On This Day May 9

1991
William Kennedy Smith is charged with the rape of a woman he drove to the Kennedy estate in March.

1989
Dan Quayle: The Vice-President states in a speech to the United Negro College Fund: "What a waste it is to lose one's mind, or, Not to have a mind is being very wasteful."

1982
Dean Martin is arrested for driving while intoxicated in West Hollywood.

1950
Smokey Bear: A bear cub is rescued from a New Mexico fire, becoming the symbol for forest fire prevention.. By 1964, his fan mail was so great that he was given his own zip code, 20252.

1944
First U.S. eye bank is opened. It was created through the efforts of New York physicians Dr. Richard T. Paton and Dr. John McLean.

1941
World War II - Enigma: Germany's master coding machine is captured by the Allies allowing the Allies to decode secret German messages. The German's didn't find out until after the war.

1939
First American Indian beatified by the Catholic Church: Kateri Tekakwitha is recommended. This was sanctioned by Pope Pius XII 10 days later.

1926
First flight over the North Pole: American aviators Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett.

1893
First motion picture exhibition: A crowd of 400 watched an Edison Kinetograph film of a blacksmith and his assistants working.

1879
First U.S. postage-due stamps are issued. They consisted of 1¢, 2¢, 3¢, and 5¢ denominations.

1754
First cartoon published in an American newspaper. "Join or Die" by Ben Franklin in the Pennsylvania Gazette. It depicted a snake cut into segments, each representing a colony.

1671
The crown jewels are stolen from the Tower of London by Irish adventurer Col. Thomas Blood who was disguised as a priest. Although he was caught shortly thereafter, King Charles II, who admired his daring, gave him a full pardon.

1607
First Protestant Episcopal Church in America holds its first Eucharist in Cape Henry, Virginia.

1949
Billy Joel, American Grammy-winning singer, songwriter. Music: Piano man, (1974), It's Still Rock'n'Roll To Me (1980, #1), Goodnight Saigon (1982), and Tell Her About It (1983, #1).

1936
Glenda Jackson, British Oscar-Emmy-winning actress, politician. Film: Women In Love (1969, Oscar) and A Touch of Class (1973, Oscar).

1936
Albert Finney, British actor. Film: Tom Jones (1963) and Murder on the Orient Express (1974).

1912 d. 1963
Pedro Armendariz, Mexican actor. Film: From Russia with Love (British spymaster Ali Kerim Bey). His death was attributed to radiation exposure received from an A-bomb test near the filming of a movie in 1953.

1893 d. 1947
William Moulton Marston, American psychologist, cartoonist, co-creator of Wonder Woman (1941) and inventor the lie detector.

1873 d. 1939
Howard Carter, English Egyptologist, discovered King Tutankhamen (1922).

1860 d. 1937
James Matthew Barrie, Scottish author. Writings: Peter Pan (1904).

1854 d. 1929
Joe Borden, American baseball player, pitched the first National League no-hitter (1876, for Boston).

1800 d. 1859
John Brown, American abolitionist, the Pottawatomie Massacre was committed by his men, and he led the attack on Harper's Ferry (1859), for which he was hanged.

1785 d. 1860
James Pollard Espy, American meteorologist, founder of modern weather predicting.

1983 b. 1902
Anna M. Rosenberg, Hungarian-born American government official. She was the first woman awarded the Medal of Freedom (1945).

1977 b. 1921
James Jones, American author. Writings: From Here to Eternity (1951), which in 1954 was declared unmailable by the U.S. Post Office.

1968 b. 1894
Harold Gray, American cartoonist, creator of Little Orphan Annie (1924).

1931 b. 1852
Albert Abraham Michelson, German-born American Nobel-winning physicist. He was the first to measure the diameter of a star (other than the Sun). Working from the Wilson Observatory, California, he measured Betelgeuse (the bright red star in the right shoulder of Orion) to be 260 million miles in diameter.

1915 b. 1887
François Faber, Luxembourgian cyclist, Tour de France winner (1909, winning 5 consecutive stages). He was the first non-Frenchman to win the Tour de France. During WWI after receiving a telegram announcing the birth of his daughter, he jumped for joy in his trench and was killed by a German bullet.

1864 b. 1813
John Sedgwick, American general, killed in the Civil War battle of Spotsylvania. His last words were "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." (Source: The Civil War Day by Day)

1657 b. 1590
William Bradford, American historian, signer of the Mayflower Compact (1620). He is called "The Father of American History" for his writings of the early Plymouth Colony. He was elected governor of Plymouth Colony 30 times.

May 9

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