Thursday, April 3, 2008

What's with those car rollovers?

Jerry Seinfeld was a very lucky multi-millionaire this past weekend. He walked away from a nasty car rollover accident Saturday night, basically uninjured.


Here is your Today in History -

April 3, 33 -
A small town rabbi and itinerant prophet of a little known Jewish sect is put to death in Jerusalem in a particularly unpleasant way. 2000 years later, little children eat jelly beans and chocolate bunnies to commemorate this event. Go figure.


Insufferable Bastards are not to be confused with Evil Bastards. Insufferable Bastards correct your pronunciation, order mesclun salad, and belittle your appreciation of hamburgers; Evil Bastards kill millions of people and launch world wars. Ironically, this week marks the anniversary of one of this century’s Evilest Bastards coming to power: Stalin became Secretary General of the Communist Party on April 3, 1922.



On April 3, 1930, Ras Tafari was proclaimed Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, ultimately resulting in Bob Marley.




Things were not looking good for the Outlaw Jesse James. With his gang depleted by arrests, deaths, and defections, Jesse thought he had only two men left whom he could trust: brothers Bob and Charley Ford. Frank James had decided to retire and attempt to settle down. Joe Walsh had not yet been born. Little did he know that Bob Ford had been conducting secret negotiations with Thomas T. Crittenden, the Missouri governor, to bring in Jesse James.

On April 3, 1882, as James prepared for another robbery, and as all good bank robbers did, he decided to go some little housekeeping. It was a rare moment: He had his guns off, having removed them earlier when the unusual heat forced him to remove his coat; as he moved in and out of the house, he feared the pistols would attract attention from the several passers-by. Seizing the opportunity, the Fords drew their revolvers. Bob was the fastest, firing a shot into the back of Jesse's head, cooling him off and killing him instantly.



The assassination proved a national sensation. The Fords made no attempt to hide their role; as crowds pressed into the little house in St. Joseph to see the dead bandit, they surrendered to the authorities, pleaded guilty, were sentenced to hang, and were promptly pardoned by the governor. Indeed, the governor's quick pardon suggested that he was well aware that the brothers intended to kill, rather than capture, Jesse James. (The Ford brothers, like many who knew James, never believed it was practical to try to capture such a dangerous man.) The implication that the chief executive of Missouri conspired to kill a private citizen startled the public and helped create a new legend in James.

The Fords received a portion of the reward (some of it also went to law enforcement officials active in the plan) and fled Missouri, which now fully embraced the outlaw who had long divided public opinion in the state. Zerelda, Jesse’s mother, appeared at the coroner’s inquest, deeply anguished, and loudly denounced Dick Liddil, a former gang member who was cooperating with state authorities. Charley Ford committed suicide in May 1884. Bob Ford was killed by a shotgun blast to the throat in his tent saloon in Creede, Colorado, on June 8, 1892. His killer, Edward Capehart O'Kelley, was sentenced to life in prison. Because of health problems, his sentence was commuted, and O'Kelley was released on October 3, 1902.


April 3, 1924 -
The brilliant actor and total loon Marlon Brando is born. Evidently one of his best friends was Michael Jackson. Need we say more? Another long time friend and alleged lover was Wally Cox. Brando is quoted as saying: "If Wally had been a woman, I would have married him and we would have lived happily ever after."After TV's Mr. Peepers and the voice of Underdog died, Brando kept his ashes in his bedroom for 30 years and conversed with them nightly. Eventually, the ashes (Wally's) were eventually scattered with his (Marlon's) own.




April 3, 1936 -
The state of New Jersey extends one final courtesy to Bruno Hauptmann and offer him the hot seat for the kidnap and murder of the Lindbergh baby (as previously discussed, a crime he probably did not commit.)




And so it goes

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