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Born on December 18, 1863, the eldest son of Archduke Karl-Ludwig von Habsburg and his wife, Princess Annunziata di Borbone, Franz Ferdinand was third in line to the thrown of the Austro-Hungarian Empire upon his birth. After his cousin Crown Prince Rudolf committed suicide in 1889 and his father died in 1896, Franz Ferdinand became the heir of his aging uncle Emperor Franz Josef. He eloped with Countess Sophie Chotek in 1900, but this marriage was considered unequal and they were forced to renounce rights of rank and succession for their three children. A radical reformist, Franz Ferdinand had a number of new ideas he planned to implement when he became Emperor, one of them giving Slavs an equal voice in the empire. After the annexation of Bosnia by Austria, he decided to go on a tour of his new province in 1914 in hopes of fostering good will with his new subjects. A Serbian terrorist group called The Black Hand sent three of its members to murder Franz Ferdinand and his wife as they visited Sarajevo. Their first assassination attempt, throwing a bomb at the Archduke's car, failed, though a number of bystanders were wounded. The assassins almost gave up their plans, and one of them, Gavrilo Princip, wandered off down the street. Meanwhile, the Archduke and Archduchess decided to visit the wounded in the hospital, but their driver took a wrong turn and they ended up on the same street as Princip. Seizing his chance, Princip stepped forward and fired several times into the car, fatally wounding both Franz Ferdinand and Sophie. They were raced to the governor's mansion where they were pronounced dead. Not only did this act of violence orphan their three young children, it also set off a series of events that led directly to World War I.

Grace McHugh was born in 1898 in Golden, Colorado, USA. She was an actress, known for Across the Border (1914). She died on 1 July 1914 in near Canon City, Colorado, USA.

Stellan Rye was born on 4 July 1880 in Randers, Denmark. He was a director and writer, known for Der Flug in die Sonne (1914), Ein Sommernachtstraum in unserer Zeit (1914) and L'étudiant de Prague (1913). He died on 14 November 1914 in France.

Johann Schwarzer was born on 30 August 1880 in Javornik, Silesia, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]. Johann was a director and cinematographer, known for Zimmer zu Vermieten (1908), Sklavenmarkt (1907) and Weibliche Ringkämpfer. Johann died on 8 October 1914 in Wierzbolów, Poland, Russian Empire [now Virbalis, Lithuania].

Alfred Henry Lewis, noted journalist and author, was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1855, the son of Isaac Lewis, a carpenter. When Lewis was quite young his family moved to Painesville, Ohio. Alfred H. Lewis married in Richfield, Ohio in 1879 to Miss Alice Ewing, the daughter of Dr. A. E. Ewing.

Lewis was educated as a lawyer and began to practice in Cleveland. From 1879 to 1881 he was a police prosecutor in that city. While still a lawyer, Lewis began to dabble in newspaper work as a Cleveland police reporter. About 1882, he moved west to Kansas City, and from there traveled in the southwest collecting frontier lore from the colorful characters of Kansas, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. The cowboys and miners Lewis met in his western travels became the dominant figures in his books. His first western sketches were printed in Kansas City newspapers. They were stories of the "Old Cattleman," signed "Dan Quin," his pseudonym.

Lewis was a prodigious worker. In 15 years he produced 18 works, many of which were widely popular. He specialized in western stories and tales of the New York underworld. Among his most popular books were the "Wolfville" series, "The Sunset Trail", Episodes of Cowboy Life", "Peggy O'Neil", and "The Boss".

By 1890, Lewis was an established journalist, a writer of political articles, by which he established a reputation as one of the foremost political writers of the country.

In the newspaper field Lewis was best known as Washington correspondent of the Chicago Times and New York Journal. He was a regular contributor to Collier's, Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan and other magazines. In 1896 Lewis became the Washington correspondent for the Hearst newspapers and held that position for two years. He then became editor of "The Verdict," a humorous weekly, but soon turned his attention again to fiction and political writing for the Hearst newspapers.

In his later years, he was described as a short, squatty man with a square chin. He was noted for the prodigious amounts of coffee he drank each day.

Two of his brothers, Irving and William, controlled the publication of the New York Morning Telegraph, a theatrical daily newspaper.

He died at the age of 59 from an intestinal disorder on December 23, 1914 in Manhattan, New York. He was survived by his wife, Alice and his two brothers.

Like Bret Harte and Mark Twain, he first came into prominence through his stories of the west. It is probable he caught the spirit and vernacular of the latter-day West more accurately than any writer of his era. He had a host of imitators, but it was he that set the pace in rich humor and measured pathos and simple human nature.

Brandon Thomas was born on 24 December 1848 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Charley's Aunt (1930), Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt (1940) and Playhouse 90 (1956). He was married to Marguerite Blanche Leverson. He died on 19 June 1914 in Bloomsbury, London Borough of Camden, Greater London, England, UK.

Pierre Souvestre was born on 1 June 1874 in Plomelin, Finistère, France. He was a writer, known for Fantomas, Fantômas (1964) and Untitled Fantomas/Wassim Beji/SND Series. He died on 26 February 1914 in Paris, France.

Duchess Sophie von Hohenberg was born on 1 March 1868 in Stuttgart, Germany. She was married to Archduke Franz Ferdinand. She died on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Flora Foster was born on 4 March 1898 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for David Copperfield (1911), A Country Cupid (1911) and The Old Confectioner's Mistake (1911). She died on 21 September 1914 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Antonio Grisanti was born on 26 October 1859 in Cunico, Piedmont, Italy. He was an actor, known for Les derniers jours de Pompei (1913), Les fiancés (1913) and Une partie d'échecs (1912). He died on 17 May 1914 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy.

