Today in History ^01/13/17

January 13, 2017 by GµårÐïåñ

Illustration depicting Dr. William Brydon arriving at Jelalabad, Afghanistan, with news of British deaths during the First Anglo-Afghan War in 1842 (© Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

(1842) Brydon survives massacre that kills 16,500

Emerging from an enemy attack on his retreating British army’s line leaving Kabul, Afghanistan, Dr. William Brydon and a few Indian sepoys (soldiers) stagger into a Jalalabad sentry post as the sole witnesses to the massacre.

William Brydon CB was an assistant surgeon in the British East India Company Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, famous for reportedly being the only member of an army of 4,500 men, plus 12,000 accompanying civilians, to reach safety in Jalalabad at the end of the long retreat from Kabul.
wiki/William_Brydon

Open letter in the newspaper L'Aurore by the writer Émile Zola, accusing French President France Felix Faure and the government for anti-Semitism and the unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus (© SSPL/Getty Images)

(1898) Zola’s ‘J’accuse!’ defends Dreyfus, thrashes military

French novelist Émile Zola publishes his spirited defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, an officer of Jewish background charged with treason. Zola points to evidence of an army cover-up and accuses the military of anti-Semitism. The letter will spark heated debates in France about equal rights for all citizens.

“J’accuse…!” was an open letter published on 13 January 1898 in the newspaper L’Aurore by the influential writer Émile Zola. In the letter, Zola addressed President of France Félix Faure and accused the government of anti-Semitism and the unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus, a French Army General Staff officer who was sentenced to lifelong penal servitude for espionage. Zola pointed out judicial errors and lack of serious evidence. The letter was printed on the front page of the newspaper and caused a stir in France and abroad. Zola was prosecuted for and found guilty of libel on 23 February 1898. To avoid imprisonment, he fled to England, returning home in June 1899.

Author: Émile Zola
First published: Jan 13, 1898

wiki/J’accuse…!

An Edison Bell portable wireless set (© Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

(1910) World’s first radio broadcast

The Radio Telephone Company transmits live performances of Enrico Caruso performing opera arias at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera House. Radio receivers on ships in New York harbor, in hotels, and elsewhere throughout New York allow the public to hear the world’s first public wireless broadcast .

Birth of public radio broadcasting is credited to Lee de Forest. On January 13, 1910, the first public radio broadcast was an experimental transmission of a live Metropolitan Opera House performance of several famous opera singers.
wiki/Birth_of_public_radio_broadcasting

Singer Johnny Cash (© Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

(1968) Johnny Cash records live album ‘At Folsom Prison’

Newly sober after a serious drug problem, Johnny Cash brings his band, and wife June Carter Cash, to Folsom State Prison in California to record two live sets. The album will sell millions and revitalize the career of The Man in Black.

At Folsom Prison is a live album and 27th overall album by Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in May 1968. After his 1955 song “Folsom Prison Blues”, Cash had been interested in recording a performance at a prison. His idea was put on hold until 1967, when personnel changes at Columbia Records put Bob Johnston in charge of producing Cash’s material. Cash had recently controlled his drug abuse problems, and was looking to turn his career around after several years of limited commercial success. Backed with June Carter, Carl Perkins and the Tennessee Three, Cash performed two shows at Folsom State Prison in California on January 13, 1968. The resulting album consisted of fifteen tracks from the first show and two tracks from the second.

Release year: 1968
Genre: Country, Traditional Country
Label: COLUMBIA/LEGACY
Artists: Johnny Cash · The Tennessee Three

wiki/At_Folsom_Prison

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Today in History ^10/22/16

October 22, 2016 by GµårÐïåñ

(1797) A gutsy parachutist takes a plunge over Paris

	Inspired by his time confined behind the high ramparts of a Hungarian prison, French balloonist André-Jacques Garnerin floats 3,200 feet above Paris, releases the hydrogen balloon from his new invention the parachute, and under a 23-foot wide canopy he descends safely to the ground..
André-Jacques Garnerin was a balloonist and the inventor of the frameless parachute. He was appointed Official Aeronaut of France. Garnerin was born in Paris. He was captured by British troops during the first phase of the French Revolutionary Wars 1792–1797, turned over to the Austrians and held as a prisoner of war in Buda in Hungary for three years. Born: Jan 31, 1769 · Paris, France Died: Aug 18, 1823 · Paris, France Spouse: Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse Siblings: Jean-Baptiste-Olivier Garnerin (Brother) — Source: wiki/André-Jacques_Garnerin
(1910) A body buried in the basement leads to Crippen’s conviction

