2002 Giovanni Greco, 63, in Lascari, Sicily, falls from a ladder he had climbed to examine the top of the mausoleum he is having built for himself at the cemetery, hits his head on a marble step, and ends up dead in his own tomb. [saves on funeral expenses].
2002 Abdel Kareem Sadi, 16, shot in the back by Israeli troops in Jenin, West Bank. The boy was the son of Bassam Sadi, Islamic Jihad's Jenin district leader.
2001 Abeer Al-Samra, 22, by explosion in a taxi in Tulkarem, West Bank. She was the wife of gunman Ahmed Tabok, currently held in a Palestinian jail. Four others are injured.
2001 Tayser Khattab, 52, as his car explodes while he was driving toward his office at Palestinian intelligence headquarters north of Gaza City, where he was a top aide to the Palestinian intelligence chief, Amin al-Hindi. It follows the pattern of Israel's proclaimed policy of targeted assassinations, but in this case Israel denies any involvement.
2001 32 men and 12 women in fire from explosion an 01:00 in mah-jongg parlor in Kabukicho nightlife area in northwest Tokyo, with no fire exit. Three survive by jumping several stories to the ground.
1983 Henry "Scoop" Jackson , 71, (Sen-D-Wash)
| 1983 Larry McDonald and the
other 268 aboard KAL Flight 007, shot down by Soviets.
^top^ Korean Airlines Flight 007 was flying from New York to Seoul when it strayed into restricted Soviet airspace over Sakhalin Island in the Sea of Japan. Soviet authorities attempted to first contact and then intercept the aircraft, and failing in this, a Soviet fighter was ordered to shoot it down. All 269 people aboard the South Korean jumbo jet were killed, including sixty-one Americans, among them Georgia Representative Larry McDonald. A request for an official explanation from the Soviets was initially denied, and on 05 September, US President Ronald Reagan appeared before his nation, calling the Soviet action "barbarous," and asking for sanctions against the USSR. The next day, Soviet authorities held an uncharacteristic press conference to discuss the incident, and they put forth the claim that the airliner was on a US spy mission. On 15 September, the US Senate unanimously backed the House in condemning the incident. Despite the outrage publicly expressed by American officials, the measures taken against the USSR were largely token, such as the suspension of negotiations for a US consulate in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital. Soviet jet fighters intercept a Korean Airlines passenger flight in Russian airspace and shoot the plane down, killing 269 passengers and crewmembers. The incident dramatically increased tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States. On 01 September 1983, Korean Airlines (KAL) flight 007 was on the last leg of a flight from New York City to Seoul, with a stopover in Anchorage, Alaska. As it approached its final destination, the plane began to veer far off its normal course. In just a short time, the plane flew into Russian airspace and crossed over the Kamchatka Peninsula, where some top-secret Soviet military installations were known to be located. The Soviets sent two fighters to intercept the plane. According to tapes of the conversations between the fighter pilots and Soviet ground control, the fighters quickly located the KAL flight and tried to make contact with the passenger jet. Failing to receive a response, one of the fighters fired a heat-seeking missile. KAL 007 was hit and plummeted into the Sea of Japan. All 269 people on board were killed. This was not the first time a South Korean flight had run into trouble over Russia. In 1978, the Soviets forced a passenger jet down over Murmansk; two passengers were killed during the emergency landing. In its first public statement concerning the September 1983 incident, the Soviet government merely noted that an unidentified aircraft had been shot down flying over Russian territory. The United States government reacted with horror to the disaster. The Department of State suggested that the Soviets knew the plane was an unarmed civilian passenger aircraft. President Ronald Reagan called the incident a "massacre" and issued a statement in which he declared that the Soviets had turned "against the world and the moral precepts which guide human relations among people everywhere." Five days after the incident, the Soviets admitted that the plane had indeed been a passenger jet, but that Russian pilots had no way of knowing this. A high ranking Soviet military official stated that the KAL flight had been involved in espionage activities. The Reagan administration responded by suspending all Soviet passenger air service to the United States, and dropped several agreements being negotiated with the Soviets. Despite the heated public rhetoric, many Soviets and American officials and analysts privately agreed that the incident was simply a tragic misunderstanding. The KAL flight had veered into a course that was close to one being simultaneously flown by a US spy plane; perhaps Soviet radar operators mistook the two. In the Soviet Union, several of the military officials responsible for air defense in the Far East were fired or demoted. It has never been determined how the KAL flight ended up nearly 200 miles off course. |
