attempt to confiscate without full and reasonable compensation the interests of the property of a trade which has received the sanction and encouragement of the state. It was reported that all sections of the licensing trade were aligning themselves with Neville.


1908 Leeds South by-election, Election issues
Middlebrook's election address was a generally uncontroversial tract, pledging support for the policies of the Liberal government and avowed his support for Free Trade. However he found it necessary (possibly even on the instruction of party headquarters in London)  to specify his support for the granting of votes for women, who were qualified. At this time the suffragettes were campaigning against all Liberal candidates in by-elections, whatever their declared opinion on votes for women, in protest at the government's unwillingness to bring in a women's suffrage Bill  and in retaliation for the government's crackdown on their growing militancy.


1908 Leeds South by-election, Election issues
They promised to attend all Liberal meetings during the election, to heckle and disrupt proceedings. They were apparently unable to make good the threat, as it was reported at the beginning of February that the suffragettes had confined their campaign to the handing out of leaflets, although both Mary Gawthorpe and Emmeline Pankhurst visited the constituency before the election to campaign against Middlebrook   and one source records that one suffragette organiser arranged twenty-two meetings in one week alone.


1908 Leeds South by-election, Election issues
At one meeting on the eve of poll, close to the location of a pro-Middlebrook meeting being addressed by Rowland Barran the Liberal MP for Leeds North, the suffragettes called on electors to keep out the Liberal in retaliation for the government's having sent 54 women to prison for their part in the votes for women movement. The Liberals in Leeds were definitely divided on the issue of women's suffrage and the government's response to the actions of the Women's Social and Political Union, the main suffragette organisation and one local suffragette recorded that some Liberal women refused to work or canvass for Middlebrook.


1908 Leeds South by-election, Election issues
Fox's election address declared in favour of social reform, including the immediate introduction of old age pensions, unemployment relief and education reform free from religious sectarianism or class favouritism. He supported free trade and universal adult suffrage, no doubt hoping to gain the support of the suffragettes and those voters who were in favour of their campaign.


1908 Leeds South by-election, Result
Middlebrook held the seat for the Liberals with a majority of 359 votes over Neville who restored the Conservatives to second place, Fairfax-Lucy having come bottom of the poll at the 1906 general election. Fox forfeited the second place he had achieved in 1906.


1908 Leeds South by-election, Result
While the government was no doubt pleased to retain the seat, the increase of 2,700 votes for the Conservatives and the loss of 1,000 for the Liberals and 1,600 for Labour (Fox presumably suffering from the damaging split in the labour ranks over his candidature) must have been a disappointment to Middlebrook and the Liberal Party, given the turnout was much the same as at the previous general election. The Leeds South result followed the loss of Ashburton on 17 January and of the Ross or Southern Division of Herefordshire on 31 January, both seats falling to the Liberal Unionists. But all governments suffer mid-term reverses and the government elected in 1906 was voted in with a landslide majority.


1908 Leeds South by-election, Aftermath
The government continued to lose by-elections down to the next general election in January 1910 but they held many seats too, an indicator that the tide of public opinion was not flowing irreversibly away from the Liberal Party. In parliament, one of the first actions Middlebrook took on 28 February was to vote in favour of granting the vote to women. In Leeds South, Middlebrook  went on to increase his majority substantially in January 1910, albeit in a straight fight with the Conservatives. Even in a three-cornered contest in December 1910 he managed a majority of 2,260.


1908 Lehigh Brown and White football team
The 1908 Lehigh Brown and White football team was an American football team that represented Lehigh University as an independent during the 1908 college football season. In its third season under head coach Byron W. Dickson, the team compiled a 4–3 record and was outscored by a total of 50 to 45. The team played its home games at Lehigh Field in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.


1908 Limerick Senior Hurling Championship
The 1908 Limerick Senior Hurling Championship was the 17th staging of the Limerick Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Limerick County Board in 1887.


1908 Limerick Senior Hurling Championship
Croom won the championship after a 2-06 to 0-04 defeat of Caherline in the final. It was their first ever championship title.


1908 Liverpool City Council election
Elections to Liverpool City Council were held on Monday 2 November 1908.


1908 Liverpool City Council election, Election result
Note that due to the large number of uncontested seats, these statistics should be taken in context.


1908 Liverpool City Council election, Ward results
Comparisons are made with the 1905 election results, as the retiring councillors were elected in that year.


1908 Liverpool City Council election, Aldermanic elections, Aldermanic election, 9 November 1908
Following the death of Alderman William Hall Jowett (Conservative, elected as an alderman on 9 November 1907), Councillor James Lister (Conservative, Old Swan, elected 1 November 1907) was elected as an alderman on 9 November 1908.


1908 Liverpool City Council election, Aldermanic elections, Aldermanic election, 27 October 1909
The resignation of Alderman William James Burgess (Conservative, elected as an alderman 9 November 1904) was reported to the Council on 6 October 1909.


1908 Liverpool City Council election, Aldermanic elections, Aldermanic election, 27 October 1909
In his place, Councillor Arthur Crosthwaite (Conservative, Wavertree, elected 1 November 1906) was elected as an alderman by the Council on 27 October 1909.


1908 Liverpool City Council election, By-elections, No. 8 Netherfield, 26 November 1908
Caused by the resignation of Councillor George Sturla (Conservative, Netherfield, elected 1 November 1907) which was reported to the Council on 9 November 1908


1908 Liverpool City Council election, By-elections, No. 28A Old Swan, 26 November 1908
Caused by the election of Councillor James Lister (Conservative, Old Swan, elected 1 November 1907) was elected as an alderman on 9 November 1908.


1908 Liverpool City Council election, By-elections, No.16 Exchange ward, 29 January 1909
Caused by the death of Robert Durning Holt (Liberal, Exchange, elected 1 November 1907) on 10 December 1908.


1908 Liverpool City Council election, By-elections, No.19 St. Peter's, 15 June 1909
The resignation of Councillor Horace Muspratt (Party?, St. Peter's, elected 15 April 1908) was reported to the Council on 2 June 1909.


1908 Liverpool City Council election, By-elections, No. 22 Granby, 7 October 1909
Caused by the death of Councillor Robert Henry Bullen (Liberal, Granby, elected 1 November 1907).


1908 Liverpool City Council election, By-elections, No. 22 Granby, 7 October 1909
This by-election was notable in that Eleanor Rathbone was the first woman elected to Liverpool City Council.


1908 Liège–Bastogne–Liège
The 1908 Liège–Bastogne–Liège was the fourth edition of the Liège–Bastogne–Liège cycle race and was held on 30 August 1908. The race started and finished in Liège. The race was won by André Trousselier.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season
The 1908 Los Angeles Angels season was the sixth season for the Los Angeles Angels playing in the Pacific Coast League (PCL). The Angels compiled a 110–78 record and won the PCL pennant, finishing 13.5 games ahead of the second-place team. The team played its home games at Chutes Park and Prager Park in Los Angeles.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season
On November 8, 1908, after the season ended, a picked team consisting mostly of Angels played a game at Joy Park against the Los Angeles Giants, an African-American semiprofessional championship team. The picked team won by a 14-2 score. Dolly Gray struck out 12 batters, and right fielder Kitty Brashear had three hits, including a home run, and scored three runs.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Management
Henry Berry was the team's manager and controlling owner, and Pop Dillon was the team captain. After leading the Angels to their second consecutive PCL pennant, Berry drew attention to his club by challenging the Chicago Cubs, winners of the 1908 World Series, to play the Angels in a championship series in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Herald praised his leadership: "Probably no sportsman in the west enjoys a greater degree of personal popularity than Henry Berry . . . and his popularity is well deserved.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Management
In the two full years that he has been at the helm of the club he has won the pennant and has given Los Angeles the greatest baseball club that it ever had. Berry is a diplomat, as well as a thoroughbred sportsman, and is a great power in baseball affairs on the coast."


