2012—GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, in St. Louis to address the NRA, visits the zoo. It’s Friday the 13th; a penguin bites him.
2002—Venezuelans overrule the generals and their CIA advisors; Hugo Chavez is restored to the Presidency.
1989—A Senate investigation reveals that the State Dept. paid more than $806,000 to narcotic traffickers who were supplying Nicaraguan Contras, contravening the will of Congress.
1953—CIA boss Allen Dulles says it’s MKUltra time: start washing brains.
1919—British troops following orders from Col. R.E.H. Dyer massacre at least 379 unarmed Indian men women and children at Amritsar, India.
1917—Prescient President W. Wilson establishes the Committee on Public Information, 67 years prior to 1984.
1901—French anarchist Clement Duval, after 14 years on Devil’s Island, begins his 20th escape attempt. This time he makes it to New York City. He lives to be 85 and inspires Papillon.
1873—Easter Sunday, Grant Parish, La.: the White League and the Klan kill 280 African-Americans in the Colfax Massacre.
1788—A medical student waving a disembodied human arm out the window of New York Hospital scares a child who then squeals to his Papa.
1204—The Fourth Crusade ends victoriously: Christians take Constantinople. Murder, rape, looting, and the burning of the Imperial Library ensue.