Sat, July 4

1994—Nye County, Nev., Commissioner Dick Carver re-opens a Federally-closed road with a bulldozer, reigniting the Sagebrush Rebellion.

1975—Just 11 years after Goldwater got the GOP nod there, the Ant Farm stages “Media Burn.” A customized Cadillac crashes into a wall of burning TVs at San Francisco’s Cow Palace.

1970—Billie Graham and Bob Hope preach and joke at “Honor America” day in D.C. Also: protestors smoke pot atop a truck shoved into the Reflecting Pool, and neo-Nazis snarl and jeer.

1951—In Madison, Wisc., 99.2 percent decline to sign a petition containing excerpts from the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights.

1947—The Boozefighters, a subset of “The Greatest Generation,®” take over Hollister, Calif. Three days of debauchery inspire The Wild One and spawn a generation of poseurs.

1925—The Pickwick Club, a five-story Boston speakeasy with 125 people doing the Charleston inside, collapses at 3:00 a.m.; 44 die in the rubble.

1924—Four thousand Klansmen march in Long Branch, New Jersey.

1892—The People’s Party meets in Omaha, calling for an 8-hour day, regulation of railroads and communication, and a graduated income tax.

1857—With New York City’s two rival police forces distracted by their own feud, tension between the Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys escalates into an unrestrained gang war.

Leave a Comment