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Management
On November 9, Henry Berry announced he had was turning over management of the team to Pop Dillon.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Pitchers
Pitcher Dolly Gray, a native of Michigan, appeared in 47 games and compiled a 26–11–2 record. He ranked third in the PCL with 234 strikeouts. Gray had five 20-win seasons for the Angels between 1903 and 1908. He went on to play for the Washington Senators from 1909 to 1911.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Pitchers
Walter "Judge" Nagle, a native of Santa Rosa, California, was a bank clerk by profession who played professional baseball for the love of the game. He appeared in 38 games for the 1908 Angels and compiled a 24–10 record.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Pitchers
Franz Hosp, a Cincinnati native, played for teams in San Bernardino and San Diego before joining the Angels in 1907. He was described by the Los Angeles Times as "a heaver with big class." He appeared in 37 games and compiled a 20–15 record.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Pitchers
Andy Briswalter, a 19-year-old native of Whittier, California, played semiprofessional baseball in 1907 before being signed by the Angels. He appeared in 23 games and compiled a 13-5 record. His .732 winning percentage was the second highest in the PCL among pitchers having more than one decision.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Pitchers
Elmer Koestner, a 20-year-old native of Illinois, was described by the Los Angeles Times as the team's "hard luck pitcher" owing to the fact that "in three-fourths of the games he pitches the players behind him boot the ball all around." He appeared in 39 games and compiled an 11-23 record.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Infielders
Catcher Ted Easterly, a 20-year-old Nebraska native, began playing professional ball for Pasadena in 1905 and played for San Diego in 1907. During the 1908 season, he appeared in 123 games, led the team with a .309 batting average, and hit for a .399 slugging percentage. The Chicago Cubs tried to purchase him during the 1908 season, but the Angels' sale prices was not accepted. He was  acquired by the Cleveland Naps for the 1909 season. He played seven seasons in the major leagues.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Infielders
First baseman and team captain Pop Dillon appeared in 168 games and compiled a .271 batting average with 33 stolen bases, 24 doubles, seven triples, and seven home runs.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Infielders
Second baseman Curt Bernard was a West Virginia native who joined the Angels in 1904. Bernard played baseball while attending medical school. The Los Angeles Herald noted in June 1908:


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Infielders
He is as great a bunter as old Jesse Burkett, and can hit the ball out when he wants to. He is popular for many reasons, but principally because he seldom is seen to strike out, drop a fly or make a wild throw, and it is next to impossible to catch him napping off a base or run him down between the cushions. He plays the game all the time and always is making good wherever he plays.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Infielders
He has had many chances to break into the big leagues, but has declined all offers because he desires to remain in Los Angeles to finish his medical studies . . . Money cannot take him away, and he had made it so clear to big league scouts that he will quit the game rather than play anywhere other than with the Angels . . ."


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Infielders
Bernard appeared in 129 games and compiled a .272 batting average, scored 77 runs, and stole 29 bases.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Infielders
Shortstop Bert "Del" Delmas, a San Francisco native, started playing professional baseball with San Francisco in 1902. He played for the Angels from 1906 to 1911. He appeared in 177 games during the 1908 season, compiled a .248 average, and was described by the Los Angeles Times as "probably the best shortstop in the league."


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Infielders
Third baseman Jud Smith, a Michigan native, maintained a successful dental practice in addition to playing baseball. He began playing professional baseball in 1887, including stints with the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Browns. He joined the Angels in 1903. In 1905, he was suspended by the Angels after assaulting an umpire. In 1908, the 39-year-old Smith appeared in 161 games, compiled a .239 batting average, scored 67 runs, and stole 28 bases.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Outfielders
Center fielder Rebel Oakes, a 24-year-old Louisiana native, appeared in 192 games, compiled a .288 batting average, and led the team with 212 hits, 98 runs scored, and 36 stolen bases.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Outfielders
Left fielder Rube Ellis, a native of Rivera, California (now known as "Pico Rivera"), joined the Angels in 1905 after playing semiprofessional baseball in his hometown. In 1908, he appeared in 184 games, scored 91 runs, and compiled a .269 batting average with 30 stolen bases, 19 doubles and 13 triples. He was sold to the Cincinnati Reds effective in the 1909 season.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Outfielders
Right fielder Kitty Brashear joined the Angels in 1904 and was used in a utility role. He played shortstop from the Angels in 1905, and in 1906 played third base for a Pennsylvania team. In 1907, he played second and third base for the Angels. In 1908, he became the team's regular right fielder. The Los Angeles Times praised his versatility and called him "one of the most valuable men on the team." He appeared in 156 games, compiled a .259 batting average and stole 25 bases.


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Statistics, Batting
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; SLG = Slugging percentage


1908 Los Angeles Angels season, Statistics, Pitching
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; PCT = Win percentage; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1908 Louisiana Industrial football team
The 1908 Louisiana Industrial football team was an American football team that represented the Louisiana Industrial Institute—now known as Louisiana Tech University—as an independent during the 1908 college football season. In their first and only season under head coach A. L. Cornell, Louisiana Industrial compiled a record of 4–3–1. The team's captain was A. A. Smith.


1908 Louisiana gubernatorial election
The 1908 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on April 21, 1908. Like most Southern states between Reconstruction and the civil rights era, Louisiana's Republican Party had virtually no electoral support. This meant that the Democratic Party primary held on January 28 was the real contest over who would be governor. This election marked the first time Louisiana used primaries to nominate party nominees. The election resulted in the election of Democrat Jared Y. Sanders, Sr. as governor of Louisiana.


1908 Luxembourg general election
Partial general elections were held in Luxembourg on 26 May and 2 June 1908, electing 29 out of 50 members of the Chamber of Deputies.


1908 Maine gubernatorial election
The 1908 Maine gubernatorial election took place on September 14, 1908.


1908 Maine gubernatorial election
Incumbent Governor William T. Cobb did not seek re-election. Republican candidate Bert M. Fernald defeated Democratic candidate Obadiah Gardner.


1908 Major League Baseball season
The 1908 Major League Baseball season was contested from April 14 to October 14, 1908. The Chicago Cubs and Detroit Tigers were the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. In a rematch of the prior year's postseason, the Cubs then defeated the Tigers in the World Series, four games to one.


1908 Manchester North West by-election
The Manchester North West by-election was a Parliamentary by-election. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP)  to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.


1908 Manchester North West by-election, Vacancy
Winston Churchill had been Liberal MP for the seat of Manchester North West since the 1906 general election when he gained it from the Conservatives. He was obliged to submit to re-election in after his appointment as President of the Board of Trade, as the Ministers of the Crown Act required newly appointed Cabinet ministers to re-contest their seats.


1908 Manchester North West by-election, Electoral history
Before Churchill had gained the seat it had been Conservative since it was created in 1885. So it was a tough assignment to retain the seat given the result was in 1906;


1908 Manchester North West by-election, Campaign
Manchester had been a key battleground at the 1906 general election. It was known to favour Free trade and oppose the protectionist policies of Joseph Chamberlain. Conservatives defeats in Manchester in 1906 were blamed on Tariff reform policies. Many Manchester Conservatives opposed Tariff reform, including Joynson-Hicks. His position helped to neutralise the issue in the by-election and promote local Conservative unity. However, Churchill still received endorsement from the Free Trade League.


1908 Manchester North West by-election, Campaign
Suffragettes harassed Churchill, over his refusal to support legislation that would give women the vote. This opposition was led by the Women's Social and Political Union and suffragettes Constance Markievicz, Eva Gore-Booth, and Esther Roper.


1908 Manchester North West by-election, Campaign
There was Jewish hostility to Joynson-Hicks over his support for the controversial Aliens Act. A number of Roman Catholic priests urged their congregation to vote Conservative after Joynson-Hicks attacked Liberal education policy for undermining the autonomy of Roman Catholic Schools.


1908 Manchester North West by-election, Result
The following day, the Daily Telegraph ran a front page headline "Winston Churchill is OUT! OUT! OUT!" The Lancashire and Cheshire Women's Suffrage Society, who had supported Churchill during the by-election, were angered by the actions of the WSPU, stating that they were "actively assisting to return men to the House of Commons who are the sworn enemies of the people." and saying that the WSPU members were "Tories of the most pronounced type".


