1491 Spanish civil authorities publicly executed nine
people accused by the Spanish Inquisition of killing a little boy. The three
Jews and six conversos (Jews converted to Catholicism) were burned at the stake
in the Brasero de la Dehesa outside of Ávila. Despite there being no evidence
of any boy being killed, and disputed evidence that such a child even existed, locals
still celebrate the cult of the Holy Infant. Jews were often accused of killing
Christian children and using their blood in their religious rituals.
1581 After Tsar Ivan the Terrible of Russia assaulted
his pregnant daughter-in-law and caused her to miscarry, his son Ivan Ivanovich
rushed in to confront his father. The enraged tsar struck him on the head with
his scepter but immediately regretted it. Despite his father's prayers, Ivan
died three days later.
1793 Considering the guillotine too slow a death for
those suspected of activities counter to the French Revolution, Committee for
Public Safety member Jean-Baptiste Carrier ordered the drowning of ninety
dissident Roman Catholic priests in the Loire River at Nantes. Carrier continued the mass drownings
through February.
1849 A Russian court sentenced writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky to death for anti-government activities
linked to a radical intellectual group. Facing a firing squad, Dostoyevsky received
a last-minute reprieve from the Tsar and spent four years in a labor camp.
1885 Canada executed rebel leader of the Métis and
"Father of Manitoba" Louis Riel for high treason. Riel's work to
preserve the rights, culture, and even lands of native peoples lead to armed
confrontation with the newly formed confederation government. The Royal North-West
Mounted Police put down the rebellion and captured Riel, and he was tried,
convicted, and hanged. Riel’s execution permanently alienated Francophones and
is controversial to this day.
1940 "Mad Bomber" George Metesky left his
first bomb on a window sill at the Consolidated Edison power plant at 170 West
64th Street in Manhattan. He went on to plant at least 32 more bombs in New
York City over the next 16 years.
1966 An Ohio jury acquitted Dr. Samuel H. Sheppard in
his second trial on charges of bludgeoning to death his pregnant wife, Marilyn
Reese Sheppard, in 1954. Noting the "carnival atmosphere" and a
biased judge of his first trial, the U.S. Supreme Court had struck down the
original 1954 conviction and allowed the retrial.
1976 Scottish homemaker Renee MacRae and her son
Andrew disappeared from Inverness, Scotland. Their bodies have never been
found; the disappearance is currently Britain's longest-running missing persons
case. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service charged MacRae’s lover,
William MacDowell, with their murders in 2019.
1988 A Los Angeles Superior Court judge sentenced Stephen
Love, former Beach Boys manager and the brother of lead singer Mike Love, to 5
years’ probation and ordered him to pay $86,000 restitution for embezzling more
than $900,000 from the band.
1989 In San Salvador, El Salvadoran army troops dragged
six Jesuit priests and two others in residence at the Universidad
Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas from their beds and shot them in the head. The
Jesuits advocated a negotiated settlement between the Salvadoran government and
the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition of left-wing
groups that had battled the government for a decade.
1997 The People’s Republic of China released pro-democracy
dissident Wei Jingsheng for medical reasons. He had been incarcerated for
nearly 18 years. Wei settled in the United States, where he remains active in
the democratization of China.
1998 In Wright v. Universal Maritime Service Corp.
et al., the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that union members could file
discrimination lawsuits against employers even when labor contracts require
arbitration.
1999 A hitman hired by NFL wide receiver Rae Carruth
shot Carruth’s pregnant girlfriend, Cherica Adams, four times in her car. Adams
managed to call 911 and rescuers were able to save her baby. Adams died after a
month in the hospital. A North Carolina jury convicted Carruth of conspiracy to
commit murder but acquitted him of first-degree murder; he served 18 years in
prison. Prosecutors believed Carruth arranged the hit so he wouldn’t have to
pay child support to another girlfriend.
2001 In the midst of the anthrax scare, hazardous
materials experts sifting through 280 barrels of mail addressed to the U.S.
Capitol found a letter addressed to Senator Tom Leahy (D-Vt.) laced with the
deadly bacterium. Investigators sent the suspicious mail through a sensor
machine that could detect the presence of biological agents. The FBI concluded
microbiologist Bruce Ivins was responsible for the attacks that killed five
people.
2010 The U.S. House Ethics Committee found 80-year-old Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) guilty of 11 of 13 charges related to financial misconduct: for improperly fundraising for a community center in his name, failing to disclose more than $500,000 in assets on financial disclosure forms, and failing to disclose financial arrangements for a villa at a yacht club in the Dominican Republic. Although his fellow congressmen censured him, Rangel stayed in office until 2017.
