1910

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Today in History 06/19/17

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Participants march in the Juneteenth celebration parade through the streets of Harlem in New York in 2011 (© Richard Levine/Alamy)(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.’
Juneteenth, also known as Juneteenth Independence Day or Freedom Day, is a holiday that commemorates the June 19, 1865 announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas, and more generally the emancipation of African-American slaves throughout the Confederate South. Celebrated on June 19, the word is a portmanteau of “June” and “nineteenth”. Juneteenth is recognized as a state holiday or special day of observance in most states.
wiki/Juneteenth
Emperor of Mexico and Archduke of Austria, Maximillian I, circa 1860 (© Imagno/Getty Images)(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.

Maximilian (Spanish: Maximiliano; born Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph; 6 July 1832 – 19 June 1867) was the only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire. He was a younger brother of the Austrian emperor Francis Joseph I. After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy, he accepted an offer by Napoleon III of France to rule Mexico. France (along with the United Kingdom and Spain, who both withdrew the following year after negotiating agreements with Mexico’s democratic government) had invaded Mexico in the winter of 1861, as part of the War of the French Intervention. Seeking to legitimize French rule in the Americas, Napoleon III invited Maximilian to establish a new Mexican monarchy for him. With the support of the French army, and a group of conservative Mexican monarchists hostile to the liberal administration of new Mexican President Benito Juárez, Maximilian traveled to Mexico. Once there, he declared himself Emperor of Mexico on 10 April 1864.

The Empire managed to gain recognition by major European powers including Britain, Austria, and Prussia. The United States however, continued to recognize Juarez as the legal president of Mexico. Maximilian never completely defeated the Mexican Republic; Republican forces led by President Benito Juárez continued to be active during Maximilian’s rule. With the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the United States (which had been too distracted by its own civil war to confront the Europeans’ 1861 invasion of what it considered to be its sphere of influence) began more explicit aid of President Juárez’s forces. Matters worsened for Maximilian after the French armies withdrew from Mexico in 1866. His self-declared empire collapsed, and he was captured and executed by the Mexican government in 1867. His wife, Charlotte of Belgium (Carlota), had left for Europe earlier to try to build support for her husband’s regime; after his execution, she suffered an emotional collapse and was declared insane.


wiki/Maximilian_I_of_Mexico
Sonora Dodd, founder of Father's Day (© Nicholas K. Geranios/AP)(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.
Father’s Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. The tradition was said to be started from a memorial service held for a large group of men who died in a mining accident in Monongah, West Virginia in 1907. It was first proposed by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington in 1909. It is currently celebrated in the United States annually on the third Sunday in June.
wiki/Father’s_Day_(United_States)
Lord Lucan, Richard John Bingham, aristocrat and alleged murderer in 1963 (© Douglas Miller/Keystone/Getty Images)(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.
Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan, commonly known as Lord Lucan, was a British peer suspected of murder who disappeared in 1974. He was born into an Anglo-Irish aristocratic family in Marylebone, the eldest son of George Bingham, 6th Earl of Lucan, by his marriage to Kaitlin Dawson. An evacuee during the Second World War, Lucan returned to attend Eton College, and then from 1953 to 1955 served with the Coldstream Guards in West Germany. He developed a taste for gambling and, skilled at backgammon and bridge, became an early member of the Clermont Club. Although his losses often exceeded his winnings, he left his job at a London-based merchant bank and became a professional gambler. He was known as Lord Bingham during his father’s earldom from April 1949 until January 1964.
Born: Dec 18, 1934 · Marylebone, England
Died: 1981
Children: George Bingham, 8th Earl of Lucan (Son) · Lady Frances Bingham (Daughter)
Parents: George Bingham, 6th Earl of Lucan (Father)
Education: Eton College
Highlights
  • 1960: In 1960 he met Stephen Raphael, a rich stockbroker who was a skilled backgammon player.

  • 1964: Two months after the wedding, on 21 January 1964, the 6th Earl of Lucan died of a stroke.

  • 1972: The combined pressures of maintaining their finances, paying for Lucan’s gambling addiction and Veronica’s weakened mental condition took their toll on the marriage; two weeks after a strained family Christmas in 1972, Lucan moved into a small property in Eaton Row.

  • 1972: Lucan told his friends that nobody would work for Veronica (she sacked the children’s long-term nanny, Lillian Jenkins, in December 1972).

  • 1974: The last confirmed sighting of Lucan was at about 1:15 am on 8 November 1974 as he exited the driveway of the Maxwell-Scott property, in his friend’s Ford Corsair.

  • 1974: A warrant for Lucan’s arrest, to answer charges of murdering Sandra Rivett, and attempting to murder his wife, was issued on Tuesday 12 November 1974.

wiki/John_Bingham,_7th_Earl_of_Lucan
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Today in History 01/13/17

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

Today in History
(1797) A gutsy parachutist takes a plunge over Paris
1797 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. . 1910

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
1964 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. . 1978

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

(1865) Last slaves in America are declared free
1865 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. . 1867
(1910) Daughter of Civil War vet inaugurates Father’s Day
1910 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. . 1975