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On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on January 15:
1432 Afonso V "the African" king of Portugal (1438-1481)
1622 Molière France, dramatist (Tartuffe, Le Misanthrope) (baptized)
1716 Philip Livingston merchant (signed Declaration of Independence)
1798 Thomas Crofton Croker Irish story teller (Fairy legends)
1809 Cornelia Connelly Philadelphia PA, founder (Society of the Holy Child Jesus)
1809 Pierre Joseph Proudhon France, politician (libertarian socialist)
1815 Henry Morris Naglee Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1886
1817 Lewis Golding Arnold Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1871
1821 Lafayette McLaws Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1897
1841 Lord Frederick Stanley presenter of hockey's Stanley Cup
1850 Sonya Kurtovsky Kovalevsky Russia, mathemetician (Academy of Science)
1870 Johan Peter Koch Danish officer/explorer (Greenland)
1877 Lewis M Terman Indiana, psychologist (developed Stanford-Binet IQ test)
1902 Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Faisal al-Saud king (Saudi Arabia)
1908 Edward Teller Budapest Hungary, fathered H-bomb (Manhattan Project)
1909 Gene Krupa Benny Goodman's drummer (Sing Sing Sing)
1913 Lloyd Bridges San Leandro CA, actor (Sea Hunt, Roots, Airplane)
1918 Gamal Abdel Nasser President of Egypt (1954-1970)
1920 John J "Cardinal" O'Connor Philadelphia PA, Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York
1929 Reverand Dr Martin Luther King Jr Atlanta GA, dreamer (Nobel 1964)
1929 "Queen Ida" Guillory Ziadaco music
1935 Robert Silverberg US, sci-fi author (Hugo, Regan's Planet)
1941 Captain Beefheart [Don Van Vilet], rocker (Bongo Fury, Shiny Beast)
1948 Ronnie Van Zant rocker (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
1953 Randy White NFL tackle (Dallas Cowboys)
1974 Aubrey Jo Hiller Missoula MT, Miss Montana-America (1996)

Deaths which occurred on January 15:
0069 Servius Sulpicius Galba 6th emperor of Rome (68-69), killed by Praetorian guard in the Forum Rome, at 70
1896 Matthew B Brady US photographer (Civil War), dies at about 72
1919 Karl Liebknecht Marxist revolutionary, murdered at 47
1919 Rosa Luxembourg Marxist revolutionary, murdered
1922 John Kirk Barry Dr/explorer David Livingstone's companion, dies at 89
1934 Patrick O'Malley US policeman, killed by John Dillinger
1949 Black Dahlia murder victim found in Los Angeles (basis of the movie)
1964 Weldon John "Jack" Teagarden US jazz trombonist/singer, dies at 58
1965 Pierre Ngendandumwe premier of Burundi, murdered
1966 Betsy Mitchell US 100m backstroke swimmer, dies at 25
1968 Bill Masterson 1st NHLer fatally injured during game (Jan 13), dies
1978 Margaret Bowman & Lisa Levy Chi Omega, FSU, killed by Ted Bundy
1981 Emanuel Celler (Representative-D-NY, 1923-73), dies at 92
1982 Red Smith sportscaster (Pulitzer, Fight Talk), dies at 76
1983 Meyer Lansky reputed mobster, dies in Miami Beach FL at 81
1987 Ray Bolger actor/dancer (Wizard of Oz), dies at 82
1988 Sean MacBride Ireland, commander of Irish Republican Army, dies at 83
1994 Harry Nilsson rock vocalist (Without You, Everybody's Talkin'), dies at 52
1996 Moshushu II King of Lesotho (1966-90), dies at 51
1998 Amos "Junior" Wells blues harpist, dies at 63

