This day in history...

On December 30, 1903, during a SRO matinee performance, a spark from a stage light ignites a fire in Chicago's Iroquois Theatre. Of the estimated 2,100+ patrons, players and employees in the building, about 605 are killed and about 250 injured. It is the deadliest theatre fire, and the deadliest single building fire, in US history. Despite claims in brochures that the brand-new Iroquois (its grand opening was just 5 weeks earlier) was "absolutely fireproof", a Chicago Fire captain had found numerous deficiencies in an unofficial tour, but was told it was too late to postpone the opening. The fire brought about numerous developments in fire safety, especially for buildings of public assembly, around the country.


On December 30, 1993, anti-abortionist John Salvi III goes on a killing spree, shooting up two abortion clinics in Brookline, Massachusetts. Seven employees in the two clinics are killed. Salvi is captured a day later in Norfolk, VA, after firing 23 shots into a clinic there. Salvi had exhibited a state of mental deterioration for some time before the shootings, but family members refused to seek treatment. At trial, his defense went for an insanity plea; the jury rejected it and convicted him on 2 counts of murder. Given a life sentence, Salvi killed himself in prison in November, 1996.


On November 30, 1968, the band Vanilla Fudge is headlining in the Gonzaga University auditorium in Spokane, WA. The opening act is a British quartet performing for just the 5th time in the U.S. Although unknown (their name isn't even spelled correctly on the concert poster), there is interest, rock fans knowing that the new group was built around the former guitarist for the Yardbirds. One concert goer clandestinely records the performance on audio casette (below) in its entirety. It is the first-ever live recording of Led Zeppelin.

 

On December 31, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln approves of a contingency act admitting the state of West Virginia to the Union on the condition that it abolish slavery in its constitution. Twenty-five counties of the northwest region of Virginia began discussing breaking off from the state almost immediately after Virginia seceded from the Union in April, 1861. By June, the breakaway counties had elected a governor and two U.S. Senators, which the federal government promptly recognized as the state of Virginia (meaning for awhile, there were actually two Virginias, one in the U.S. and one in the Confederacy). By May, 1862, the new Virginia approved the formation of a new state and applied for admission into the Union. President Lincoln's abolition demand was met by February, 1863, and West Virginia was officially admitted to the Union in June.


On December 31, 1942, the USS Essex (CV-9) is commissioned into the US Navy. The Essex is the first of a 24-ship class of aircraft carrier, capable of servicing 90 aircraft each, and with a top speed of 33 knots. The Essex class would be the backbone of America's Pacific War effort, providing air cover in every major campaign of war's last 3 years. Every one of the 24 survived the war, though several were badly damaged. The Essex herself survived a kamikaze attack in November, 1944 but was back in service within a month. She was modernized to launch and receive jet aircraft following the war, and stayed in service (giving air support to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1962 and recovering the crew of Apollo 7 in 1968) until being decommissioned in 1969 and scrapped in 1975.


On December 31, 1759, Irish brewer Arthur Guinness takes out a 9,000 year lease on a 4-acre property in the St. James Gate area of Dublin, at an annual rent of £45. By 1886, the brewery at St. James Gate is the largest in the world, producing 1.2 million barrels of Guinness Draught a year. That ouput today exceeds 50 million barrels, and although no longer the largest brewery in the world, it is the largest producer of stout beer. It has also expanded well beyond that original 4-acre plot of land, which Guinness has since bought outright.

 

On January 4, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson lays out his vision for a "Great Society." In his first State of the Union address after his election, Johnson lays out a platform that will eventually lead to the creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Medicare/Medicaid, the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, the National Endowment of the Humanities, Head Start, and increased research and funding for clean air and water measures.