Camillo Boito was born on 30 October 1836 in Rome, Papal State [now Lazio, Italy]. He was a writer, known for Heureuse époque (1952), Senso (1954) and Senso '45 (2002). He died on 28 June 1914 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.

Sam Corker, Jr. was familiar with both sides of the entertainment business, being knowledgeable about the business and administrative end of as well as being a topflight performer in front of the footlights. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, he was the son of a fisherman who served in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The son decided that his fate led elsewhere, and when he was in his teens, he headed north to New York City where he got a job as an usher at Augustin Daly's theatre on Broadway. In 1897, Corker was the business manager for Bob Cole and Billy Johnson's traveling minstrel show, "A Trip to Coontown." In 1904, he managed the road company of "In Dahomey," eventually traveling to Great Britain, to great acclaim. In 1908, he was briefly the manager of the Pekin Theatre in Chicago and later involved in organizing minstrel shows and booking vaudeville acts. He died as the result of a fall from a ladder and was buried in his home town of Charleston.

Gladys Rankin was born on October 8, 1870 in New York City. Her father was actor Arthur McKee Rankin and her mother was actress Kitty Blanchard. She began acting on the stage when she was a child. One of her first starring roles was in The Runaway Wife. At the age of eighteen she married actor Sidney Drew. The couple costarred in the plays The Burglar and That Girl From Mexico. Their son, S. Rankin Drew, was born in 1891. Gladys and Sidney became a popular duo and they were first actors to perform drama in vaudeville. They also appeared together in the 1901 Broadway show Sweet And Twenty. She was usually billed as "Mrs. Sidney Drew". Her sister Doris Rankin married actor John Barrymore in 1904. Gladys was a talented author who wrote scripts using the pen name "George Cameron".

In 1908 her dramatic play Agnes was produced on Broadway. She made her film debut in the 1911 comedy The Red Devils. It was directed by Sidney and was based on one of their vaudeville sketches. Gladys wrote numerous short films including The Still Voice, A Sweet Deception, and The Line-Up. Sidney starred in all the films she wrote. Sadly in 1913 she was diagnosed with cancer. On January 9, 1914 she died from the disease at the age of forty-three. She was buried at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York, Just six months after her death Sidney married actress Lucille McVey who would also billed as "Mrs. Sidney Drew". Gladys's son, S. Rankin Drew, became an actor but tragically he was killed during World War 1. She is the great-grand aunt of actress Drew Barrymore.

Peyo Yavorov was born on 1 January 1878 in Chirpan, Kingdom of Bulgaria. He was a writer, known for Dve hubavi ochi (2001). He was married to Lora Karavelova. He died on 29 October 1914 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Gustav Wied was born on 6 March 1858 in Nakskov, Denmark. He was a writer, known for Das Feuer (1914), Thummelumsen (1941) and Sort høst (1993). He was married to Alice Tutein. He died on 24 October 1914 in Roskilde, Denmark.

Tom Gallon was born on 5 December 1866 in London, England, UK. Tom was a writer, known for Off the Highway (1925), The Princess of Happy Chance (1916) and The Woman Who Was Nothing (1917). Tom died on 4 November 1914 in London, England, UK.

Victor Arnold was a Vienna born comic actor of the German stage during the second decade of the 2oth century, who mentored the future film director Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin and encouraged him to go for comedy roles rather than heavy drama.Arnold was short and stocky and not especially good looking and used these characteristics to good effect. He worked with pioneering director Max Reinhardt and with Felix Hollaender. Arnold and Lubitsch played together in the films The Perfect Thirty Six and The Pride of the Firm.Arnold also was in an early version of the Sumurun story which Lubitsch would later film. In the lead up to WWII, Arnold's mental health deteriorated and he was put in a sanatorium after which he cut his throat in October of 1914.

Edwin Barbour was born on 2 July 1857 in Cresco, Iowa, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Northern Lights (1914), À travers la tempête (1924) and The Fiancee and the Fairy (1913). He died on 15 September 1914 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Frederick Sleigh Roberts was born on 30 September 1832 in Cawnpore, British India. He was married to Nora Henrietta Bews. He died on 14 November 1914 in Saint-Omer, Pas-de-Calais, France.

Count Alberti was born in September 1849 in Germany. He was an actor, known for A Spanish Wooing (1911), A Diplomat Interrupted (1912) and Merely a Millionaire (1912). He died on 29 October 1914 in California, USA.

Donald Smith was born on 6 August 1820 in Forres, Moray, Scotland, UK. He was married to Isabella Sophia Hardisty . He died on 21 January 1914 in London, England, UK.

Ellen Axson Wilson was born on 15 May 1860 in Savannah, Georgia, USA. She was married to Woodrow Wilson. She died on 6 August 1914 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.

Arturo Colautti was born in 1851 in Zadar, Croatia, Austria-Hungary [now Croatia]. He was a writer, known for Adriana Lecouvreur (2011), The Metropolitan Opera HD Live (2006) and One More Kiss (1999). He died on 9 November 1914 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Väinö Kataja was born on 28 September 1867 in Hailuoto, Finland. He was a writer, known for La Mort dans les rapides (1937), Noidan kirot (1927) and Koskenlaskijan morsian (1923). He died on 2 December 1914.

Frédéric Mistral was born on 8 September 1830 in Maillane, Provence, France. He was a writer and actor, known for Mireille (1934), Mireille (1909) and Mireille (1922). He was married to Marie Louise Aimée Rivière. He died on 25 March 1914 in Maillane, Provence, France.