Months after Dr. Crippen’s spouse disappeared, police turn up human remains buried in the basement of his home. Today, after a sensational trial at London’s Old Bailey, it takes the jury only 27 minutes to find Hawley Harvey Crippen guilty of murdering his wife. .
Hawley Harvey Crippen, usually known as Dr Crippen, was an American homeopath, ear and eye specialist and medicine dispenser. He was hanged in Pentonville Prison for the murder of his wife Cora Henrietta Crippen, and was the first suspect to be captured with the aid of wireless telegraphy. Born: Sep 11, 1862 · Coldwater, MI Died: Nov 23, 1910 · HM Prison Pentonville, United Kingdom Education: University of Michigan — Source: wiki/Hawley_Harvey_Crippen
(1964) French existentialist turns down his Nobel Prize

	Arguably one of the most notable public intellectuals of the 20th century, Jean-Paul Sartre, is this year’s winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature for work the committee deems ‘filled with the spirit of freedom.’ The French philosopher exercises this same spirit and declines the honor. .
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism and phenomenology, and one of the leading figures in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism. Lived: Jun 21, 1905 – Apr 15, 1980 (age 74) Height: 5′ 0″ (1.53 m) Romance: Simone de Beauvoir Awards: Nobel Prize in Literature (1964) Buried: Montparnasse Cemetery Education: École Normale Supérieure · Lycée Louis-le-Grand — Source: wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre
(1978) Poland’s Cardinal Wojtyła inaugurated as pope

Elected six days earlier, Karol Józef Wojtyła, 58, is now inaugurated as Pope John Paul II, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years and the second youngest in history. His pontificate will last 26 years, take him to 129 countries, and lead to sainthood less than a decade after his death. .
Pope Saint John Paul II, born Karol Józef Wojtyła, was Pope from 1978 to 2005. He is widely known to Catholics as Saint John Paul the Great, especially in the names of institutions. Lived: May 18, 1920 – Apr 02, 2005 (age 84) Height: 5′ 10″ (1.78 m) Parents: Karol Wojtyła (Father) · Emilia Kaczorowska (Mother) Education: Jagiellonian University (1953 – 1954) · Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (1947 – 1948) Siblings: Edmund Wojtyła (Brother) · Olga Wojtyła (Sister) — Source: wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II
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A Historical Day

June 19, 2016 by GµårÐïåñ

(1865) Last slaves in America are declared free
	General Gordon Granger arrives on Galveston Island, Texas, with official news for the state’s slaves: More than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been implemented, America’s remaining slaves are freed. The day will be celebrated in Texas, and later in other states, as ‘Juneteenth.’.
(1867) Austrian-born Emperor of Mexico faces firing squad
Born in Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace as a descendant of the House of Habsburg, brother to Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I, and installed as the ruler of Mexico by France’s Napoleon III, Maximilian I ends his 3-year reign as Mexico’s emperor in front of Benito Juarez’s firing squad. .
(1910) Daughter of Civil War vet inaugurates Father’s Day
	After hearing a Mother’s Day sermon, Sonora Dodd inaugurates a Father’s Day celebration to honor her father, a Civil War vet and single dad of six children. Dodd’s campaigning will take decades, but the third Sunday in June will catch on throughout the US as a day to honor dads..
(1975) Missing member of the House of Lords found guilty of murder
For the first time in more than two centuries, a member of Britain’s House of Lords is found guilty of murder. But Richard John Bingham, the 7th Earl of Lucan, is not present to receive sentencing for the bludgeoning death of his children’s nanny, having disappeared months previously. .