Today in History:
April 13, 1598 -
The Edict of Nantes established tolerance for Huguenots in France.
The Huguenots were the band of merry sailors that served as Jason’s crew on the Hugo, and the French had persecuted them because they were carrying Golden Fleas.
April 13, 1883 -
Alferd Packer, one of the few people in the US ever to be jailed for cannibalism, having allegedly killed and eaten five of his traveling companions while trapped in the Rocky Mountains during fierce winter weather, is sentenced to death in Colorado. During the trial, the judge supposedly said:
"Damn you, Alferd Packer! There were seven Dimmycrats in Hinsdale County and you ate five of them!"
An alternate version of the judge's outburst is -
"Packer, you depraved Republican son of a bitch! There were only five Democrats in Hinsdale County and you ate them all!"
The actual sentencing statement, of course, was a little more in character for an educated state judge:
"Close your ears to the blandishments of hope. Listen not to the flattering promises of life, but prepare for the dread certainty of death."
Packer is a legend in popular culture. He has been quoted as having said, in jest, "the breasts of man...are the sweetest meat I ever tasted." In 1968, students at the University of Colorado at Boulder named their new cafeteria grill the Alferd G. Packer Memorial Grill with the slogan "Have a friend for lunch!" Even today students can enjoy the meat-filled "El Canibal" underneath a giant wall map outlining his travels through Colorado.
Trey Parker, co-creator of South Park and graduate of University of Colorado, made a student film - Alferd Packer: The Musical, based loosely on Packer's life, while there
April 13, 1919 -
The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, also known as the Amritsar Massacre, was named after the Jallianwala Bagh (Garden) in the northern Indian city of Amritsar, where, British Indian Army soldiers under the command of Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer opened fire on an unarmed gathering of men, women and children.
The firing lasted about 10 minutes and 1600 rounds were fired. Official sources place the casualties at 379. According to private sources, the number was over 1000, with more than 2000 wounded, and Civil Surgeon Dr Smith indicated that they were over 1800.
And the British wonder why they lost an empire.
April 13, 1970 -
56 hours and 205,000 miles from planet Earth, the crew aboard Apollo 13 hears "a pretty loud bang" when oxygen tank number two spontaneously explodes. Astronaut Jack Swigert informs Mission Control in Houston: "Hey, we've got a problem here."
Miraculously, the crew manages to return home in their crippled spacecraft.
April 13, 1981 -
Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke wins a Pulitzer Prize for her story about Jimmy, an 8 year old heroin addict. Strangely, police could find no trace of this boy. And this was one of those investigative journalism Pulitzers, not a fiction Pulitzer, so she was forced to return the award two days later.
Cooke later clerked part-time at a department store cosmetics counter in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
April 13, 1990 -
The Soviet Union admits after vehemently denying for 47 years to the Katyn Massacre of 15,000 Polish army officers in.
Oops.
April 13, 1992 -
Chicago's downtown business center is crippled by massive flooding, as 124 million gallons of water inundate 50 miles of underground freight tunnels and adjoining basements. City workers dump sandbags, rocks, and mattresses into the Chicago River in a vain attempt to slow the floodwaters. All told, it will take 12 days to seal the leak and drain the tunnels. The disaster causes $800 million in damage, and the IRS graciously grants one week of amnesty for Chicago-area residents to file their tax returns..
April 13, 1994 -
The United Nations Human Rights Committee declares sodomy to be a basic human right. The committee determined that laws against buggery (particularly in Tasmania) breach articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
So that's what they do at the UN.
April 13, 2029 -
Mark this date in your calendars. A meteor will pass by the Earth, we hope, breaking the record for the closest passing by of any other previous meteor. Unless it goes wildly off course and crashes into Earth.
Have a good day.
And so it goes
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