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1968 SKARMAN ORVAL H.---DULUTH MN.
[NO RETURN FROM R&R]
1970 TUBBS GLENN E.---AMARILLO TX.
1971 HARWOOD JAMES A.---DALLAS TX.
1971 KINSMAN GERALD F.---FOXBORO MA.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
0708 Sisinnius begins his reign as Catholic Pope (dies 20 days later)
0946 Caliph al-Mustaqfi blinded/ousted
1535 Henry VIII declares himself head of English Church
1552 France signs secret treaty with German Protestants
1562 3rd sitting of Council of Trente opens
1582 Russia cedes Livonia & Estonia to Poland, loses access to the Baltic
1624 Riots flare in Mexico when it is announced that all churches are to be closed.
1680 French explorer Sieur de la Salle builds Fort Crèvecoeur
1777 People of New Connecticut (Vermont) declare independence from England
1780 Continental Congress establishes court of appeals
1785 Mozarts string quartet opus 10 premieres
1797 1st top hat worn (John Etherington of London)
1831 1st US-built locomotive to pull a passenger train makes 1st run; Mr & Mrs Pierson of Charleston SC make 1st US railroad honeymoon trip
1844 U of Notre Dame receives its charter in Indiana
1861 Steam elevator patented by Elisha Otis
1863 1st US newspaper printed on wood-pulp paper, Boston Morning Journal
1865 Fort Fisher, NC falls to Union troops
1870 Donkey 1st used as symbol of Democratic Party, in Harper's Weekly
1877 US Assay Office in Helena, Montana opens
1882 1st US ski club forms (Berlin NH)
1895 Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake" premieres, St Petersburg
1907 3-element vacuum tube patented by Dr Lee de Forest
1915 Japan claims economic control of China
1920 The United States approves a $150 million loan to Poland, Austria and Armenia to aid in their war with the Russian communists.
1919 2 million gallons of molasses "Tidal wave" Boston MA, drowning 21
1922 Irish Free State forms; Michael Collins becomes 1st premier
1934 8.4 earthquake in India/Nepal, 10,700 die
1934 Babe Ruth signs a 1934 contract for $35,000 ($17,000 cut)
1935 300 Dutch ice cream salesmen protest against Italian competition
1936 Non-profit Ford Foundation incorporates
1942 FDR asks commissioner to continue baseball during WWII
1942 Cubs, drop plans to install lights at Wrigley due to WWII
1943 1,000 workers complete the air conditioning system for the Pentagon
1943 Japanese driven off Guadalcanal
1943 1st transport of Jews from Amsterdam to concentration camp Vught
1944 European Advisory Commission decides to divide Germany
1945 Red Army frees Crakow-Plaszow concentration camp
1949 Mao's Red army conquers Ten-tsin
1951 "Cloud of Death" rolls down Mount Lamington, New Guinea kills 3-5,000
1951 Supreme Court rule "clear & present danger" of incitement to riot is not protected speech & can be a cause for arrest
1953 German Democratic Republic Minister of Foreign affairs Georg Dertingen arrested for "espionage"
1955 USSR ends state of war with German Federal Republic
1957 Brooklyn Dodgers sign a new 3 year lease for Ebbets Field
1961 Supremes signed with Motown Records
1964 Teamsters negotiate 1st national labor contract
1965 Rock group The Who releases 1st album "I Can't Explain"
1967 Super Bowl I Green Bay Packers beat Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10 in Los Angeles; Super Bowl MVP Bart Starr, Green Bay, Quarterback
1970 Republic Biafra disbands/joins Nigeria
1971 George Harrison releases "My Sweet Lord"
1971 Aswan Dam official opens in Egypt
1972 Heavyweight Joe Frazier KOs Terry Daniels
1973 4 Watergate burglars plead guilty in federal court
1973 Pope Paul VI has an audience with Golda Meir at Vatican
1973 President Nixon suspends all US offensive action in North Vietnam
1974 Expert panel reports 18½-m gap in Watergate tape, 5 separate erasures
1974 "Happy Days" begins an 11 year run on ABC
1975 Portugal signs accord for Angola's independence
1976 Sara Jane Moore sentenced to life for attempting to shoot President Ford
1976 US-German Helios B solar probe launched into solar orbit
1977 Coneheads debut on "Saturday Night Live"
1978 Theodore Bundy kills Florida State University co-eds Lisa Levy & Margaret Bowman
1981 "Hill Street Blues" premieres on NBC-TV
1981 Bob Gibson elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame
1983 Thom Syles keeps a life saver intact in his mouth for over 7 hours
1988 Arab uprising in Israel begins
1988 Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder makes racist remarks about black athletes
1990 42 year old George Foreman KOs George Cooney in 2 rounds
1991 UN's deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait passes - (they don't)
1993 Top mafia leader Salvatore "Totò" Riina arrested in Palermo
1997 Chicago Bull Dennis Rodman kicks cameraman, Eugene Amosin the groin
1997 Space Shuttle Atlantis docks with Mir Space Station
1998 NASA announces John Glenn, 76, may fly in space again
2002 John Walker Lindh, a 20-year-old American seized with the Taliban in Afghanistan in December, was charged with conspiring to kill U.S. citizens and abetting terrorist groups.

