Today
in History ~ May 10
Native American Day
Events
1267 - Vienna's Catholic church orders all Jews to wear distinctive garb
1278 - Jews of England imprisoned on charges of coining
1291 - Scottish nobles grudgingly recognize authority of English king Edward I
1427 - Jews are expelled from Berne Switzerland
1497 - Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci leaves for 1st voyage to New World
1503 - Columbus discovers Cayman Islands
1525 - Church reformer John Pistorius caught in the Hague
1534 - French navigator Jacques Cartier reaches Newfoundland
1559 - Scottish Protestants under John Knox rise against Queen Mary
1652 - John Johnson, a free black, is granted 550 acres in Northampton, Va
1655 - Jamaica captured by English
1676 - Bacon's Rebellion, frontiersmen vs Virginia government
begins
1752 - Benjamin Franklin 1st tests the lightning rod
1774 - Louis XVI ascended the throne of France.
1775 - Led by Col Benedict Arnold and Col Ethan Allen, Green Mountain Boys capture Ft Ticonderoga, N.Y.
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1775 - 2nd Continental Congress names George Washington, supreme commander
1775 - Continental Congress issues paper currency for 1st time.
1787 - Parliament impeaches Warren Hastings
1796 - Napoleon defeats Austria in Battle of Lodi Bridge
1797 - 1st Navy ship, the "United States," is launched
1823 - 1st steamboat to navigate the Mississippi River arrives at Ft Snelling (between St. Paul and Minneapolis)
1849 - Pack destroys Astor Place opera house in NYC (22 killed)
1857 - Indian Mutiny begins with revolt of Sepoys of Meerut
1861 - Union troops march on state militia in St Louis, MI
1862 - Battle of Plum Run Bend, TN (Plum Point Bend)
1864 - Battles at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia
1865 - Jefferson Davis, president of the fallen Confederate government, was captured with his wife and entourage near Irwinville, Georgia, by a detachment of Union General James H. Wilson's cavalry.
1869 - A golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.
1872 - Victoria Woodhull becomes 1st woman nominated for US president
1876 - Centennial Fair opens in Philadelphia
1879 - Meteor falls near Estherville, Iowa
1906 - Russia's Duma (Parliament) meets for 1st time
1907 - Paul Dukas' opera "Ariane et Barbe Bleue," premieres in Paris
1908 - 1st Mother's Day observed (Phila)
1910 - 1st aircraft air display held (Hendon, England)
1915 - Zeppelin drops hundred of bombs on Southend-on-Sea
1917 - Atlantic ships get destroyer escorts to stop German U-boat attacks
1918 - HMS Vindictive sunk to block entrance of Ostend Harbor
1921 - Luigi Pirandello's "Sei Personaggi in Cerca d'Autore /Six Characters in Search of an Author)," premieres
1924 - J. Edgar Hoover is promoted to head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
1930 - 1st US planetarium opens (Adler-Chicago)
1932 - Government declares "Wilhelmus" Neth national anthem
1933 - Nazis stage public book burnings in Germany
1933 - Paraguay declares war on Bolivia
1933 - The Nazis staged massive public book burnings in Germany.
1940 - British Local Defense Volunteers (Home Guard) forms
1940 - Nazi Germany invaded Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, swinging 89
army divisions around France's so-called "impregnable" Maginot Line.
Scarcely one month later, German forces entered Paris.
1940 - Winston Churchill, first lord of the admiralty, was called to replace Neville Chamberlain as British prime minister following the latter's resignation after losing a confidence vote in the House of Commons
1941 - England's House of Commons & Holborn Theater destroyed in blitz
1941 - Rudolf Hess Hitler's party secretary, flies solo then parachutes into Scotland in an attempt to negotiate a truce between Britain and Germany Only to become the last man ever to be held in the Tower of London under lock and key.
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1945 - Allies capture Rangoon from the Japanese
1945 - Russian troops occupy Prague
1956 - French government sends 50,000 reservists to Algeria
1959 - Soviet forces arrive in Afghanistan
1960 - John F Kennedy wins primary in West Virginia
1960 - USS Nautilus completes 1st circumnavigation of globe under water
1961 - "Beyond the Fringe," premieres in London
1967 - Stockholm Vietnam Tribunal condemns US aggression in Vietnam/Cambodia
1968 - Vietnam peace talks began in Paris between the US & North Vietnam
1969 - Apollo 10 transmits 1st color pictures of Earth from space
1969 - US troop begin attack on Hill 937/Hamburger Hill
1973 - A federal grand jury investigating the Watergate scandal indicted former
Attorney General John Mitchell and former Commerce Secretary Maurice Stans on
perjury charges.
1981 - Socialist Francois Mitterrand defeated incumbent Valery Giscard d'Estaing in the second round of France's presidential election.