1908 Manchester North West by-election, Aftermath
Although Churchill lost his seat he was soon back, on 9 May 1908, after winning the 1908 Dundee by-election. Joynson-Hicks gained personal notoriety in the immediate aftermath of this election for an address to his Jewish hosts at a dinner given by the Maccabean Society, during which he said "he had beaten them all thoroughly and soundly and was no longer their servant." This act may have contributed to him losing his seat back to the Liberals at the next election.


1908 Manchester North West by-election, Aftermath
At the January 1910 general election, Irving stood for the SDF at Rochdale, coming third.


1908 Manila's 1st Philippine Assembly district special elections
Two special elections (known elsewhere as "by-elections") for Manila's 1st (North) district's seat in the Philippine Assembly were held on 1908. Justo Lukban won the second election, after Dominador Gómez, winner of the 1907 general election, was expelled from office, then won the first special election, finally only to resign his rights as member of the assembly.


1908 Manila's 1st Philippine Assembly district special elections
These special elections were the first of its kind in the Philippines.


1908 Manila's 1st Philippine Assembly district special elections, Background
The Nacionalista Party was brought about by the merger of the Union Nacionalista, which chose an evolutionary position on Philippine independence, and the Independistas, led by Alberto Barretto and Justo Lukban, which advocated immediate independence. The two organizations merged on March 2, 1907, to oppose the Progresista Party, which opposed independence, after withdrawing their platform of Philippine U.S. statehood.


1908 Manila's 1st Philippine Assembly district special elections, Background
Fernando Guerrero, who was earlier elected as counselors of the Nacionalistas along with Sergio Osmeña, and Lukban, were dropped from the ballot in favor of Dominador Gómez and Felipe del Mar. Guerrero and Lukban then set up Liga Nacional Independecia to oppose the Nacionalistas.


1908 Manila's 1st Philippine Assembly district special elections, Background
The 1st Philippine Legislature convened for the first time on October 16, 1907, after elections earlier that year. Osmeña was elected Speaker. Osmeña had then successfully prevented Gómez from taking his seat, questioning his citizenship, until he was elected speaker.


1908 Manila's 1st Philippine Assembly district special elections, First election
By February 1908, Osmeña and his adjutant, Manuel L. Quezon, saw Gómez as their primary opponent for control of the legislature. Osmeña has most of the Nacionalistas behind him, while Gómez was counting on the support of the dissatisfied Nacionalistas and members of the Progresistas. In February, Gómez denounced the moves to unseat him in a speech before the assembly. Those who wanted to unseat Gómez planned to replace him with Lukban, who was the defeated candidate in the 1907 election. A day after his speech, the assembly moved to vacate Gómez's seat, 40–35. A week later, Gómez, in a letter to the assembly, said that he would no longer contest his removal, paving way for a special election. This also made the motions for reconsideration, and for an investigation to an extra "mysterious vote" for Gómez's removal, be moot and academic.


1908 Manila's 1st Philippine Assembly district special elections, First election
Gómez expressed his intention to run in the special election in March. Lukban also expressed his intention to run, seeing a rematch of the 1907 election.


1908 Manila's 1st Philippine Assembly district special elections, First election, Results
The March 30 election saw Gómez successfully defending his seat. His victory was celebrated at the Rizal Theater later that night, and rumors of him actually reclaiming his seat at the Ayuntamiento de Manila led to the Manila Police District securing the premises but Gómez did not show up.


1908 Manila's 1st Philippine Assembly district special elections, First election, Results
By June, Osmeña read a letter by Gómez to the assembly of the latter resigning his rights as duly elected representative of Manila's first district. This means that the contested seat is again vacant.


1908 Manila's 1st Philippine Assembly district special elections, Second election
The Nacionalistas have nominated José Turiano Santiago for the vacant seat on July 6. Meanwhile, Lukban contested the seat anew; Gómez, for his part, is contesting a seat at the newly provided Municipal Board of Manila. A clash between their supporters occurred at Calle Azcarraga at the eve of the election on August 11. Lukban's supporters, being led by Lope K. Santos, were first harassed by Gómez supporters, which later led to a full-blown riot. After the fight was dispersed, the Gómez supporters had a meeting at Calle Acuña, guarded by the police.


1908 Manila's 1st Philippine Assembly district special elections, Second election, Results
While Lukban won the assembly seat, Gómez lost the municipal board election to Ramon Diokno. Commissioner Rafael Palma, who was surprised of Gómez's defeat, attributed it to Gómez's attacks against Osmeňa, which reduced his popularity with the masses. A Manila Times editorial emphasized the victories of the Liga Popular Nacional against the regular Nacionalista Party; the latter was seen as being dominated by aristocrats, who are mostly mestizos. The election results were announced at the junction of the Puente de España and Escolta Street, at a screen set up in front of the La Extremeña Building.


1908 Manila's 1st Philippine Assembly district special elections, Second election, Results
Later that year, Diokno renounced his claims from the seat amidst the electoral protest filed by Gómez. Gómez later reclaimed his old assembly seat in 1909, when he won on a successful electoral protest against Lukban. Lukban later on became Mayor of Manila.


1908 Marquette Blue and Gold football team
The 1908 Marquette Blue and Gold football team represented Marquette University during the 1908 college football season.


1908 Marshall Thundering Herd football team
The 1908 Marshall Thundering Herd football team represented Marshall College (now Marshall University) in the 1908 college football season. Marshall posted a winless 0–6 record, being outscored by its opposition 14–104. Home games were played on a campus field called "Central Field" which is presently Campus Commons.


1908 Maryland Aggies football team
The 1908 Maryland Aggies football team represented Maryland Agricultural College (later part of the University of Maryland) in the 1908 college football season. The Aggies compiled a 3–8 record, were shut out by seven of eleven opponents, and were outscored by all opponents, 204 to 27. William Lang was the team's coach.


1908 Massachusetts Aggies football team
The 1908 Massachusetts Aggies football team represented Massachusetts Agricultural College in the 1908 college football season. The team was coached by Matthew W. Bullock and played its home games at Alumni Field in Amherst, Massachusetts. The 1908 season was Bullock's last as head coach of the Aggies. Massachusetts finished the season with a record of 3–3–3.


1908 Massachusetts Senate election
Elections to the Massachusetts Senate were held on November 4, 1908 to elect 40 State Senators to the 130th Massachusetts General Court. Candidates were elected at the district level, with many districts covering multiple towns or counties.


1908 Massachusetts Senate election, District results, Fourth Middlesex, Apportionment
This district contained the cities of Everett, Malden, and Melrose.


1908 Massachusetts Senate election, District results, Second Suffolk, Apportionment
This district contained Wards 2–5 of Boston and Wards 1-3 of Cambridge.


1908 Massachusetts Senate election, District results, Third Suffolk, Apportionment
This district contained Wards 6–8 of Boston and Ward 4 of Cambridge.


1908 Massachusetts Senate election, District results, Fourth Suffolk, Apportionment
This district contained Wards 9, 12, and 17 of Boston.


1908 Massachusetts Senate election, District results, Fifth Suffolk, Apportionment
This district contained Wards 10, 11, and 25 of Boston.


1908 Massachusetts Senate election, District results, Seventh Suffolk, Apportionment
This district contained Wards 18, 19, and 22 of Boston.


1908 Massachusetts gubernatorial election
The 1908 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1908.


1908 Massachusetts legislature
The 129th Massachusetts General Court, consisting of the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts House of Representatives, met in 1908 during the governorship of Curtis Guild Jr. William D. Chapple served as president of the Senate and John N. Cole served as speaker of the House.


1908 Massachusetts legislature, Images
Map of districts of the Massachusetts state senate apportioned in 1906


1908 Melbourne Carnival
The 1908 Melbourne Carnival was the inaugural Australian National Football Carnival, an Australian rules football interstate competition, held in Melbourne in August 1908. It was known at the time as the Jubilee Australasian Football Carnival because it was designed to commemorate 50 years of Australian rules football.