On January 4, 1895, Alfred Dreyfus, a captain in the French Army, is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life in prison in the French Guiana penal colony of Devil's Island, for passing military secrets to the German embassy in Paris. More than a year later, evidence came to light that another officer had in fact committed the treason, but the evidence was suppressed and additional charges were made against Dreyfus by the military. Journalist Emile Zola soon came to his defense, earning Dreyfus the popular support to receive another trial (Dreyfus was Jewish, and it was strongly suspected that antisemitism was at the heart of his persecution). He was exonerated at the retrial in 1899, but it wasn't until 1906 that he was reinstated into the army. For the 12 years from his imprisonment until the reinstatement, the "Dreyfus affair" polarized French society, and his name has come to symbolize antisemitism and the miscarriage of justice.


On January 4, 1847, the U.S. Army agrees to purchase 1,000 .44 calibre revolvers from Samuel Colt. Until Colt introduced his revolver, handguns were too expensive and unreliable to be mass produced; most Americans who felt the need for a weapon of self protection preferred a knife to the single-shot handguns of the day. Colt changed that; his gun held six shots in a revolving chamber that automatically fed the next round into position when the gun was cocked, and the rifled barrel provided reasonable accuracy out to 30 yards. Even then, the Colt revolver would still have been too expensive for the masses, but the government contract provided him with the capital to produce the gun at an affordable price. By 1860, more than a quarter of a million Colt revolvers were in civilian hands in the "Wild West."

 

On January 5, 1916, British Prime Minister Henry Asquith submits his nation's first-ever call for military conscription - the draft - to Parliament's House of Commons. World War I began in the summer of 1914 and it did not take long to realize that Great Britain's all-volunteer army was no match for the German army, which had been built through 40 years of conscription. The House of Commons approved Asquith's bill as the Military Service Act within a month. By war's end, 49 percent of all Englishmen aged 15 to 49 had been drafted into military service.


On January 5, 1998, Congressman Salvatore "Sonny" Bono (R-California) is killed in a skiing accident at Lake Tahoe, CA. Sonny achieved fame in the music and television businesses along with his second wife Cherilyn ("Cher") Sarkisian in the late 60's and early 70's. After their divorce, Sonny - who once admitted he voted for the first time at age 54 - became interested in politics after butting heads with the Palm Springs, CA bureaucracy while trying to open a restaurant. His celebrity helped him win election as mayor of Palm Springs in 1988, but he quickly earned respect as a serious public servant and won a seat in Congress in 1994. He was vacationing with his family but went skiing alone and apparently suffered massive head trauma after striking a tree.

 

On January 6, 1907, physician/educator Maria Montessori opens Casa dei Bambini (Children's House) in Rome, Italy. Montessori graduated with a medical degree from the University of Rome and soon began to specialize in psychiatry and pediatrics. Around 1900 she combined those two interests and began developing the theories on education that would be applied at Children's House. Today there are an estimated 22,000 Montessori schools in 110 countries worldwide, notable in that children of varying ages work together, and the school day being marked by long periods (up to 3 hours) where the students work independently and at their own pace.


On January 6, 1947, Pan American Airways becomes the first commercial airline to offer a round-the-world ticket. The 8-day excursion is not truly "around the world;" it starts in San Francisco and ends in New York. Along the way, intrepid travelers made 13 ports of call, changing planes at Calcutta, India. The ticket became a one-aircraft flight in 1960, when Pan Am entered the jet age with the addition of Boeing 707's to its fleet. The 747 replaced the 707 in 1968, and Pan Am finally made the offer true around the world - starting and ending in New York - in 1975. (a Lockheed Constellation in Pan Am livery; this aircraft ran the Calcutta-to-NYC part of the original round the world flight plan)


On January 6, 1951, the Indianapolis Olympians beat the Rochester Royals 75-73 in the longest game in NBA history. The game lasted 78 minutes; 48 minutes of regulation and 6, 5-minute overtime periods. Although individual player times were not kept in 1951, Rochester' Red Holzman unofficially played 76 minutes, which would be an NBA record if accurate. Alex Groza (below) and Ralph Beard led Indianapolis with 17 points each.