This day in history...

On May 23, 1934, Louisiana and Texas State Police work together to ambush and kill notorious bank robbers Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, near Gibsland, LA. Over the previous two years, the Barrow Gang - Bonnie, Clyde, Clyde's brother Buck and his wife, and 3 others - committed a series of bank robberies in a five state area, and are believed to have killed 13 people in the process, including 9 police officers. But Bonnie's propensity for taking playful pictures of the couple - which usually found their way into the newspapers - left the public with a more-or-less romantic view of the pair. On the 23rd, police learned the couple was hiding out at the home of one of the gang's father in north Louisiana and hastily organized an ambush. An autopsy would reveal the officers shot Clyde 17 times and Bonnie 26. (photo: the couple's car moments after the ambush; Bonnie's body can be seen in the front seat).


On May 23, 1960, Israel announces the capture of accused Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. Eichmann, the Nazi SS officer who organized Adolf Hitler’s “final solution of the Jewish question,” was seized by Israeli agents in Argentina on May 11 and smuggled to Israel nine days later. He was tried and found guilty of war crimes in a televised trial in Jerusalem, and was hanged on May 31, 1962.


On May 23, 1701, William Kidd, popularly known as Captain Kidd, is hanged in London for piracy and murder. The Scottish-born Kidd was an established sea captain and New York colony resident when he was commissioned by the English government as a privateer, a private ship owner legally appointed to arm his vessel; in this case, to prevent piracy along the colonial American coast. Soon after, rumors began to spread that Kidd had turned to piracy. Kidd handed himself over to authorities in New York on hearing the rumors, and proclaimed them false. The court disagreed and Kidd was found guilty on five counts of piracy and one charge of murdering a crewman.


On May 23, 1969, British rock band The Who releases the double-album rock opera 'Tommy'—the story of a 'deaf, dumb, and blind' boy who finds fame through his skill at pinball and becomes a spiritual leader. Charting actual sales of the album is difficult as it has undergone numerous re-releases, but they are easily in the tens of millions. "Tommy" was also adopted for film and the stage. (below: Elton John performs the album's biggest hit, "Pinball Wizard", in the 1975 film version of Tommy. Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who, plays Tommy)

 

oh, they're evil,. Evil!.. can see it in their eyes

 

On May 24, 1844, Samuel F.B. Morse demonstrates the capabilities of his electric telegraph to members of Congress. Using an alphabet of short and long electronic pulses (dots and dashes) he devised that will eventually come to be called Morse Code, Morse sends a passage of Bible verse via a line strung from the U.S. Capitol building to the Baltimore, MD railroad station, and receives it back a moment later. Within a decade, more than 20,000 miles of telegraph cable will span the country.

On May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge over the East River opens, connecting the great cities of New York and Brooklyn for the first time in history. At 5,998 feet it is the world's longest suspension bridge at the time.


On May 24, 1935, the Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 in Major League Baseball’s first-ever night game, played courtesy of recently installed lights at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Playing at least one night game against every team in the league that season, the mediocre Reds saw an attendance increase of 117 percent that year.


On May 24, 1941, the German battleship Bismarck and her escort, the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, are intercepted by the Royal Navy west of Iceland. It is the first combat cruise for the Bismarck, the largest and most advanced capital ship of the day, and the Admiralty is pulling out all the stops to keep her from disrupting the Atlantic supply lanes. She is intercepted by the HMS Prince of Wales, a ship so new she sailed with shipyard workers still aboard, and the HMS Hood. The 23-year old Hood is the pride of the Royal Navy, but she is not a true battleship, but a hybrid known as a battlecruiser, lightly armored and built for speed. The opposing pairs open fire, and in less than five minutes, Bismarck lands a salvo of 15-inch shells on Hood. One shell pierces her thin deck armor and explodes in a magazine. The effects are instantaneous and catastrophic; only 3 of the Hood's crew of more than 1,500 survive. (the clip below, from the 1960 film "Sink the Bismarck!", is considered realistic by witnesses). The Prince of Wales is damaged and retreats moments later, but the Bismarck is also hit and leaking fuel. Her commander elects to make for the French port of Brest rather than go on the prowl with inadequate fuel. More to come....

 

On May 25, 1977, Star Wars debuts in American theatres. With its unforgettable characters and groundbreaking special effects, George Lucas' gem spawns a pop culture icon that is 43 years old and still going strong.


