On this day in
1667, a blind and impoverished
John Milton sells the copyright to his prose magnum opus
Paradise Lost… for £10.
***
On this day in
1813, during the
War of 1812, US troops capture the capital of Upper Canada in the Battle of York, in present day Toronto.
***
On this day in
1865, only two weeks after the assassination of
Abraham Lincoln and one day after the killing of his assassin,
John Wilkes Booth, the worst maritime disaster in the history of the United States takes place when a boiler on the steamboat paddlewheeler
SS Sultana explodes and she sinks on the Mississippi, killing 1,700 of her 2,400 passengers. The Sultana’s official carrying capacity was only 376, and most of the dead were Union survivors of the Andersonville and Cahaba Confederate war prisons.
***
On this day in
1950, the Group Areas Act is formally passed in South Africa, segregating the races in an official policy of
Apartheid.
***
On this day in
1981,
Xerox introduces the computer mouse. Kinda cute, isn't it?
***
On this day in
1997, disgruntled gay man
Andrew Cunanan begins his "Homogeddon" murder spree that will culminate with the July murder of multi-millionaire fashion designer - and former trick -
Gianni Versace.
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