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Guatemala : Esquipulas
Japan : Adults Day/Seijin-No-Hi
Jordan : Arbor Day
Venezuala : Teachers' Day/Dia Del Maestro
US : Martin Luther King Jr Day (1929) (Monday)
Virginia : Lee-Jackson Day (Monday)
Florida : Arbor Day (Friday)
US : Guys Night Out
US : Man Watcher's Week (Day 5)
National Barbecue Month.

Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Paul of Thebes, the 1st hermit
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Maurus, abbot

Religious History
1697 The citizens of Massachusetts spent a day of fasting and repentance for their roles in the 1692 Salem Witch Trials. Judge Samuel Sewall, who had presided over many of those 20 capital judgments, published a written confession acknowledging his own "blame and shame."
1844 The University of Notre Dame was chartered under Roman Catholic auspices in Indiana.
1852 Mt. Sinai Hospital was incorporated by Sampson Simson and eight associates in NY City. It was the first Jewish hospital in the U.S.
1873 Lutheran founder of the Missouri Synod, C.F.W. Walther warned in a letter: 'Inactivity is the beginning of all vice.'
1970 Israeli archaeologists reported uncovering the first evidence supporting the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by military forces of the ancient Roman Empire.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"When all is said and done, too many people keep on saying and doing."

Question of the day...
If the cops arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?

Murphys Law of the day...(Sodd's Second Law)
Sooner or later, the worst possible set of circumstances is bound to occur.

Astounding fact #76...
Camel's milk does not curdle.

1919 2 million gallons of molasses "Tidal wave" Boston MA, drowning 21 I had to find out more on this one!

Forty minutes past noon on 15 January 1919, a giant wave of molasses raced through Boston. The unseasonably warm temperature (46 degrees) was the final stress needed to cause a gigantic, filled-to-capacity tank to burst. 2,320,000 gallons (14,000 tons) of molasses swept through the streets, causing death and destruction.

Eyewitness reports tell of a "30-foot wall of goo" that smashed buildings and tossed horses, wagons and pool tables about as if they were nothing. Twenty-one people were killed by the brown tidal wave, and 150 more were injured. The chaos and destruction were amplified -- and rescue efforts were hampered -- by the stickiness of the molasses. Those persons attempting to aid others all too often found themselves mired fast in the goo.

The day after the disaster, The New York Times reported:

A dull, muffled roar gave but an instant's warning before the top of the tank was blown into the air. The circular wall broke into two great segments of sheet iron which were pulled in opposite directions. Two million gallons of molasses rushed over the streets and converted into a sticky mass the wreckage of several small buildings which had been smashed by the force of the explosion. The greatest mortality apparently occurred in one of the city buildings where a score of municipal employees were eating their lunch. The building was demolished and the wreckage was hurled fifty yards. The other city building, which had an office on the ground floor and a tenement above, was similarly torn from its foundations.

One of the sections of the tank wall fell on the firehouse which was nearby. The building was crushed and three firemen were buried in the ruins.

Boston is not a city that forgets anything easily. There are those who claim that on a hot summer day in the North End, you can still smell the molasses.