1983 - "Laverne & Shirley," last airs on ABC-TV
1984 - A federal judge in Utah found the U.S. government negligent in
above-ground Nevada nuclear tests from 1951 to 1962 that exposed downwind
residents to radiation.
1984 - Intl Court of Justice rules on US blockade of Nicaragua
1988 - Edgar Degas' "Danseresie of 14" sold for $10,120,000
1989 - Gen Manuel Noriega's government nullifies country's elections, which the opposition had won by a 3-1 margin
1990 - French TGV-train hits record speed of 510.6 kph
1991 - Alexander Bessmertnykh became the first Soviet foreign minister to visit Israel as he met with Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Foreign Minister David Levy.
1992 - At least 14 coal miners were killed in an underground explosion at a mine
in Nova Scotia, Canada
1992 - Astronaut Pierre Thuot tried but failed to snag a wayward satellite
during a spacewalk outside the shuttle Endeavour (however, three astronauts
succeeded in capturing the Intelsat-6 three days later).
1993 - In Orlando, Fla., jury selection began in the racially charged retrial of
William Lozano, the Hispanic Miami
police officer charged with killing two black motorcyclists.
1993 - Paul Cezanne's still life sells for $28,600,000 in NYC
1994 - Barbra Striesand's begins 1st concert tour in 30 years
1994 - Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Inaugurated as South African President
1994 - The state of Illinois executed convicted serial killer John Wayne Gacy for the murders of 33 young men and boys.
1994 - The Michigan Court of Appeals struck down the state's ban on assisted
suicide.
1995 - Britain lifts a 23-year ban on ministerial talks with Sinn Fein
1995 - A second man, Terry Nichols, was charged in the bombing of the federal
building in Oklahoma City.
1995 - The World Health Organization said a mysterious disease in Zaire was
caused by the deadly Ebola virus. By the time the outbreak was declared over in
late August, 244 of the 315 known victims had died.
1996 - Two Marine helicopters collided in the dark and crashed in a swamp at Camp Lejeune, N.C., during a U.S.-British training exercise, killing 14 people.
1997 - President Clinton signed modest drug-fighting and trade agreements with
Caribbean leaders in Barbados.
1997 - Lebanese of all faiths welcomed Pope John Paul II on his first visit to
their country.
1997 - A powerful earthquake in northeastern Iran claimed at least 2,400 lives.
2000 - Pentagon officials said an investigation had concluded that the Army's
highest-ranking woman had been the
victim of sexual harassment from another Army general.
2001 - Six days before convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was
scheduled to be executed, the FBI announced it had found more documents related
to the incident that had not been turned over to the defense during McVeigh's
trial. The revelation prompted McVeigh's execution to be postponed.
2001 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted to withhold some back U.N. dues
until the United States was reinstated on the U.N. Commission on Human
Rights.
2001 - Boeing chose Chicago as the site for its new headquarters, replacing
Seattle.
Birthdays
Today
1536 - Thomas Howard, 4th duke of Norfolk, English Earl Marshall
1697 - Jean Marie I'aine Leclair, composer
1727 - Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, French minister of Finance
1730 - George Ross, US judge (signed Declaration
of Independence)
1741 - Johann Michael Schmidt, composer
1760 - Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, soldier/author/composer ("La Marseillaise")
1776 - George Thomas Smart, composer
1783 - Niccola Benvenuti, composer
1788 - Augustin-Jean Fresnel, optics pioneer/physicist
1795 - Jacques-Nicolas-Augustin Thierry, historian
1813 - Montgomery Blair, Franklin County Ky, lawyer (Dred Scot V Sandford)
1823 - John Sherman, MC (Union)/brother of Gen William T. Sherman, died in 1900
1837 - Pinckney B S Pinchback, Lt gov (Louisiana)
1850 - Thomas Johnstone Lipton, Glasgow, yachtsman/tea magnate (Lipton Tea)
1855 - Anatoli Liadov, St Petersburg, Russia, composer (Enchanted Lake)
1857 - Hendrik Zwaardemaker, Dutch physiologist (olefactometer)
1886 - Karl Barth, Basel Switzerland, theologian/author (Action in Waiting)
1888 - Max [imilian Raoul Walter] Steiner, Vienna, composer (Gone With Wind)
1894 - Dimitri Tiomkin, Russia, composer (Academy Award 1954)
1898 - Ariel Durant, writer (Story of Civilization)