On May 25, 1787, 55 delegates from 12 of the 13 states (Rhode Island did not participate) convene in Philadelphia for a Constitutional Convention. Over the next 3 months, the group will forge the world's foremost document for governing a free nation.

In a May 25, 1961, speech to Congress, President John F. Kennedy announces his goal of sending an American to the moon by the end of the decade and asks for financial support of an accelerated space program.

On May 25, 1935, at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Babe Ruth hits his 714th and final home run, a record for career home runs that would stand for almost 40 years. Although nearing retirement, Ruth put on one of the best hitting displays of his career, 4 for 4 on the day with 3 HR's and 6 rbi.


On May 25, 1979, an American Airlines DC-10 loses an engine shortly after takeoff from Chicago's O'Hare Airport and crashes into a nearby abandoned airport, killing all 277 onboard and 2 people on the ground. A maintenance crew error was blamed.

 

On May 26, 1927, Henry Ford personally drives the last Model T off the assembly line. (Ford claims the last car was exactly number 15 million of the car's production, but estimates of its production vary from 14.5 to 16.5 million). The Model T was so prevalent in the early years of automotive history that more than 90 years later, it still ranks number 8 on the list of all-time car model sales. About 50,000 roadworthy examples still exist. LKF: The Ford biography is the source for the famous Henry Ford quote about the Model T being "available in any color, as long as its black." In fact, for the first 5 year of the car's production, it was available in gray, green, blue, red - but not black. (below: a 1910 edition)


On May 26, 1868, the Senate falls one vote short of convicting President Andrew Johnson on his impeachment for violation of the Tenure of Office Act. Ten days earlier, the Senate had failed - again by one vote - to convict Johnson on the first impeachment charge against him.

On May 26, 1897, the first copies of the classic vampire novel Dracula, by Irish writer Bram Stoker, appear in London bookshops. Although vampires have "been around" in legend and folklore for centuries. Stoker's tale - told in the form of diary and journal accounts - of a vampire who makes his way from Transylvania (a region of modern-day Romania) to Yorkshire, England propels vampires into popular culture for the first time.


On May 26, 1647, Alse Young is executed by hanging in Hartford, CT on a charge of practicing witchcraft. It is still 45 years before the Salem Witch Trials begin in earnest.

 

On May 27, 1972, Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev and U.S. President Richard Nixon, meeting in Moscow, sign the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) agreements. At the time, they are the most far-reaching attempts to control nuclear weapons ever.

On May 27, 1937, the 4,200 foot Golden Gate Bridge opens with a "Pedestrian Day." About 200,000 people take the first-time ever walk across Golden Gate Strait. The bridge opens to vehicular traffic the next day.


On May 27, 1905, during the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian Baltic Fleet is virtually destroyed at the Battle of Tsushima Strait. Only 10 of the 45 ship Russian fleet escape unscathed. The rout stirs Russia to accept a peace treaty (the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by President Theodore Roosevelt, for which he would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize) and is a major factor leading to the Russian Revolution later that year, while simultaneously establishing Japan as the first major non-Western world power.


On May 27, 1941, the British battleships King George V, Repulse and Rodney converge on the German superbattleship Bismarck, about 450 miles west of the French coast. After sinking the Hood off Iceland 48 hours earlier, the Bismarck was trying to reach a French port for damage, but was harassed by carrier-based torpedo planes along the way. Shortly before dusk on the 26th, a torpedo damaged the Bismarck's rudder and a propeller, allowing the British ships to catch up before she could reach the range of land-based German air cover. Over the next 2 hours, the British ships reduce the Bismarck to a defenseless wreck before having to break off due to lack of fuel. A destroyer finishes her off with torpedoes and rescues 110 survivors, but a survey of the wreck by Robert Ballard more than 60 years later finds evidence that the ship may have been deliberately scuttled before the torpedoes delivered the fatal blows. In all, the British had tasked 19 ships to find and sink the Bismarck, the largest maritime hunt in history.


On May 27, 1942, Messman Third Class Doris "Dorie" Miller becomes the first African American to be awarded the Navy Cross, the nation's second highest military honor. On December 7, Miller had left the USS West Virginia's galley to man a machine gun - an assignment for which he'd never been trained - in an attempt to repel the Japanese aerial sneak attack. He would be killed in the sinking of the USS Liscombe Bay in November, 1943. Earlier this year, the Secretary of the Navy announced the next Ford-class aircraft carrier to be built will be named for Miller.