1982 Curry, mathematician
1981 Albert Speer, 76, at a London hospital, close associate of Adolf Hitler who ran the Nazi war industries.
1970 François Mauriac (Nobel 1952)
1967 Siegfried Sassoon, author. SASSOON ONLINE: Counter-Attack, and Other Poems, The Old Huntsman, and Other Poems, Picture-Show
1951 Otto Alfred Wolfgang Schultze-Battmann Wols, German artist born on 27 May 1913.
| 1923 The great Kanto earthquake
and fire ^top^ The greatest Japanese earthquake of all time devastates the Kanto region of southeastern Japan, in particular Tokyo (population about 3 million) and Yokohama (population 423'000. The city and harbor of Yokohama, and 70% of Tokyo collapse or burn. Over 100'000 people die. Property damage would be estimated to exceed one billion US dollars at the time. The morning of Saturday 01 September 1923 was very hot with strong gusts of wind that followed rain. The earthquake struck at 11:58:44, just as people were about to eat lunch. A survivor describes the event: There came the first rumbling jar of an earthquake, a sickening sway, the vicious grinding of timbers and, in a few seconds, a crescendo of turmoil as the floor began to heave and the building to lurch drunkenly.... The ground could scarcely be said to shake; it heaved, tossed and leapt under one. The walls bulged as if made of cardboard and the din became awful...For perhaps half a minute the fabric of our surroundings held; then came disintegration. Slabs of plaster left the ceilings and fell about our ears, filling the air with a blinding, smothering fog of dust. Walls bulged, spread and sagged, pictures danced on their wires, flew out and crashed to splinters. ... How long it lasted, I don't know. It seemed an eternity; but the official record says four minutes... Perhaps one official record said four. Others said 10 minutes of felt vibration, and up to two and a half hours of constant motion.More than 200 aftershocks followed the 7.9 main event on Sept. 1st. On Sept. 2nd, an excess of 300 shocks were recorded, including a major event at 11:47 a.m. More than 300 additional shocks would follow from September 3-5. The general area of upheaval was the Boso Peninsula (Awa-Kazusa provinces) and the Shonan district (Sagami Peninsula). The epicenters of the numerous shocks that followed the main event originated in a scattered pattern between the southern section of the Boso Peninsula and the coast of Sagami Bay. The epicenter of the main shock on Sept. 1st was in the neighborhood of the Miura peninsula, while that of Sept. 2nd was offshore, in the vicinity of Katsuura. Ground upheavals was approximately 3 m near Mera, at the southern end of the Boso Peninsula and 2.5 m in the neighborhood of Oiso. A survey the sea floor in the area of the quake at a depth of 600 to 800 fathoms showed that two distinct earthquakes occurred in Sagami Bay. One was centered east of Hatshshima Island and to the north of Oshima Island. The other originated to the south-east of Manazuru point. The explorations also revealed new ridges 50 to 100 m in height on the ocean floor. These ridges are in line with a volcanic chain which extends for hundreds of kilometers in a south-southeasterly direction. It appears that a collapse into a rift occurred along the line of this volcanic chain.  In
all, seven prefectures were affected by the quake. These were
Tokyo, Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Chiba, Saitama, Yamanashi and Ibaraki.