1899 - Dimitri Tiomkin (conductor, composer: film scores: The Alamo, Dial 'M' for Murder, Friendly Persuasion, High Noon, It's a Wonderful Life, Lost Horizon, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington)
1899 - Fred Astaire (Austerlitz) (dancer, actor: Funny Face, Silk Stockings, Finian's Rainbow, Daddy Long Legs, Easter Parade, Let's Dance, That's Entertainment, The Towering Inferno)
1902 - David O Selznick, Pittsburgh Pa, producer (Gone With the Wind)
1902 - Joachim Prinz, author/Rabbi of Berlin (1926-37)
1909 - Mother Maybelle Carter (Addington) (musician: played melody on bass strings of guitar, rhythm on treble, singer: group: The Carter Family: Keep on the Sunny Side, Foggy Mountain Top; member Grand Ole Opry: A Jilted Love, Don't Wait)
1910 - Jimmy Demaret (golfer: Masters Champion [1940, 1947, 1950])
1914 - Charles McGraw (actor: A Boy and His Dog, Cimarron, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, The Defiant Ones, The Horizontal Lieutenant, Spartacus)
1917 - Margo (Maria O'Donnell) (actress: Viva Zapata!, Lost Horizon, I'll Cry Tomorrow, Winterset)
1921 - Nancy Walker (actress: McMillan and Wife; Bounty paper towel spots; Murder by Death, Broadway Rhythm, Forty Carats)
1927 - Mike Souchak (golfer: PGA Tour record holder: lowest score in 9 holes [27] and 72 holes [257]: 1955 Texas Open)
1929 - Fats Domino, rocker (Blueberry Hill)
1930 - Pat Summerall (football: New York Giants kicker; sportscaster: FOX TV NFL Sunday; golf: USA Network, Turner Broadcasting)
1933 - Barbara Taylor Bradford, author
1935 - Francoise Fabian (Michele Fabianera) (actress: Reunion, The French Woman, Dressmaker, My Night at Maud's)
1935 - Larry Williams (singer: Short Fat Fannie, Bony Maronie, Dizzy Miss Lizzie)
1936 - Gary Owens (DJ, TV and radio host: Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in: "From beautiful Downtown Burbank...", The Gong Show)
1937 - Arthur Kopit (playwright: Hands of a Stranger, Phantom, Roswell: The U.F.O. Cover-up)
1938 - Manuel Santana (Matinez) (tennis)
1938 - Maxim Shostakovich, Leningrad Russia, conductor (Atlanta Symph)
1938 - Peter Davies, Major-General/Director-General (RSPCA)
1941 - Ken Berry (baseball)
1945 - Randy Rasmussen (football: New York Jets guard: Super Bowl III)
1946 - Dave Mason (songwriter, musician, singer: Alone Together, Hole in My Shoe, Just for You, Feelin' Alright, We Just Disagree, So High)
1946 - Donovan (Leitch) (singer: Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman, Atlantis; composer: film: If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, appeared in film: The Pied Piper of Hamlin, Brother Sun, Sister Moon)
1946 - Jimmy Ponder (jazz guitarist: Smokin', Mama Roots, Infant Eyes)
1952 - Clifton Taylor (football)
1955 - Mark David Chapman, assassin (John Lennon)
1957 - Sid Vicious, [John Simon Ritchie], England, bassist (Sex Pistols)
1960 - Bono (Paul Hewson) (singer: group: U2: Sunday Bloody Sunday, Pride (In the Name of Love), With You or Without You)
Famous
deaths
0238 - Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus ("The Thracian"), Roman Emperor, murdered
1566 - Leonhard Fuchs, German botanist, dies at 65
1569 - Juan Avila, Spanish minister/writer
1770 - Charles Avison, composer, dies at 61
1774 - Louis XV, king of France (1715-74), dies at 64 ("Apres moi le deluge.")
1794 - Madame Elisabeth, princess of France, beheaded at 30
1798 - George Vancouver, British explorer, (Voyage of Discovery), dies at 40
1818 - Paul Revere, American patriot, dies
1826 - Giuseppe Sigismondo, composer, dies at 86
1829 - Thomas Young, physicist/decipherer of Egyptian hierogolyphics, dies
1863 - Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, Conf general (Civil War), dies after being shot by his own troops
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1904 - Henry M Stanley, [John Rowlands], British explorer, dies
1943 - Andre Bertulot, Belgian resistance fighter, hanged
1943 - Arnaud/Armand Fraiteur, Belgian resistance fighter, hanged
1943 - Maurice-Albert Raskin, Belgian resistance fighter, hanged
1977 - Joan Crawford, actress (Mildred Pierce), dies at 69
1982 - Peter Weiss, German playwright (Marat-Sade), dies at 65
1990 - Walker Percy, physician/novelist (Lancelot), dies of cancer at 73
1994 - John Wayne Gacy, mass murderer, executed in Illinois at 52
2000 - Actor Craig Stevens, who'd starred in the 1950's TV series "Peter Gunn," died in Los Angeles at age 81.
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