1908 Melbourne Carnival
The winning team was presented with a silk pennant; and each member of the winning team received a gold championship medal.


1908 Melbourne Carnival
Although the 29 August final between Victoria and Western Australia was played in front of something like 15,000 spectators, it is certain that the crowd would have been considerably larger if it had not also been the first day of the American Fleet's eight-day visit to Melbourne.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Official opening
The official opening was conducted by Sir Thomas Gibson-Carmichael, the Governor of Victoria, at 3:00 pm on Wednesday 19 August 1908, in the interval between the first and second matches of the carnival (the first match started at 1:15 pm, the second at 3:30 pm). The crowd of 7,000+ was in an excited mood: in the first match, New Zealand had come back from a 26-point half-time deficit to win by a single point.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Official opening
The seven participating teams, with each player in their team uniforms, lined up and formed a hollow square.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Official opening
The official party, the Governor of Victoria, accompanied by his private secretary, Victor Albert Nelson Hood (1862–1929), Sir Thomas Bent, Premier of Victoria, H. C. A. Harrison, Australian Rules administrative pioneer (then 71 years old), Mr. Cornelius Michael "Con" Hickey (1866-1937), Fitzroy footballer in the (VFA 1887-1894), secretary of the Fitzroy Football Club (1893-1910), foundation member and first treasurer of the Victorian Football League, and the inaugural president of the Australian National Football Council (formed in 1906), Mr. E.L. "Ernie" Wilson, the first secretary of the Collingwood Football Club in the VFL, and secretary of the VFL from 1897-1929, and Mr. Albert E. Nash, president of the New South Wales Australian Football League, were each introduced to the captain of each team and shook hands.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Official opening
The ceremony was notable for the performance of "war cries" by both the New Zealand and Queensland teams; and, in the opinion of "Old Boy", despite not performing well on the football field, the Queensland "war cry" was the best of the two, in that its effort was "dramatic, descriptive, and interesting".


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Official opening
Although it is not clear (as it was in the newspaper accounts of the New Zealand team on other occasions) from any of the contemporary reports of the day's proceedings whether, on this occasion, the New Zealand "war cry" was specifically a haka or not, "Follower's" report in "The Age" strongly suggests that to be the case: "a feature of the [Governor's] inspection … was the Maori war cry, given with great zest by the New Zealand team, and equally stirring was the aboriginal battle cry of the Queenslanders".


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Official opening
The second match, played immediately after the opening ceremony, was nowhere near as exciting: Tasmania beat Queensland by 140 points.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Teams
Team photographs of all of the competing teams were published in the Melbourne Punch, and the Melbourne Leader.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Teams, New South Wales
The New South Wales team included A. Conlin, W. Scott, Bob Rahilly, J. Hunter, G. Colley, E. Gluyas, Bert Renfrey (Vice-Captain), and Algy Millhouse from the Barrier, and G. Thomas, W. Maxfield, G. McConechy, Ralph Robertson (Captain), T. Vannan, C. Murray, J. Delaney, H. Welsh, A. Dartnell, J. O'Leary, C. Shipton, and F. Carrick from Sydney; A.E. Watson from Hay, O'Keefe from Narrandera, plus James Greer and W. Hanes (also Haines, Haynes) from Wagga. During the carnival, the New South Wales team trained at the St Kilda Cricket Ground.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Teams, New Zealand, Team
Former Collingwood player Tom Wright, who would be killed in action in France in 1916, was the captain of New Zealand. The selected team was: E. George, F.A. Lording, W. Monteith, J.G. Marshall, Tongue, H. Fletcher, J.J. Abfalter (Auckland), P.H. Elvidge, S.G. Darby, A. Swann (Waihi), M. Bonas, D. Patrick, E. Furness, A. McGrath, L.L. Paull (Wellington), George Dempster, H.L. West, T.J. "Tom" Wright, H. Wilkinson, A. Porter, A. Fisher, Paisley, F. Ross (Christchurch), with emergencies, Burns, Welch, and L.A. Breese from Auckland, and Grant, and T. Smith. During the carnival, the New Zealand team trained at the Richmond Cricket Ground and was coached by Richmond's Dick Condon.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Teams, New Zealand, New Zealand's tour matches
This was the only time in the history of Australian rules "interstate" football matches that a team from New Zealand participated. It was anticipated that, immediately following the carnival, and before returning to New Zealand, the New Zealand team would play matches in Adelaide, Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Sydney, Brisbane, and Newcastle.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Teams, New Zealand, New Zealand's tour matches
The New Zealand team played a match, in Adelaide, on 1 September 1908 (Eight Hours Day), before the Governor, George Le Hunte, on a very wet ground (in several places the water was inches deep). South Australia won the match 5.8 (38) to 3.10 (28). The match was not as one-sided as the final scores indicate: the score at quarter time was South Australia 4.5 (29) to New Zealand 0.1 (1). In the process of the day, the New Zealand team performed two hakas, one before the match commenced, the other before the second half began.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Teams, New Zealand, New Zealand's tour matches
All in all, the New Zealand team won six out of the eleven matches they played on their tour, including the carnival matches against New South Wales and Queensland, and were described in the Melbourne press as "the surprise packet"; and, due to the fact that only two of their matches were played on dry grounds, they also became known as the "wet weather birds".


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Teams, Queensland
The selected team was: J. Hay, M.S. "Merce" Hicks, E. Miller, A. M'Gregor and T. Morris (City), V. "Vic" Lowndes, M. O'Dwyer, J. Greenwood, and Jack Keir (Locomotives), W. MacDonald, G. Paget, H. Heidemann, and J. M'Cormack (Ipswich), L. Perkins, and H. Parker (Valley), L. Kelly, A. "Jack" Bolton, and H. Hopkins (Wynnum), Ralph McKellar (captain), H. Coates, and A. Atkinson (Brisbane), and Lieutenant B. Watts (Thursday island). Emergencies: M. Cooper (Valley), A. Tipper (City), J. Hickey (West Moreton), and E. "Ernie" Watson (Ipswich). It seems that B. "Bas" Bolton was a later addition to the team. During the carnival, the Queensland team was coached by Jack Worrall, and trained at the Carlton Cricket Ground.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Teams, South Australia
The selected team was; Charles George Gordon Gwynne, Ernie Johns, Jack Tredrea, Jack Chamberlain, Richard Townsend, Sinclair Dickson, Alfred Roy Le Messurier, Edward M. Beare, A.C. Bennett, O.H. Hyman. H.W.D. Stoddart, C. Adcock, T. McKenzie. A. Ewers, A.E. Hewitt, Stewart Geddes (vice captain), George Wallace, Jack Mack, Tom Leahy, James Tierney, John Albert "Alby" Bahr (captain), Jack Woollard. During the carnival, the South Australian team trained at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Teams, South Australia
The South Australian team that was defeated by Victoria 10.15 (75) to 2.14 (26) on 26 August 1908 was: Back, Ewers, Hyman, and Woollard; half-back, Stoddart, Beare, and McKenzie; centre, Hewitt, Tredrea, and Bennett; half-forward, Bahr, Townsend, and Chamberlain; forward, Dickson, Johns, and Gwynne; ruck, Tierney and Leahy; rover, Wallace.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Teams, Tasmania
The captain of Tasmania was Bruce Carter.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Teams, Tasmania
The squad originally selected was: from the South: Roy Bailey (half back), P. Orpwood (back), Walter Burrell (following and back), L. Bridges (wing), Weller Arnold (centre), C. Ward (centre and half-back), E. RusseIl (wing), W. Lee (forward and rover), T. Abel (follower), C. Webb (follower and back), W. Forster (rover and half-forward); from the North: Algy Tynan (full back), A.J. "Barney" Badcock (half-back), W. Ride (back), B.L. Thomson (back), Charlie Searl (wing), Hastings Woolley (half-back and follower),Joe Littler (forward), Viv Valentine (forward); from North-West Coast: B. Carter (centre), W. Rutter (follower), T. Mahoney (follower); from West Coast: A. Trotter (centre and forward), George McLeod (forward and follower).