The greatest destruction occurred at Yokohama, which at the
time was the premier commercial port of Japan.The degree of shaking felt in the affected regions varied greatly based on soil structure. The epicenter of the quake was close to Oshima Island, but the island, consisting mostly of lava and scoria, experienced comparatively little shaking or ground level changes. This is attributed to its volcanic origin consisting mostly of lava and scoria. Both the cities of Tokyo and Yokohama, however, are located on alluvium or river deposits. The cities were thus on the worst ground, and suffered heavier shaking than the Izu peninsula, although farther away from the seismic centers. An unusual characteristic of the Great Kanto earthquake was the dramatic upheaval and depression of the ground. The earth was lifted as high as 7 m at Misaki, substantially changing the shape of the shoreline. This uplift lasted only about 72 hours, however, before the ground began to sink, at first by as much as 60 cm per day. When the settling had ceased, an offset of some 1.5 m remained. Even worse than the earthquake itself was the resulting fire. At the moment the earthquake struck, coal or charcoal cooking stoves were in use throughout Tokyo and Yokohama in preparation for lunch so that fires sprang up everywhere. Improper storage of chemicals and fuel further contributed to the holocaust. In Yokohama alone, 88 separate fires began to burn simultaneously and the city was quickly engulfed in flames that raged for two days. Although the recorded wind speed was lower in Yokohama than in Tokyo, there was a fire storm. In Tokyo, the wind reached speeds of 29 km/h. Temperatures soared to 30ºC late into the night. The casualties from the fires are a horrifying combination of people who were trapped in collapsed buildings and those who took refuge in areas that were later surrounded and consumed by fire. The greatest loss of life occurred at the Military Clothing Depot in Honjo Ward, where many of the refugees had gathered. Most of them carried clothing, bedrolls, and furniture rescued from their homes. These materials served as a ready fuel source, and the engulfing flames suffocated an estimated 40'000 people. By nightfall Yokohama harbor was full of refugees on board ships both foreign and local. Unfortunately, oil, which had been seeping into the water, caught fire the following morning, and there was a mad scramble to get the ships out to open sea before they were engulfed. Many people were injured when they were caught at the end of a burning pier. Days passed as the smoldering embers slowly cooled and the aftershocks diminished and finally stopped. In the desolate ruins left behind, it was difficult to distinguish earthquake from fire damage. In Yokohama, it is estimated that 80% of the total destruction was due to fire. A tsunami did follow the earthquake, but did relatively little damage. There was no large wave inside Tokyo Bay. A substantial wave — up to 12 m — did strike along the north shore of Oshima Island. Waves 1 to 6 m in height were recorded along Izu peninsula and the Bosshu coastline. The dramatic heaving of the ground resulted in thousands of landslides, the worst of which occurred in Idu province. Here the entire village of Nebukawa was buried by a massive mudflow, killing hundreds. Landslides were also observed on the Miura Peninsula, the southern part of Bo-so Peninsula, and the mountainous district of southwestern Sagami. The total number of houses partially or completely destroyed exceeded 694'000. Of these, some 381'000 were burnt, 83'000 collapsed, and 91'000 partially collapsed. These numbers clearly show the devastating effects of the fire. In housing damage, much blame came to be placed on tile roofs, which were very popular in Japanese construction. Not only did these prove to be an extreme hazard when they fell during the shaking, but they left the wooden structures exposed to fire. The initial earthquake severed water mains. Water shortages became tremendous problem to the survivors, and there was no possibility of fighting the fire. Also destroyed in the quake were telephone and telegraph systems, leaving the people of Yokohama and Tokyo completely cut off from the outside world. There was no way for them to know if the entire country was in ruins or if their own circumstances were among the best or the worst. Travel was made impossible due to the destruction of railroad track, loss of power to electric tramways, and streets choked with rubble making them impassible by automobile. All major newspapers had their offices destroyed by fire and so organized dissemination of information became impossible. Signs were posted informing people of everything from relief efforts and where to contact relatives, to the dire consequences of looting. On the evening of September 2nd, the Army Aviation Headquarters ordered aviators to Osaka, Yamada, and Shibata to convey news of the disaster. In the first week, more than 500 messages were also dispatched to various cities by carrier pigeon. As staggering as were the initial losses of life and property, there were more hard times to come. With a huge number of industries destroyed, some forever, unemployment was an immediate and lasting problem. 