A remarkable display of the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights was observed across the northern latitudes in Europe and North America.  Near London, at one a.m. local time, the lights extended to three quarters of the northern sky with a brightness not seen in living memory.  (By John Osborne)

At ten in the morning a massive explosion took place in a storage house at the Ballincollig Powder Mills near Cork in southern Ireland and killed all five men working there.  Many of the buildings of the mills were destroyed and neighboring village homes also suffered heavy damage.  Only portions of the victims' remains were found.  (By John Osborne) 

The main building of the Massachusetts State Reform School for Boys was completely destroyed in an early morning fire.  Police arrested one of the 560 juvenile inmates as the culprit.  None of the other residents escaped from the institution during the destruction of the school.  (By John Osborne)

 A fire broke out in central Lawrence, Massachusetts and destroyed the United States Hotel, the Central Congregational Church, the new Courthouse, and heavily damaged the nearby Congressional Church.  Three men lost their lives in the collapse of the hotel.  (By John Osborne)

The American Scientific Association completed a successful annual convention in Springfield, Massachusetts.  The next meeting was planned to open on August 1, 1860 in Newport, Rhode Island.  (By John Osborne)