This Date in History - May 21

I remember this like it was yesterday.  The wonderful, penultimate edition of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson happened on this date in 1992.   I still miss him to this day.

293: ROMAN EMPERORS DIOCLETIAN AND MAXIMIAN APPOINT GALERIUS AS CAESAR TO DIOCLETIAN.

I guess this is a big deal if you live in Rome during the year 203.

878:  SYRACUSE, ITALY IS CAPTURED BY THE MUSLIM SULTAN OF SICILY.

The Orangemen of Italy?

879:  POPE JOHN VIII GIVES BLESSINGS TO BRANIMIR OF CROATIA AND TO THE CROATIAN PEOPLE.

I guess this is a big deal if you live in Croatia during the year 879.

996:  SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD OTTO III IS CROWNED HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR.

So he's running a country even before he goes to the prom?

1554:  QUEEN MARY I GRANTS A ROYAL CHARTER TO DERBY SCHOOL FOR BOYS.

Well, derbys would look pretty stupid on girls.

1758:  TEN-YEAR-OLD MARY CAMPBELL IS ABDUCTED IN PENNSYLVANIA BY LENAPE DURING THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.

The very first amber alert.

1851:  SLAVERY IS ABOLISHED IN COLOMBIA, SOUTH AMERICA.

Meanwhile, it's probably just as tough to be a free man if you live in Colombia, South America.

1856:  LAWRENCE, KANSAS IS CAPTURED BY PRO-SLAVERY FORCES.

That's an awful long way from Colombia, South America.

1863:  ORGANIZATION OF THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH IN BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN.

So,  when you're in their church, you don't want to sing "Eight Days a Week."

1881:  THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IS ESTABLISHED BY CLARA BARTON.

Free doughnuts!!!

1898:  BUSINESSMAN ARMAND HAMMER IS BORN.

Love your baking soda.

1901:  ACTOR SAM JAFFE IS BORN.

Man, woman, birth, death, infinity.

1904:  SINGER FATS WALLER IS BORN.

Well, his mother was pregnant.   Somebody was misbehavin'.

1917:  ACTOR RAYMOND BURR IS BORN.

Somewhere there's got to be a photo of this guy wearing a dress.

1917:  THE GREAT ATLANTA FIRE OF 1917 CAUSES $5.5 MILLION IN DAMAGE.  

Jeez, how many times did that town burn to the ground?

1918:  SINGER DENNIS DAY IS BORN.

Hi, Mr. Benny....

1924:  ACTRESS PEGGY CASS IS BORN.

To tell you the truth....

1924:  UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO STUDENTS RICHARD LOEB AND NATHAN LEOPOLD JR.  MURDER 14-YEAR-OLD BOBBY FRANKS IN A THRILL KILLING.

And, for years, I thought these were the guys who wrote "My Fair Lady."

1927:  CHARLES LINDBERGH TOUCHES DOWN IN PARIS, COMPLETING THE WORLD'S FIRST SOLO NONSTOP FLIGHT ACROSS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.

Nazi loving shithead.

1932:  BAD WEATHER FORCES AMELIA EARHART TO LAND IN A PASTURE IN NORTHERN IRELAND, THEREBY BECOMES THE FIRST WOMAN TO FLY SOLO ACROSS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.

Whatever became of her?  It's like she disappeared right off the planet.

1934:  OSKALOOSA, IOWA, BECOMES THE FIRST MUNICIPALITY IN THE US TO FINGERPRINT ALL OF ITS CITIZENS.

I bet their crime rate is low.

1936:  SADA ABE IS ARRESTED AFTER WANDERING THE STREETS OF TOKYO WITH HER DEAD LOVER'S SEVERED GENITALS IN HER HAND.

Well, you gotta hand it to her....

1946:  PHYSICIST LOUIS SLOTIN IS FATALLY IRRADIATED DURING AN EXPERIMENT WITH THE DEMON CORE.

Hence, the word "demon."

1952:  ACTOR JOHN GARFIELD DIES.

At the age of 39.  Now there's somebody who got cheated.

1961:  ALABAMA GOVERNOR JOHN MALCOLM PATTERSON DECLARES MARTIAL LAW IN AN ATTEMPT TO RESTORE ORDER AFTER RACE RIOTS BREAK OUT.

At some point, this will happen to our entire country if we don't pay attention.

1972:  MICHELANGELO'S PIETA IN ROME IS DAMAGED BY A VANDAL, THE MENTALLY DISTURBED HUNGARIAN LASZLO TOTH.

Well, if you have to live in Hungary, you might as well be mentally disturbed.

1979:  WHITE NIGHT RIOTS IN SAN FRANCISCO FOLLOWING THE MANSLAUGHTER OF DAN WHITE FOR THE ASSASSINATIONS OF GEORGE MOSCONE AND HARVEY MILK.

You shouldn't cry over spilled....

1988:  DANCER SAMMY DAVIS SR. DIES.

Meanwhile, his son only lasted two more years.

1991:  FORMER INDIAN PRIME MINISTER RAJIV GANDHI IS ASSASSINATED BY A FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBER.

If you've got the last name Gandhi, things never work out well, do they?

1992:  ROBIN WILLIAMS AND BETTE MIDLER APPEAR ON THE NEXT-TO-LAST JOHNNY CARSON TONIGHT SHOW.

We will never see this kind of television spontaneity ever again.

1998:  IN MIAMI, FLORIDA, FIVE ABORTION CLINICS ARE HIT BY A BUTYRIC ACID ATTACKER.

People who are pro life trying to kill.   Isn't that an oxymoron?

2000:  ACTOR JOHN GIELGUD DIES.

Sir to you.

2005:  THE TALLEST ROLLER COASTER IN THE WORLD, KINGDA KA, OPENS AT GREAT ADVENTURE IN NEW JERSEY.

You will never see me on it.

2005:  ACTOR HOWARD MORRIS DIES.

It's me, it's me, Ernest T.

2011:  BROADCASTER HAROLD CAMPING PREDICTED THAT THE END OF THE WORLD WOULD OCCUR ON THIS DAY.

Wrong!

2013:  BUSINESSMAN LEONARD MARSH DIES.

The co-founder of Snapple.   Which means May 21 should be a national holiday.

Dinner last night:  Sausage and peppers at the Met game.