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Teams, Tasmania
Emergencies: K. Appleby (North-West), first back and follower; Albert Pannam (North West), first forward and second follower; L. Norman (North), rover and third forward; A. Tucker (South) second back and wing; B. Filgate (North-West), full back and wing. During the carnival, the Tasmanian team, coached by Jack Gardiner and Dick Gibson, trained at the South Melbourne Cricket Ground.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Teams, Victoria
The Victorian team that defeated South Australia 10.15 (75) to 2.14 (26) on 26 August 1908 was:


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Teams, Victoria
Before the first match was played, it was noted that six of the possible "Victorian" players, Barclay Bailes, Bert Franks, Bill Goddard (South Melbourne), Harvey Kelly, Paddy Shea, and Phonse Wood had all played their first senior football in Western Australia.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Teams, Western Australia
The selected team was: from metropolitan district: Jim Everett, Glenn, Leonard Edwards, James Doig, Harry Sharpe, Thomas McNamara, Sam Gravenall, Wyatt, Henry Thompson, Frank 'Diver' Dunne, Dick Sweetman, Billy Orr; from goldfields: William Trewhella, Phil Matson, William "Nipper" Truscott, Alex Robinson, Walter Smith, George Tyson, William Cook, George Renwick, William Metheral, J. "Snob" Polglaise, Charles Tyson, Joe O'Dea. During the carnival, the Western Australian team trained at the Fitzroy Cricket Ground.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Playing uniforms
When not playing, the members of each team wore plain straw hats that clearly displayed their team's distinctive colours on their hat-bands:


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Results
All of the matches were played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.


1908 Melbourne Carnival, Results, Finals
Because Tasmania was beaten by South Australia, Victoria was the only remaining undefeated team. Therefore, it was crowned the champions without the need for a Grand Final.


1908 Mercer Baptists football team
The 1908 Mercer Baptists football team represented Mercer University in the 1908 college football season. They finished with a record of 3–4 and outscored their opponents 131–59.


1908 Messina earthquake
The 1908 Messina earthquake (also known as the 1908 Messina and Reggio earthquake) occurred on 28 December in Sicily and Calabria, southern Italy with a  moment magnitude of 7.1 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). The epicentre was in the Strait of Messina which separates Sicily from the Italian mainland. The cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria were almost completely destroyed and between 75,000 and 82,000 lives were lost. It was the most destructive earthquake ever to strike Europe.


1908 Messina earthquake, Cause of the earthquake
According to Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology, the earthquake was caused by a large, low-angle SE-dipping, blind normal fault, lying mainly offshore in the Strait of Messina, between plates. Its upper projection intersects the Earth surface on the western, Sicilian side of the Strait. In 2019 researchers at Birkbeck, University of London discovered the active fault responsible for the earthquake. The study, led by Dr. Marco Meschis, identified the fault as the previously mapped but little studied Messina-Taormina Fault which lies off the Sicilian coast and runs the length of the Strait of Messina.


1908 Messina earthquake, Cause of the earthquake
The team used data from 1907-1908 to examine the pattern of uplifts and subsidence observed in the Messina and Calabria area which bore a strong resemblance to those resulting from other powerful earthquakes triggered by normal faults. After comparing the direction and size of movements on well-known faults with the surface movements seen in Messina and Calabria, the researchers were able to identify the probable active fault which caused the catastrophic earthquake as well as the direction and size of the movements.


1908 Messina earthquake, Cause of the earthquake
Italy sits along the boundary zone of the African Continental plate, and this plate is pushing against the sea floor underneath Europe at a rate of 25 millimeters (1 inch) per year. This causes vertical displacement, which in turn can cause earthquakes. The earthquake was recorded by 110 seismographic stations around the world. and was one of the first to be recorded by instruments.


1908 Messina earthquake, Cause of the earthquake
The Strait of Messina is part of the regional tectonic feature known as the Calabrian Arc, an area of differential uplift deriving from the dynamics of the Ionian and South Tyrrhenian tectonic units, two of the lithosphere blocks of microplates recognised in the highly fragmented Italian portion of the Africa-Eurasia contact. A number of the strongest earthquakes that took place in the last centuries occurred in the Calabrian Arc such as the 1783 and 1905 Calabrian earthquakes as well as the more catastrophic 1908 Messina earthquake.


1908 Messina earthquake, Cause of the earthquake
Records indicate that considerable seismic activity occurred in the areas around the Strait of Messina several months prior to 28 December; it increased in intensity beginning 1 November. On 10 December, a magnitude 4 earthquake caused damage to a few buildings in Novara di Sicilia and Montalbano Elicona, both in the Province of Messina.


1908 Messina earthquake, Cause of the earthquake
A total of 293 aftershocks took place between 28 December 1908 and 11 March 1909.


1908 Messina earthquake, Cause of the earthquake
In 2008 it was proposed that the concurrent tsunami was not generated by the earthquake, but rather by a large undersea landslide it triggered. The probable source of the tsunami was offshore of Giardini Naxos (40 km south of Messina)  on the Sicilian coast where a large submarine landslide body with a headwall scarp was revealed on a Bathymetric map of the Ionian seafloor.


1908 Messina earthquake, Earthquake
On Monday 28 December 1908, from about 05:20 to 05:21, an earthquake of 7.1 on the moment magnitude scale occurred. Its epicentre was in the Strait of Messina which separates  the busy port city of Messina in Sicily and Reggio Calabria on the Italian mainland. Its precise epicentre has been pinpointed to the northern Ionian Sea area close to the narrowest section of the Strait, the location of Messina. It had a depth of around 9 km (5.5 miles).


1908 Messina earthquake, Earthquake
The earthquake almost levelled Messina. At least 91% of structures in Messina were destroyed or irreparably damaged and some 75,000 people were killed in the city and suburbs. Reggio Calabria and other locations in Calabria also suffered heavy damage, with some 25,000 people killed. Reggio's historic centre was almost completely eradicated. The number of casualties is based on the 1901 and 1911 census data. It was the most destructive earthquake ever to strike Europe. The ground shook for some 30 seconds, and the damage was widespread, with destruction felt over a 4,300 km2 (1,700 sq mi) area.


1908 Messina earthquake, Earthquake
In Calabria, the ground shook violently from Scilla to south of Reggio, provoking landslides inland in the Reggio area and along the sea-cliff from Scilla to Bagnara. In the Calabrian commune of Palmi on the Tyrrhenian coast, there was almost total devastation that left 600 dead. Damage was also inflicted along the eastern Sicilian coast, but outside of Messina, it was not as badly hit as Calabria. The mesoseismal area was confined near the coast along a 1–4 km wide belt that shook and destroyed Messina and surrounding villages. Catania, the largest city in eastern Sicily, did not incur notable damage.


1908 Messina earthquake, Earthquake
A young doctor who escaped with his life later recounted that "the profound silence was broken by an extraordinary noise like the bursting of a thousand bombs, followed by a rushing and torrential rain." Then he heard a "sinister whistling sound" which he likened to "a thousand red hot irons hissing in the water." Other survivors reported that there were three separate and different movements during the 30–40 second mainshock: the first shaking backwards and forwards, the second thrusting violently upwards, with the third moving in a circular motion. All accounts concur that it was the second upwards motion that caused the widespread destruction in Messina; the accompanying noise described as having been "exactly like that made by a fast train in a tunnel".


1908 Messina earthquake, Earthquake
The elevated death toll was due to the fact that most people were asleep, and killed outright or buried alive in their beds, as their houses collapsed on top of them. Thousands were trapped under debris, suffering horrific injuries of which many would die. One week before the earthquake, 160,000 inhabitants were counted in the entire Messina commune. On 28 December, Messina was even more crowded than usual, due to the number of overnight visitors from outlying areas who had come to the city  to see a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida, which had been staged the previous evening at the Vittorio Emanuele II theatre.


