2014—Arizona authorities experimenting with new poisons find Joseph Wood’s execution takes 12 times longer than the expected 10 minutes.
2001—Bank robber Gary Sampson calls the FBI to turn himself in, but a clerk disconnects him. Over the next week he murders three people, including a man in New Hampshire.
1970—The last clash between the U.S. & NVA ends in futility: the 101st Airborne evacuates Firebase Ripcord. Cost: 75 KIAs & 463 WIAs.
1968—Charging the Court nominee was soft on smut, Sen. Strom Thurmond brandishes examples during Abe Fortas’ confirmation hearing.
1967—Cops raid a blind pig in Detroit, interrupting a welcome home party for two Vietnam veterans. A five day riot ensues, and 43 die.
1944—The International Monetary Fund and World Bank are created in Bretton Woods, N.H. [where the first tax collector was Daniel Fowle].
1892—Anarchist Alexander Berkman shoots and stabs Henry Clay Frick, architect of the Homestead Massacre; but the capitalist survives.
1877—Workers seize the railyards and docks in East St. Louis, Ill. Knowing he’s out-manned, the mayor deputizes strikers to maintain order. Meanwhile, in Reading, Pa., the State Militia shoots ten civilians dead.
1846—Henry David Thoreau is jailed for refusing to pay a $1 poll tax to support the Mexican War.