45.04% lost their jobs, throwing the region into an economic tailspin. In general, the early 20s were good times for Japan. While most of Europe was staggering under the effects of WWI, Japan, having remained neutral, was enjoying relative economic prosperity. Prior to the earthquake, Yokohama was a booming international port. Afterwards, recovery was painfully slow, as foreign investors were hesitant to rebuild there. On Sept. 2, the government proclaimed an emergency requisition ordinance, which allowed the issue of orders for any type of goods considered necessary to the relief effort. On Sept. 4, the Emperor of Japan allocated 10 million yen to be spent to aid in the relief effort. The news vacuum gave rise to rumors, the most sinister of which was that the Koreans were planning some form of takeover in the aftermath of the disaster. On Sept. 5th the Prime Minister issued a warning to the public that these rumors were without basis and were contradictory to the spirit of assimilation that Japan wished to achieve with Korea. Nonetheless, the rumors led to groups of vigilantes who patrolled the streets, and there were accounts of attacks on Korean citizens. This prompted the government to open a shelter where as many as 3075 Koreans were lodged for their own safety. By Sept. 8, the city of Tokyo was placed under martial law, and the army distributed food and began the long reconstruction process. Martial law allowed the government to disperse people, prohibit or suppress newspapers or advertisements, seize property, enter buildings, or take any action it deemed necessary to maintain order. Citizens caught in the act of looting were hung or shot. Electric lighting was first provided to Tokyo in the form of a search light and 40 other lamps which belonged to the 1st Telegraph Regiment. Yokohama remained in darkness for several nights. After electricity was restored in Tokyo, the Army lights were transferred to Yokohama. Engineering corps were dispatched to begin repairs on railways, telegraphs, roads, and bridges, while medical corps worked among the thousands of injured refugees. The steamer Korea, which was anchored in Yokohama harbor at the time of the quake, was the first to send out messages seeking help. The first distress signal via the ship's wireless was sent to the Governor of Tokyo. This received no reply, as Tokyo was in the same predicament. A second message was sent to Osaka, where it was converted to a high-power general broadcast. This was picked up by the American Asiatic Squadron located off the coast of South China. Immediate relief in the form of 2'500'000 yen worth of goods was sent to Yokohama. Similar help came from a number of other ships who happened to pick up the message, including an American steamer loaded with cargo intended for Hankow, which changed course and joined in the relief effort. News of the earthquake reached the United States on the evening of September 1st, and a relief effort was immediately launched. A sum exceeding ten million dollars was raised in just a few days. Similar efforts were mounted by a number of foreign countries. Records of earthquake activity have been kept in Japan for centuries. Prior to 1923, the most serious in terms of loss of life was the 10 February 1792 Hizen earthquake, which coincided with the eruption of Unzendake. 15'000 people were killed. Other major events include the Shinano, Echigo quake of 08 May 1844, in which 12'000 people perished, and the 31 December 1703 quake which struck Mushashi, Sagami, Awa, and Kazusa and generated a tsunami. 5233 died. The Great Kanto earthquake ushered in the modern age of earthquake engineering. Immediate changes in building codes followed the 1923 earthquake and were in effect in the rebuilding of Tokyo and Yokohama. Despite the wealth of knowledge gained in the aftermath of the Great Kanto earthquake, there was still much to learn. Japanese building codes would undergo several major overhauls in the coming decades as new theories were explored. The learning continues today worldwide. There is little that remains of the old Tokyo and Yokohama that existed before the Great Kanto earthquake. But to gaze at the modern skylines of these two rebuilt cities is to look upon the embodiment of engineering progress. The ruins of the world that was lost on September 1st, 1923, proved to be fertile ground indeed for the growth of knowledge and understanding that followed. |
