| Bare-Knuckle Fighter Dies After 99-Round Fight (1833) |
| In 1830, bare-knuckle prizefighter Simon Byrne, Ireland's heavyweight boxing champion, fought Alexander McKay, the "Champion of Scotland," for the right to challenge England's heavyweight champ. McKay died of a head injury shortly after losing the lengthy fight, and Byrne was charged but later cleared of manslaughter. Three years later, Byrne fought England's champion, James Burke. After 3 hours and 99 rounds, Byrne was knocked out. He died days later. What became of Burke after the fatal fight? Discuss |
| Read More...(Source: This Day in History - Fri, 2 Jun 2023 05:00:00 GMT) |
| Mary Dyer, Boston Martyr, Hanged for Being a Quaker (1660) |
| Dyer was an English Quaker who was hanged in Boston after repeatedly defying a law banning Quakers from the colony. Her death and those of the three other "Boston Martyrs" led to the easing of anti-Quaker laws in Massachusetts. Years earlier, in 1637, after Dyer had given birth to a stillborn fetus and buried it privately, the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony had the "monstrous birth" publicly exhumed to serve as evidence of the heresies of what religious doctrine? |
| Read More...(Source: This Day in History - Thu, 1 Jun 2023 05:00:00 GMT) |
| Johnstown Flood Kills 2,209 (1889) |
| When the South Fork Dam near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, collapsed after several days of heavy rains, it sent 20 million tons (18.1 million cubic meters) of water cascading downriver at speeds of 20–40 mph (30–60 km/h). Less than an hour after the breach, a 30-foot (9-m) wall of water smashed into Johnstown, killing more than 2,200 people. The American Red Cross's response was one of its first major disaster relief efforts. Why did some blame the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club for the tragedy? |
| Read More...(Source: This Day in History - Wed, 31 May 2023 05:00:00 GMT) |