January 13, 1909 (Wednesday)
- Determined to make one more demonstration of his toughness in his last months in office, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt set off to ride 100 miles (160 km) on horseback in one day. Accompanied by his military aide, Captain Archibald Butt, Navy Surgeon General Presley M. Rixey, and Surgeon C.D. Grayson, President Roosevelt set out at 3:40 a.m., riding to Warrenton, Virginia, and returned to the White House, the last 30 miles (48 km) in a blizzard, at 8:40 that evening. The press, however, gave him credit for only 98 miles (158 km). When reporters asked him for a quote, the President replied, "It was bully."
- Carrie Nation, infamous for her destruction of American saloons, was arrested at Newcastle-on-Tyne for vandalizing a British pub. Nation, on a visit to the United Kingdom, was later released on bail.
- Born: Danny Barker, American jazz banjoist, in New Orleans (d. 1994); and Marinus van der Lubbe, Dutch native who was charged with the burning of the German Reichstag in 1933; in Leiden (executed 1934)
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