1914 Martha, last known passenger pigeon, dies at Cincinnati Zoo. In the early 1800 there were billions of these birds (Ectopistes migratorius) in the Eastern US, but they were hunted to extinction. . A monument to the passenger pigeon, in Wisconsin's Wyalusing State Park, declares: "This species became extinct through the avarice and thoughtlessness of man." |
| 1870 French general Margueritte
and the other victims of the Battle of Sedan. ^top^ It is the last battle of the Franco-Prussian War, as the Prussian army crushes the French and captures Napoléon III. Le 30 août le général Mac-Mahon a gagné Sedan, où il s'est laissé encercler par les troupes prussiennes. Malgré les charges des chasseurs d'Afrique vêtus de pantalons rouge bien voyants, que commandent les généraux Margueritte et Galliffet, l'étau se resserre. Un violent tir d'artillerie repousse les charges françaises en faisant de nombreux mort. Cinq cents canons pilonnent Sedan. Mac-Mahon est blessé, Margueritte est tué. Pour mettre fin au massacre, à 17 heures, le dernier empereur français Napoléon III donne l'ordre de hisser le drapeau blanc de la reddition. C'est le début de l'ère de la IIIème république. The wounding of Mac-Mahon early on September 1 caused extreme confusion in the French command, allowing the Germans to carry on their encirclement without serious opposition. Thereafter, the desperate French efforts to break out, including massive cavalry charges, led to nothing but high casualties. After the German artillery had pounded the French position in an all-day bombardment, the Germans launched their main attack in the afternoon. Emperor Napoleon III realized that the position was hopeless. He surrendered, and the next morning he and 83'000 French soldiers became prisoners of war. The French had lost 3000 men killed, 14'000 wounded, and 21'000 missing or captured. German losses totaled 9000 men killed and wounded. As the victorious Germans marched toward Paris, a popular uprising there on September 4 toppled the government of the Second Empire and set up a provisional republican government. |
| 1862 Hundreds of Yanks and Rebs
at Battle of Chantilly (Ox Hill). ^top^ 1862 Battle of Chantilly Following his brilliant victory at the Second Battle of Bull Run two days earlier, Confederate General Robert E. Lee strikes retreating Union forces at Chantilly, Virginia, and drives them away in the middle of an intense thunderstorm. Although his army routed the Yankee forces of General John Pope at Bull Run, Lee was not satisfied. By attacking the retreating Federals, Lee hoped to push them back into Washington DC, and achieve a decisive victory by destroying the Union army. The Bull Run battlefield lay 40 km east of the capital, allowing Lee room to send General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's corps on a quick march to cut off part of the Union retreat before reaching the defenses of the capital. Jackson departed with his corps on 31 August. Using General J.E.B. Stuart's Rebel cavalry as a screen, he swung north and then east toward Washington. Under orders of Union General-in-Chief Henry Halleck, Pope tried to hold the town of Centerville from the advancing Confederates. Jackson moved north around Centerville, placing the bulk of Pope's force in grave danger as the Southerners moved towards Fairfax. By the afternoon of 01 September Pope evacuated Centerville and Jackson pressed to the north of the main Yankee army. Late in the afternoon, a Union division commanded by General Isaac Stevens attacked Jackson near Chantilly. In a driving rainstorm punctuated by thunder and lightning, Stevens's men drove into the Confederates and scattered a Louisiana brigade. But after Stevens was struck in the head by a Rebel bullet and killed, Jackson's men drove the Union troops back. Another Yankee general, Philip Kearney, was killed when he accidentally rode behind the Confederate line in the storm. The battle was over within 90 minutes, although the storm persisted. Confederate casualties numbered about 500, while the Union lost 700. Lee could not flank Pope's army, so he turned his army northward for an invasion of Maryland. The result was the Battle of Antietam on 17 September. |
1804 Semion Fedorovitch Shchedrin, Russian landscape painter born in 1745. — MORE ON SHCHEDRIN AT ART “4” 2~DAY — View of the Large Pond Island in the Tsarskoselsky Gardens — a different View of the Large Pond in the Tsarskoselsky Gardens — View of the Farmyard in the Tsarskoye Selo — The Mill and the Bell Tower at Pavlovsk — View of the Gatchina Palace from the Silver Lake — View of the Gatchina Palace from Long Island — The Stone Bridge at Gatchina — View of the Kamennoostrov Palace through Bolshaya Nevka from the Stroganov Seashore — The Eagle Column at Gatchina — A Cascade in the Gatchina Park — The Stone Bridge by Connetable Square at Gatchina. — Landscape with Ruins
