Browsing: Crime

A Brief History On June 9, 1667, the Dutch Navy handed the British Royal Navy its worst defeat in its history in what is known as the Raid on the Medway.  The Dutch burned 13 British ships, including 3 of the largest (“capital ships”) and towed away 2 more large ships, including the Flagship of the Royal Navy, the HMS Royal Charles.  This raid was done in England, far up the river Thames and then up the river Medway at Chatham.  Bold raids such as this are sometimes spectacularly successful, and sometimes not so much.  Raids are surprise attacks of short duration,…

A Brief History On June 8, 2001, and then again on June 8, 2008, Japan was terrorized by a mass stabbing.  The first occurred at an Osaka elementary school, and 7 years later the next rampage took place in Tokyo. Digging Deeper The first perpetrator was a mentally unbalanced man who had been a juvenile delinquent.  Mamoru Takuma was known to roll cats in flammable material and light them on fire or throw them in a furnace.  As a sophomore in  high school he assaulted a teacher and was a drop out.  His father tried to get him psychiatric help,…

A Brief History On June 6, 1997, Melissa Drexler gave birth to her baby in a bathroom stall, threw it in the trash, and went right back to the prom!  This Lacey Township High School (New Jersey) student was over 18 years old at the time and so faced charges as an adult.  Convicted of manslaughter, she was sentenced to 15 years in jail, of which she served only 37 months. Digging Deeper At 5’7” tall and weighing in at only 130 pounds, she still managed to hide her pregnancy from other people.  Going into a bathroom stall to deliver…

A Brief History On June 3, 1839, Chinese agents under Lin Zexu (various spellings) seized an incredible 1,210 ton cache of opium (2.66 million pounds, or 1.2 million kilos), later destroying the drug. Digging Deeper Incredibly, the opium was being forcibly imported into China by British drug merchants with the complicity of the British government.  China at the time had no need for Western goods, but was producing silk and other products bought in large amounts by the West, resulting in a gross trade imbalance.  (Sound familiar?)  British opium (poppy) farmers in India sent their drug to China where opium…

A Brief History On June 3, 1943, US Navy sailors and US Marines tangled with Latino young men in what is known as The Zoot Suit Riots. Earlier this web site discussed the Brown Dog Riot and the Egg Nog Riot, which just goes to show you that people will riot about almost anything. (We will ignore the typical riots, such as race based, all but one sporting event based, and starving peasants.) Here we list 10 of the goofiest named riots in history. Digging Deeper 10. Nika Hippodrome Riots (Constantinople), 532. Why is this incident the only sporting event…