1908 Messina earthquake, Earthquake, Tsunami
About ten minutes after the earthquake, the sea on both sides of the Strait suddenly withdrew as a 12-meter (39-foot) tsunami swept in, and three waves struck nearby coasts. It impacted hardest along the Calabrian coast and inundated Reggio Calabria after the sea had receded 70 meters from the shore. The entire Reggio seafront was destroyed and numbers of people who had gathered there perished. Nearby Villa San Giovanni was also badly hit. Along the coast between Lazzaro and Pellaro, houses and a railway bridge were washed away.


1908 Messina earthquake, Earthquake, Tsunami
In Messina, the tsunami also caused more devastation and deaths; many of the survivors of the earthquake had fled to the relative safety of the seafront to escape their collapsing houses. The second and third tsunami waves, coming in rapid succession and higher than the first, raced over the harbour, smashed boats docked at the pier, and broke parts of the sea wall. After engulfing the port and three city blocks inland beyond the harbour, the waves swept away people, a number of ships that had been anchored in the harbour, fishing boats and ferries, and inflicted further damage on the edifices within the zone which had remained standing after the shock.


1908 Messina earthquake, Earthquake, Tsunami
The ships that were still attached to their moorings collided with one another but did not incur major damage. Afterwards Messina harbour was filled with floating wreckage and the corpses of drowned people and animals. Towns and villages along the eastern coast of Sicily were assaulted by high waves causing deaths and damage to boats and property. Two hours later the tsunami struck Malta, rushing into Marsamxett Harbour and damaging property in Msida. About 2,000 people were killed by the tsunami in Messina on the eastern coast of Sicily, and in Reggio Calabria and its coastal environs.


1908 Messina earthquake, Scale of destruction
Messina lost almost half its population and  the entire historical city centre was devastated including its Norman cathedral, which had withstood previous earthquakes such as the severe one in 1783;  just the perimeter walls and apses remained standing.


1908 Messina earthquake, Scale of destruction
The Messina shoreline was irrevocably altered as large sections of the coast had sunk several feet into the sea. Houses, churches, palaces and monuments, military barracks: commercial, municipal and public buildings had all collapsed entirely or were severely damaged. Many structures were cracked shells, roofless, windowless and standing upright precariously. The Maurolico boarding school in Corso Cavour was pulverised, burying the students. A total of 348 railway workers were killed when the two railway stations crumbled.


1908 Messina earthquake, Scale of destruction
The American consulate was reduced to a pile of rubble: the British consulate sustained little outward damage with its flag still flying, but the interior was completely wrecked. American consul Arthur S. Cheney and his wife Laura were killed. The French consul and his children also lost their lives, although his wife escaped. Ethel Ogston, wife of the British vice-consul, died instantly after being struck by a falling  balcony as she attempted to escape through the streets with her husband, Alfred, and  daughter, both of whom survived.


1908 Messina earthquake, Scale of destruction
Former US vice-consul and Messina correspondent for the Associated Press Joseph Pierce and his family were crushed to death when their damaged home, close to the port, was brought down by the force of the waves created by the tsunami. A number of notable Italians were among the dead including politicians, the Attorney General of Messina Crescenzo Grillo, local patriots of the Italian unification and members of the nobility and literati. The Chief of Police died in his office, killed by a fallen beam.


1908 Messina earthquake, Scale of destruction
Tenor Angelo Gamba who had performed onstage in Aida the evening before the earthquake also lost his life together with his wife and two sons when the Hotel Trinacria partially collapsed. The Hungarian soprano Paola Koraleck (who sang the role of Aida) was lying awake when the earthquake struck. She leapt from a window, breaking both arms in the fall.


1908 Messina earthquake, Scale of destruction
The earthquake wrecked the commercial section along Messina's Corso Vittorio Emanuele that skirted the seafront which included the elegant "Palazzata". This was a long sequence of seamless 17th-century buildings that fronted the sickle-shaped harbour and most had sustained irreparable damage which necessitated their subsequent demolition. The shaking was especially intense in the port area resulting in the permanent displacement of the stone pavings in a "wave-like pattern".


1908 Messina earthquake, Scale of destruction
Damage was heaviest in the old historic centre and the low, level central and northern sections of the city due to the soft sandy soil; it was less severe in the mountainous western part as the structures were built on firmer terrain such as Gonzaga Fort which was unscathed and remains to date. The area between Cathedral Square and the 16th century Civic Hospital was obliterated; the adjacent Via Porta Imperiale was struck particularly hard. The Bocetta zone also received severe damage.


1908 Messina earthquake, Scale of destruction
The 17th-century Real Cittadella, which guarded the harbour, was partially destroyed. Huge crevasses and fissures opened in the streets and these as well as the mounds of rubble, and falling masonry, hampered those survivors who had fled from their razed homes to seek safety. Two of the main thoroughfares Via Garibaldi and Corso Cavour were rendered impassable by the hillocks of rubble and debris that measured 5 meters (16 ft) in height.


1908 Messina earthquake, Scale of destruction
Families had become separated and a torrential downpour of rain that had begun only minutes before the earthquake added to the confusion, impeding visibility along with the darkness and thick clouds of dust. The great gas tanks at the northern end of the city blew up, entombing living survivors and the already dead. Fires broke out, caused by broken gas pipes, which added to the chaos and destruction. The ground continued to shake with repeated aftershocks causing remaining structures to topple down onto the ruins of demolished edifices killing and injuring rescuers and those who had survived the mainshock.


1908 Messina earthquake, Scale of destruction
Survivors described having seen horribly disfigured bodies and injured people badly maimed and screaming for help. Cobbler Francesco Missiani and his family came upon two dying girls, of whom both had suffered appalling head and chest injuries. Processions of naked survivors carrying pictures of saints appeared in the streets. People with bare hands searched through the debris for trapped loved ones. Rescuers at the scene managed to save some people clinging precariously to gaping upper storeys, windows and teetering balconies by using ropes to pull them to safety. Similar scenes of destruction were replicated in Reggio Calabria.


1908 Messina earthquake, Scale of destruction
Its historical centre was eradicated and the monumental Aragonese Castle, one of the few edifices to have survived the 1783 earthquake, was badly damaged. With the exception of one mansion, all the structures in its principal thoroughfare Corso Garibaldi were destroyed including the Cathedral, municipal buildings and palazzi. Only about 50 houses remained standing in Reggio.


1908 Messina earthquake, Scale of destruction
The civilian and military hospitals in Messina, and the civic hospital in Reggio Calabria all lay in ruins with nearly all the doctors and nurses dead. The injured in the two cities had no medical support or medicine until outside relief arrived and hospital tents were set up. Telegraph lines were severed and railway lines mangled, making communication impossible. Most of Messina's officials were killed or gravely injured, along with almost the entire police force and soldiers of the garrison who perished when their respective barracks collapsed. Many officers in the garrison survived, their accommodation being more substantial.


1908 Messina earthquake, Scale of destruction
Prisoners who had escaped death when the prison fell began looting property and even robbing corpses of their jewellery. In Reggio an estimated 1,800 convicts died when the prison was destroyed. Peasants from nearby rural villages joined the looters. Troops were soon sent to the city and martial law was declared by General Feira Di Cossatto.


1908 Messina earthquake, Scale of destruction
Rescuers searched through the ruins for weeks, and whole families were still being pulled out alive days following the earthquake but thousands remained buried there. Buildings in Messina had not been constructed for earthquake resistance, having been built out of small stones and carelessly-applied mortar with heavy tiled roofs, ornamental cornices, unsupported cross beams and vulnerable foundations on soft soil. Many of the edifices had four or five storeys. The most populous areas in the city were concentrated in and around Via dei Monasteri (today Via XXIV Maggio), Via Pia Casa and Via Porta Imperiale; all of which were located in the historic city centre.


1908 Messina earthquake, Relief efforts
News of the disaster was carried to Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti by Italian torpedo boats which set out from Messina to Nicotera, where the telegraph lines were still working, but that was not accomplished until midnight at the end of the day. Rail lines in the area had been destroyed, often along with the railway stations.