1729 Bonaventure de Bar, French artist born in 1700.
 1715
Louis XIV, 76 ans, le Roi-Soleil (1643-1715) ^top^
[portrait de 1701 par Rigaud >] La gangrène sénile qui a atteint sa jambe gauche tachée n'a cessé de progresser. Louis le XIVème, qui, le 25, a reçu Mme de Maintenon, son épouse morganatique, lui a dit: "Quoi madame, vous vous affligez de me voir en l'état de bientôt mourir ? N'ai-je pas assez vécu ? M'avez-vous cru immortel?". Le lendemain, c'est son arrière-petit-fils le Dauphin qu'il a reçu : "Mon cher enfant, vous allez être le plus grand roi du monde... Tachez de soulager vos peuples, ce que je suis assez malheureux de n'avoir pu faire." A des courtisans il a dit encore, ce même jour: "Je m'en vais messieurs, mais l'Etat demeurera toujours " Le 28 août, il confia à Mme de Maintenon: "J'ai toujours ouï dire qu'il est difficile de mourir ; pour moi qui suis sur le point de ce moment si redoutable aux hommes, je ne trouve pas que cela soit difficile." Le 31 août, le roi a récité le Pater d'une voix si forte qu'on l'a entendu de la pièce voisine. Puis il a perdu connaissance. En ce matin, à 08h15, le Roi-Soleil vient de s'éteindre, 4 jours avant son 77ème anniversaire. — Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack ON LOUIS THE XIV OF FRANCE. Louis ('tis true, I own to you) / Paid learned men for writing, / And valiant men for fighting; / Himself could neither write nor fight, / Nor make his people happy; / Yet fools will prate, and call him great, / Shame on their noddles sappy. |
1666 Frans I. Hals, Dutch portraitist born between 1581 and 1585. — MORE ON HALS AT ART “4” 2~DAY — LINKS — Portrait of a Gentleman in White — Company of Captain Reinier Reael (The Meagre Company) — Marriage Portrait of Isaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laen — Portrait of a man, possibly Nicolaes Hasselaer — Portrait of a woman, possibly Sara Wolphaerts van Diemen — The Merry Drinker — Gypsy Girl — The Laughing Cavalier — Pieter van den Broecke — Willem Coymans — Singing Boy with a Flute — A Family Group in a Landscape
1648 Marin Mersenne, 59, French mathematician
1557 Jacques Cartier French explorer
1159 Adrian IV only English pope (1154-59) 1159 Death of Pope Adrian IV, the only English pope, a firm but kindly man who suffered many things from Arnold of Brescia and Frederick of Barbarossa.
| 0256 Carthage synod (wrongly)
declares heretics' baptism invalid.. ^top^ What happens if a Christian is baptized by an unworthy or improperly ordained minister? Is that baptism valid? Under the prodding of the dynamic bishop and martyr Cyprian, the issue was faced in the North African city of Carthage in the third century. During the Decian Persecutions, which broke out in 250, many Christians poured libations to the emperor rather than suffer torture. Others bribed the authorities to obtain certificates saying they had sacrificed even when they had not. Later some of these, who were sometimes called lapsi, felt remorse for their betrayal of Christ who had suffered torture for them. They asked to be readmitted to the church. Schism developed over the issue. Led by Novatian, many Christians broke off from Rome, saying no lapsed person should be readmitted. The Novatians ordained their own priests who baptized new Christians. Later some Novatian Christians wanted to unite with the Catholic church. Cyprian said this was only possible if they were rebaptized within the Catholic church by "legitimate" priests. Another group wanted to let the lapsed return on easier terms than Cyprian. They also broke away and elected their own bishop, Cecilianus, who baptized converts. Believing that church unity was at stake, Cyprian took a tough stand against accepting baptism by schismatics, arguing that no sacrament administered outside the church had validity. Since there can be only one church, he considered the breakaway groups to be without the Holy Spirit. He wrote letters and summoned councils. These councils met in Carthage in 251, 252, 253, 255 and 256 to address the issues raised by the lapsi and Novatians. On 01 September 256, the North African synod votes unanimously with Cyprian. Baptized "heretics" who entered the Catholic fold must be baptized again. This vote did not stand. Stephen, bishop of Rome, ordered Cyprian to accept the lapsed into the church without a second baptism. Cyprian refused. "[H]ow can he who lacks the spirit confer the spirit?" he asked. For a long time he resisted, but eventually yielded — under threat of excommunication. Rome uses this concession by Cyprian to prove that at that early time the bishop's of Roman word had authority. Cyprian died a martyr on 14 September 258 at age 58. He had been accused of cowardice for hiding during the Decian Persecutions. In 258 he vindicated himself, boldly testifying to his faith as he went to his beheading. Stephen, too was martyred — a year before Cyprian. The Council of Arles in 314 upheld Stephen's decision. As long as a person was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, he or she was truly baptized, regardless of who conferred the rite. |
1773,
