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The first transcontinental telephone conversations are held between the city and Boston, New York and Jeykl Island, Georgia. Among those chatting are President Woodrow Wilson and telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell. Jan. 26
Three hundred thousand attend the world opening day at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, visiting 60,000 exhibits and pavilions created by 41 nations, 43 states and three U.S. territories. Feb. 21
Police efforts to dry out the city's most libidinous district have faltered mightily, according to an Examiner investigation which found and named 14 dance halls selling whiskey and beer. "The police commission nailed a lid on the Barbary Coast and then shot the lid full of holes." April 11
At least eight San Franciscans and two Oaklanders are on the manifest of the ocean liner Lusitania, sunk by German torpedoes off the coast of Ireland. May 8
Richmond district police claim to have captured the world's biggest burglar, 6-foot 8-inch 250-pound Frank Taylor, 19, after he knocked a gardener unconscious when the man complained Taylor was trampling his potatoes. June 4
A small note at the bottom of the editorial page: Our Weekly Health Hint: Don't cross Market Street. July 18
At the Exposition, 50,000 view the Liberty Bell, carted in from Philadelphia and displayed upon a Persian rug which for 200 years has sat at the foot of the Shah. July 19
The wife of Brig. Gen. John J. Pershing and three of their four children are killed in a fire in the Presidio. August 28
Bank robber George Nelson holds off 100 policemen in a nightlong gun battle at a lodging house at Oak and Buchanan streets before killing himself as officers prepare to charge into the room. The house's owner is killed by a stray bullet. Sept. 13
After a "zig-zag chase of 12,500 miles over the United States and Canada" ending in Utah and Ohio, the secret service captures two former Oakland policemen charged with counterfeiting $100,000 in bogus $5 gold pieces. It is believed their counterfeit plant will soon be discovered in Oakland. Oct. 17
After a legal complaint is drawn up by the law firm of Stidger & Stidger, authorities are called upon to suppress a parrot deemed a public nuisance by its neighbors; it seems the bird shouts profanities and relays overheard gossip. However, two policeman dispatched to interview the parrot, hear it say nothing more offensive than "Rats!" Nov. 7
Hundreds of citizens troop through the city's $3.5 million City Hall as it is dedicated, three years after groundbreaking. Mayor Rolph in his dedication speech notes that the previous City Hall had taken 30 years to build and $5 million had been spent on it before it was destroyed in 1906. Dec. 29