Another problem was that the media was hyping up Halleys by saying how spectacular it looked in 1910, but left out the fact that Earth went through its tail in 1910, so of course it looked spectacular.
I seem to remember hearing that. Did this cause an impressive meteor shower?
I haven't seen anything about that from the time as most of the attention was on the comet, but something might show up in the 1910 newspapers. However, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower, which peaks around 6 May, is associated with Halley's comet, as are the Orionids, which peak on 21 October.
The earth passed through Halley's tail on 18 or 19 May 2010 (depending on your time zone), so it would be interesting to see if the Eta Aquarids appeared years before from a previous pass of the comet.
Halley's comet also occulted the sun from earth on the 18th of May 1910, and I couldn't get my head around how it did that, but an illustration in the Melbourne, Australia, Age newspaper of 19 May shows that it had already looped around the sun and was heading away from it, toward earth, and on the 19th was roughly where Venus reaches in it's orbit, with it's tail pointing at earth, directly away from the sun.
The other thing about Halley's two passes of the 20th century is that from earth's perspective its tail was nearly at right angles at its greatest in 1910, whereas the tail pointed away from earth more quickly in 1986 and the comet was much further from earth on that pass.
The Age, Melbourne, Friday 19 May 1910
Halley's Comet
Earth passes through tail – Panic stricken Negroes – Observations in Germany
London, 19th May
American newspapers are filled with information regarding Halley's comet. The interest is increased by the fact that the earth passes through the tail of the comet to-day. Balls, receptions and breakfast parties have been arranged to take place on the roofs of hotels at New York while the comet is visible.
In the Southern States of America the negroes are in a state of panic, as they believe that the comet heralds disaster to the earth. Many have suspended their work and are devoting their time to prayer meetings. Others are half crazed, and are hiding in cellars. Insurance agents are reaping a rich harvest owing to the prevalence of the belief that many people will perish when the earth passes through the comet's tail.
At St Petersburg many people decided to spend last night in the churches. Continuous prayers were held.
Professor Bannard, of Yerkes Observatory, states that the comet's tail is brighter than any portion of the Milky Way. Its length is 107 deg., and its greatest width is 5 to 6 deg.
Several American observatories report that three large spots were visible on the sun yesterday. The spots were intensely black.
Splendid photographs were secured by the observatory at Heluan (15 miles south of Cairo) by means of a Reynolds reflecting telescope. These photographs show a vivid nucleus enveloped in a tail with a parabolic outline
The passage of the comet was seen at Aden. The head was invisible, and the tail resembled a searchlight.
The American observatories report that the tail of the comet is still in the eastern horizon. The observatory at St Thomas, one of the Danish islands in the West Indies, reports that an enormous beam of light is stretched across two-thirds of the firmament.
The observations of astronomers in France yielded no result. Many of the people of Paris stayed up all night. Some spent the time in feasting and others in praying, as they expected the end of the world would come.
German observatories obtained merely negative results, except that at Munich, where a glimpse of the comet passing across the sun's disc was obtained. French and German astronomers observed the three large black spots on the sun.
At the town of Oklahoma, in the United States, some religious fanatics seized a girl of sixteen years, and, after clothing her in spotless white robes, were about to kill her as a sacrifice to the comet. The police interfered in time to save her.
At Constantinople many families withdrew their children from school with the idea that all of the members of their families might die together when the earth passed through the comet's tail. Thousands of people at Constantinople slept the night on the roofs and terraces of their houses.
Note: "Professor Bannard", of Yerkes Observatory is more likely E. E. Barnard.