A Brief History
This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on May 23rd. For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event.
Digging Deeper
On May 23, 1701, Scottish Captain William Kidd was hanged in London for piracy and murder.
On May 23, 1829, Austrian maker of keyboard instruments, Cyrill Demian, a man of Armenian descent, was granted a patent for his new musical instrument, the Accordion.
On May 23, 1901, the Attorney General of Paris, France, received an anonymous note that a woman was being kept prisoner by her own mother.
On May 23, 1934, bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde were gunned down by law enforcement officers.
On May 23, 1934, waiting policemen ambushed notorious robbers and murderers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, filling them and their stolen car full of holes.
On May 23, 1939, the submarine USS Squalus demonstrated the dangers faced by submarine sailors even in peacetime.
On May 23, 1945, notorious head of the dreaded German SS (Schutzstaffel), Heinrich Himmler, committed suicide by taking poison rather than face execution by hanging.
On May 23, 2001, Temba Tsheri, a 16 year old Sherpa from Nepal, became the youngest person to climb Mt. Everest.
On May 23, 2006, Chooseco published an updated version of The Abominable Snowman as the first of their reissues of the Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks from the early 1980s so dear to this author’s heart.
On May 23, 2013, the Interstate-5 bridge over the Skagit River collapsed suddenly, dumping two occupied cars into the river.
On May 23, 2014, we ran a list of 10 Favorite Guns of The Gangsters.
On May 23, 2014, a mentally disturbed 22 year old man took his mental illness to a new level by killing 3 people with a knife, another 3 with pistols, and injuring another 14 with gunshots and his car, eventually taking his own life as well, in an incident known as the Isla Vista Killings.
Science fiction action body horror film fans of John Carroll University had their chance to be among the first in Cleveland, Ohio to see Upgrade on Wednesday, May 23, 2018 at 7:30 PM at Cinemark At Valley View and XD in Valley View, Ohio!
Question for students (and subscribers): Which event that occurred on today’s date would you like to learn more about? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Andrews, John and Matt Baker. Timeline of World History. Thunder Bay Press, 2020.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.