Tues, July 12

2020—A fire, likely arson, turns the billion-dollar U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard into a $3.6 million heap of scrap.

1982—FEMA pledges that even in a nuclear war, the mail will get through.

1979—The White Sox are forced to forfeit on Disco Demolition Night: the field was damaged by explosives. 

1973—A fire in St. Louis, Mo. destroys the service records of 16 to 18 million Army and Air Force veterans.

1917—After 30 hours in cattle cars without food or water, 1,286 striking copper miners are left stranded in the New Mexico desert.

1892—The Pennsylvania militia arrives at Homestead, Pa. to protect Andrew Carnegie’s right to make a buck.

1872—Orangemen avoid casualties by refraining from marching through Irish tenements in New York.

1871—Orangemen are attacked as they march through Irish tenements in New York; 60 die this time.

1870—Orangemen are attacked by an Irish mob as they march through Irish tenements in New York; eight die.

1864—The Natchez [Miss.] Courier reports that Jones County has seceded from the Confederacy.

1817—Pencilmaker and troublemakerHenry David Thoreau is born.

1626—About to be hanged in Boston, pirate William Fly calmly mocks the executioner’s noose-tying skills. Cotton Mather, informed by Fly’s critique of nautical injustice, admonishes ship captains to be less brutal.

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