This Day in History – May 5, 2011

1382 Battle of Beverhoutsveld – population beats drunken army 1494 Christopher Columbus 1st sights Jamaica on his 2nd voyage to the New World 1809 Mary Kies is 1st woman issued a US patent (weaving straw) 1816 American Bible Society organized (New York) 1834 Charles Darwin’s expedition begins at Rio Santa Cruz 1847 American Medical Association organized (Philadelphia) 1863 Battle of Tupelo MS 1865 1st US train robbery (North Bend OH) 1867 Battle of Pueblo; Mexicans defeat Maximilian’s forces (Cinco de Mayo) 1891 Carnegie Hall opens in NYC with Tchaikovsky as guest conductor 1893 Panic of 1893: Great crash on New York Stock Exchange 1900 “The Billboard” began weekly publication 1904 Cy Young of Boston pitches perfect game against Philadelphia A’s (3-0) 1920 US President Wilson makes Communist Labor Party illegal 1925 John T Scopes arrested for teaching evolution in Tennessee 1925 Ty Cobb goes 6 for 6, (16 total bases) 1930 1st woman to fly solo from England to Australia takes-off (Amy Johnson) 1936 Edward Ravenscroft patents screw-on bottle cap with a pour lip 1942 US begins rationing sugar during WWII 1943 Postmaster General Frank C Walker invents Postal Zone System 1944 Gandhi freed from prison 1947 Mississippi Valley flooding kills 16 & causes $850 million in damage 1961 Alan Shepard becomes 1st American in space (aboard Freedom 7) 1965 1st large-scale US Army ground units arrive in South Vietnam 1975 A’s release pinch runner Herb Washington (played 104 games without batting, pitching, or fielding – He stole 30 bases, & scored 33 runs) 1979 Masterpiece Radio Theater begins broadcasting 1997 “Married With Children” final episode on Fox TV 2000 Conjunction of Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn & Moon]]]]> ]]>