1908 Messina earthquake, Relief efforts
The Italian navy and army responded and began searching, treating the injured, providing food and water, and evacuating refugees (as did every ship). Giolitti imposed martial law under the direction of General Francesco Mazza with all looters to be shot, which extended to survivors foraging for food and searching through the rubble for trapped family members. King Victor Emmanuel III and  Queen Elena arrived two days after the earthquake to assist the victims and survivors.


1908 Messina earthquake, Relief efforts, International response
The disaster made headlines worldwide and international relief efforts were launched. With the help of the Red Cross and sailors of the Russian and British fleets, search and cleanup were expedited. The Russian battleships Tsesarevich, and Slava and the cruisers Admiral Makarov, and Bogatyr, British battleship Exmouth and the cruisers Euryalus, Minerva, and Sutlej were ordered to provide assistance; the SS Afonwen was in Messina harbor during the quake (anchored in 45 fathoms (80 m) of water, but there were only 30 fathoms (55 m) when she sailed full of refugees). The French battleships Justice and Vérité, and three torpedo boat destroyers were ordered to Messina. The U.S. Navy's Great White Fleet and supply ships USS Celtic and USS Culgoa were also ordered to assist. Other nations' ships also responded.


1908 Messina earthquake, Relief efforts, Commemoration
The King of Italy later awarded a commemorative medal for 1908 earthquake assistance, struck in gold, silver and bronze.


1908 Messina earthquake, Relief efforts, Commemoration
Several streets in Messina have been named after the Russian sailors, including Largo dei Marinai Russi. In 2012, a monument to the Russian sailors, designed by Pietro Kufferle back in 1911, was installed in the city, and a bust of Emperor Nicholas II was opened in Taormina; subsequently, a bust of Admiral Fyodor Ushakov was set up in 2013.


1908 Messina earthquake, Aftermath, Reconstruction
When the reconstruction of Messina began from 1909, authorities mandated architecture able to withstand earthquakes of variable magnitude. Initially, a plan was adopted to demolish the remaining structures of Messina and to transfer the city and its port elsewhere in Sicily, but strong protests from the Messinesi led to the discarding of this suggestion.


1908 Messina earthquake, Aftermath, Reconstruction
Few structures survived the earthquake – they included the domed medieval Church of the Santissima Annunziata dei Catalani, the Gothic Santa Maria Alemanna church, the Byzantine San Tommaso Apostolo il Vecchio church, San Ranieri lighthouse, Forte del Santissimo Salvatore, the 18th century Palazzo Calapaj-d'Alcontres,   Giovanni Montorsoli's Fountain of Neptune and the Barbera spinning mill (later converted to a museum to house the art treasures salvaged from the ruins). The Real Cittadella, Matagrifone Castle, Vittorio Emanuele theatre and Monti di Pieta remained standing but sustained considerable damage.


1908 Messina earthquake, Aftermath, Reconstruction
The 16th-century Church of Ringo in the fishermen's quarter of the same name along the northern Messina riviera withstood the shock and survives to date. The "Scalinata Santa Barbara", large sections of the Muro Carlo V and a number of 18th and 19th century houses in the ancient quarter of Tirone survived; additionally some of the dwellings (known as le mignuni in local dialect) located in the slum of Avignone also remained standing relatively intact. In Reggio Calabria the Palazzo Nesci was one of the few 19th-century structures to withstand the earthquake.


1908 Messina earthquake, Aftermath, Reconstruction
The new city of Messina was constructed on the rubble of the old city using the plan of a modern layout of a "city regularly cut up like a checker board" with buildings of uniform size and height as presented in 1911 by architect Luigi Borzì (1853–1919). This necessitated the demolition of a number of edifices that were salvageable but did not conform to the new urban plan.


1908 Messina earthquake, Aftermath, Reconstruction
Engineer Pietro De Nava designed a similar modern checkerboard urban layout for Reggio Calabria.


1908 Messina earthquake, Aftermath, Relocation
In the wake of the earthquake many of the homeless residents of Messina and Calabria were relocated to various parts of Sicily and other regions of mainland Italy. Others, including the majority of the survivors from the poverty-stricken Avignone quarter of Messina,  were forced to emigrate to America. In 1909 the cargo ship Florida carried 850 such passengers away from Naples. Lost in a dense fog, the Florida collided with the Republic, a luxury passenger liner. Three people aboard the Florida were killed instantly. Within minutes, pandemonium broke out on the ship. The captain of the Florida, Angelo Ruspini, used extreme measures to regain control of the desperate passengers, including firing gunshots into the air. Eventually the survivors were rescued at sea and brought into New York Harbor where they would start a new life.


1908 Messina earthquake, Aftermath, Effects on society
The disaster affected the local economy and Messina faced a temporary depopulation after so many homeless survivors had sought refuge elsewhere; in particular Catania and Palermo where a large number found work as artisans. It has been estimated that only 19,000 remained with just 2000 in the old city centre. However, there was soon a huge influx of migrants, mostly from nearby Sicilian and Calabrian localities who were needed as necessary labourers for the reconstruction. According to the 1911 census the population of Messina had increased to 127,000. Among these were many  Messinesi who had returned to their native city. Men notably outnumbered the women which resulted in a decrease in marriages.


1908 Messina earthquake, Aftermath, Effects on society
As late as 2021 families were still living in the wooden barracks in zones known as Baraccopoli which were erected in 1909 to provide temporary housing for the homeless survivors.


1908 Messina earthquake, Aftermath, Effects on society
Because of its dearth of historical buildings due to the catastrophic 1908 earthquake, as well as the 1943 Allied bombardment during World War II, Messina has been called "the city without memory".


1908 Messina earthquake, Gallery
Bersaglieri digging in the ruins after the earthquake in Messina, December 1908


1908 Messina earthquake, Gallery
Homeless survivors of the earthquake of Messina, in 1908, under a tent.


1908 Messina earthquake, Gallery
Two photo reporters among the ruins after the earthquake in Messina, December 1908


1908 Messina earthquake, Gallery
The ruins of St.John of Malta church. The Prefecture of Messina was constructed on its site


1908 Miami Redskins football team
The 1908 Miami Redskins football team was an American football team that represented Miami University during the 1908 college football season. In its second and final season under head coach Amos Foster, the team compiled a perfect 7–0, shut out six of seven opponents, and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 113 to 10. The team captains were George Booth and T. Rymer.


1908 Michigan Agricultural Aggies football team
The 1908 Michigan Agricultural Aggies football team represented Michigan Agricultural College (MAC) in the 1908 college football season. In their fifth year under head coach Chester Brewer, the Aggies compiled a 6–0–2 record and outscored their opponents 205 to 22.


1908 Michigan Agricultural Aggies football team, Game summaries, Michigan
On October 10, 1908, the Aggies played Michigan to a scoreless tie in East Lansing. It was the fourth game in the Michigan–Michigan State football rivalry, and Michigan had won the three prior meetings by a combined score of 204 to 0. The game was played in front of 6,000 spectators at East Lansing's College Field, and the Aggies' fans "went wild with delight" when the game ended. In Ann Arbor, the result was met with disbelief among Michigan fans who had expected an easy win.


1908 Michigan Agricultural Aggies football team, Game summaries, Michigan
The Detroit Free Press called it "the greatest game of football ever seen in this part of the state." The Michigan Alumnus noted that Michigan's line was weak with Germany Schulz, Maurice Crumpacker and William Casey out of the game and opined that the Wolverines were outplayed and would have been defeated had it not been for Dave Allerdice repeatedly punting out of danger


1908 Michigan State Normal Normalites football team
The 1908 Michigan State Normal Normalites football team represented Michigan State Normal College (later renamed Eastern Michigan University) during the 1908 college football season. In their third and final season under head coach Henry Schulte, the Normalites compiled a record of 1–4 and were outscored by their opponents by a combined total of 40 to 15. Curry Hicks, who served as the school's head football coach in 1910, was the team captain.


1908 Michigan State Normal Normalites football team
In three years as Michigan Normal's football coach, Schulte compiled a 9–6–1 record. He later served as the head football coach at Missouri (1914-1917) and Nebraska (1919-1920).


