A Brief History On October 22, 1934, US FBI agents shot and killed infamous bank robber Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd in East Liverpool, Ohio. Floyd is just one of the many robbers and murderers generally referred to as “gangsters” that became notorious during the decades of the 1920’s and 1930’s, an era that started with Prohibition, automobiles, and Tommy guns, making for an entirely new sort of mobile, deadly criminal. Cars made robbers faster and more mobile than any previous period in history, and in part led to the development of faster and faster cars. After World War I…
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A Brief History On October 15, 1888, George Lusk, the chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, received a letter purporting to be from the infamous mass murderer known as “Jack the Ripper.” Known through history as the “From Hell Letter,” this bit of mail remains one of the most famous letters of all time. Perhaps because the letter included a piece of human kidney from a murder victim? Today we look at 5 letters that remain of either great historical importance or of great human interest and/or amusement. As always, please nominate the fascinating letters you would include on such…
A Brief History On October 14, 1982, President Ronald Reagan declared a “War on Drugs,” meaning of course a war against illegal drugs. His wife, First Lady Nancy Reagan coined the phrase, “Just Say No” in an effort to inspire the youth of America to resist the urge to use drugs illegally. Neither the government law enforcement campaign nor the simplistic exhortation by the First Lady had much of an effect on illegal drug availability or use back then and no discernible effect on curbing illegal drug use since. Digging Deeper The 1980’s was a time when cocaine became the…
A Brief History On October 2, 2006, a mentally disturbed 32 year old man went to an Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (often described as the “Capital” of Amish Country) and proceeded to shoot 11 people, of which six died, including himself. His apparent reason for the massacre? The man was upset about having sexually molested a couple of young children (3 and 5 years old) 20 years prior to the shooting and was having thoughts that he might again start molesting children. How exactly murdering innocent people that had nothing to do with the man’s past is unclear.…
A Brief History On September 19, 2018, we once again celebrate National Talk Like a Pirate Day by, wait for this…. talking like a pirate! And do not think you can get away with failing to comply if you have nobody to “talk” to. You must also employ “pirate talk” in your written and electronic correspondence in order to meet the demands of NTLAPD. Why is this day important? Because talking like a pirate makes EVERYTHING FUNNIER! Especially jokes. Believe us or not, just try it. Your jokes will become immensely more amusing. Image if the newscasters talked like pirates. …