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team
The 1908 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1908 college football season. The team's head coach was Fielding H. Yost in his eighth year at Michigan. The team compiled a 5–2–1 record, outscored opponents 128 to 81, and held five of seven opponents to six points or less. After opening the season with a 5–0–1 record, and allowing an average of four points per game, the Wolverines lost badly in back-to-back games against the 1908 national champion Penn Quakers (29–0) and Syracuse (28–4).


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team
Team captain and center Germany Schulz was academically ineligible for the first three games of the season, but his performance in the Penn game, withstanding the attack of multiple Penn players focused on knocking him out of the game, was told and re-told by sports writers for decades after the 1908 season had ended. In 1951, Schulz was selected as the greatest center in football history in a poll conducted by the National Football Foundation and became one of the initial inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame.


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team
Right halfback Dave Allerdice, who also handled punting and place-kicking responsibilities for Michigan, was the team's leading scorer with 64 points (exactly half of the team's total), despite missing the final game of the season with a broken collarbone. Allerdice also led the 1909 team in scoring and was a first-team All-American that year. Fullback Sam Davison scored six touchdowns in the team's November 1908 victory over Kentucky State. Davison's total is tied for second in Michigan history for the most touchdowns in a game, trailing Albert Herrnstein's seven touchdowns against the Michigan Aggies in 1902.


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team, Season summary, Schulz's academic ineligibility
Team captain Germany Schulz missed the first three games of the season, because he had "three conditions in the engineering course, more than a player can carry and continue his athletic relations". Though "every effort" had been made for two weeks to have the "conditions" removed, those efforts had failed. The eligibility board met and  concluded that Schulz could not play until he removed at least two of the conditions. Schulz ultimately had his eligibility restored in late October and was greeted with "cheers from the bleachers" when he appeared in his first practice on October 22, 1907.


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team, Season summary, Case
Michigan opened its 1908 season with a 16–6 victory over the team from Cleveland's Case Scientific School. The game was the 12th meeting between the two programs, and Michigan had won all 11 of the prior games by a combined score of 335 to 31.


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team, Season summary, Case
The game was scoreless for most of the first half. Near the end of the half, Michigan drove to Case's 10-yard line and took a 4–0 lead on a field goal by Dave Allerdice. Michigan added two touchdowns in the second half, one on a run by William P. Edmunds and the other on a run by Donald W. Green. The latter touchdown was set up by a 45-yard run by Edmunds. Allerdice converted both extra point kicks.


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team, Season summary, Case
Case's score came in the last five minutes of the game and followed a fumbled punt by Albert Benbrook at Michigan's 20-yard line. It was Case's first touchdown against Michigan since 1901. The team that played for Michigan against Case was inexperienced, with Germany Schulz, Sam Davison, William Casey, and William Embs all absent from the lineup. Yost said after the game that "he played only eleven men who knew the signals."


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team, Season summary, Case
Michigan's lineup against Case was Ranney (left end), Watkins (left tackle), Cully (left guard), Jeffries (center), Primeau (right guard), Benbrook (right tackle), Greene (right end), Wasmund (quarterback), Douglass (left halfback), Allerdice and Torrey (right halfback), and Edmunds (fullback). Clayton Teetzel, an assistant coach for Michigan, was the referee. The game was played in 20-minute halves.


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team, Season summary, at Michigan Agricultural
In the second week of the season, Michigan played Michigan Agricultural to a scoreless tie in East Lansing. It was the fourth game in the Michigan–Michigan State football rivalry, and Michigan had won the three prior meetings by a combined score of 204 to 0.


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team, Season summary, at Michigan Agricultural
The game was played in front of 6,000 spectators at East Lansing's College Field, and the Aggies' fans "went wild with delight" when the game ended. In Ann Arbor, the result was met with disbelief among Michigan fans who had expected an easy win. The Detroit Free Press called it "the greatest game of football ever seen in this part of the state." The Michigan Alumnus noted that Michigan's line was weak with Germany Schulz, Maurice Crumpacker and William Casey out of the game and opined that the Wolverines were outplayed and would have been defeated had it not been for Dave Allerdice repeatedly punting out of danger.


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team, Season summary, at Michigan Agricultural
Michigan's lineup against Michigan Agricultural was Embs (left end), Watkins (left tackle), Kuhr (left guard), Jeffries (center), Primeau (right guard), Benbrook (right tackle), Greene and Lawton (right end), Wasmund (quarterback), Douglass (left halfback), Allerdice (right halfback), and Edmunds (fullback). Neil Snow, the former Michigan All-American, was the referee. The game was played in 25-minute halves.


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team, Season summary, Notre Dame
On October 17, 1908, Michigan defeated Notre Dame, 12–6, at Ann Arbor's Ferry Field. The game was the eighth meeting in the Michigan–Notre Dame football rivalry. Michigan had won the first seven games (five of them by shutouts) by a combined score of 109 to 10.


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team, Season summary, Notre Dame
Dave Allerdice scored all 12 of Michigan's points on three field goals – two in the first half and one in the last minute of the game. In addition to Allerdice, William Casey and Albert Benbrook were praised for their play against Notre Dame. Notre Dame fullback Vaughan scored the only touchdown of the game on a long run from the 50-yard line.


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team, Season summary, Notre Dame
Michigan's lineup against Notre Dame was Embs (left end), Casey (left tackle), Crumpacker (left guard), Brennan (center), Primeau (right guard), Benbrook (right tackle), Ranney (right end), Wasmund (quarterback), Douglass (left halfback), Allerdice (right halfback), and Davison (fullback). Hoagland of Princeton was the referee. The game was played in 25-minute halves.


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team, Season summary, at Ohio State
For its fourth game, Michigan defeated Ohio State, 10–6, in Columbus. The game was the 10th meeting in the Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry, with Michigan having won eight of the prior meetings and tied once.


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team, Season summary, at Ohio State
For the second consecutive week, right halfback Dave Allerdice accounted for every point scored by the Wolverines. Allerdice scored the team's 10 points on a touchdown, a field goal, and an extra point. After taking a 6-4 lead at halftime, Michigan's touchdown came at the start of the second half and was set up by a trick play. Allerdice faked a field goal, then passed the ball to Roy Ranney from midfield. Ranney was tackled at the two-yard line, and Allerdice ran for the touchdown from there and then kicked the extra point.


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team, Season summary, at Ohio State
Michigan's lineup against Ohio State was Embs (left end), Casey (left tackle), Benbrook (left guard), Schulz (center), Primeau (right guard), Crumpacker (right tackle), Ranney (right end), Wasmund (quarterback), Douglass and Greene (left halfback), Allerdice (right halfback), and Davison (fullback). Hoagland of Princeton was the referee. The game was played in 35-minute halves.


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team, Season summary, Vanderbilt
On October 31, 1908, Michigan defeated Vanderbilt at Ferry Field by a score of 24 to 6. The game matched Michigan head coach Fielding H. Yost against his former player and brother-in-law, Dan McGugin. Owing to the relationship between Yost and McGugin, the two teams played nine times between 1905 and 1923, with Michigan winning eight games and tying one.


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team, Season summary, Vanderbilt
Right halfback Dave Allerdice accounted for 19 of Michigan's points with a touchdown, three field goals, and two extra points. Fullback Sam Davison also scored a touchdown, accounting for the remaining five points. Michigan's lineup against Vanderbilt was Embs (left end), Casey (left tackle), Benbrook (left guard), Schulz (center), Primeau (right guard), Crumpacker (right tackle), Lawton and Ranney (right end), Wasmund (quarterback), Douglass (left halfback), Allerdice (right halfback), and Davison (fullback). Bradley Walker of Virginia was the referee, and Neil Snow was the umpire. The game was played in 35-minute halves.


1908 Michigan Wolverines football team, Season summary, Kentucky State
On November 7, 1908, the Wolverines defeated the team from Kentucky State by a score of 62 to 0, the team's highest point total since the 1905 "Point-a-Minute" team scored 75 points against Oberlin College. The game was the first and only meeting between the two schools.