On This Day
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From: Reference.com On This Day
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Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2009 3:00 AM
Subject: Sunday May 10, 2009: Reference.com On This Day
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On This Day:
Sunday May 10, 2009
This is the 130th day of the year, with 235 days remaining in 2009.
Fact of the Day: Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad Company extended the American railroad system
to the Pacific coast - built westward from Omaha, Nebraska, for 1006 miles to
meet the Central Pacific Railroad's line, which was built from Sacramento,
California, at Promontory Point, Utah. On that day, a golden spike was driven
by Leland Stanford, present of the Central Pacific, to celebrate the linkage in
1869. This was a very important part (1800 miles' worth) of the first American
transcontinental railway line.
Holidays
Feast day of St. Catald, St. Conleth, Saints Gordian and Epimachus, St.
Antoninus, St. Alphius, St. Calepodius, St. Solange, and St. John of Avila.
Micronesia: National Day (1979).
Singapore: Vesak Day (Buddha's entry into Nirvana).
Guatemala, Mexico: Mother's Day.
North Carolina, South Carolina: Confederate Memorial Day.
Events
1503 - Christopher Columbus discovered the Cayman Islands.
1775 - Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys captured the British-held
fortress at Ticonderoga, New York.
1865 - Union forces captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis, in
Georgia.
1869 - A golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, marking the
completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.
1872 - Victoria Woodhull became first woman nominated for U.S. president.
1908 - The first Mother's Day observance took place during church
services in Grafton, West Virginia and Philadelphia.
1924 - J. Edgar Hoover became FBI director, a job he was to hold until
his death in 1972.
1940 - Neville Chamberlain resigned as British Prime Minister, replaced
by Winston Churchill.
1941 - The House of Commons was destroyed in the heaviest air raid of
London.
1960 - The U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Triton completed its
circumnavigation of the globe after 84 days.
1979 - The Federated States of Micronesia becomes self-governing.
1981 - Socialist Francois Mitterrand defeated incumbent Valery Giscard
d'Estaing in France's presidential election.
1994 - In South Africa, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is sworn in as that
country's first black president.
1997 - Pope John Paul II visits Lebanon.
2003 - The "New York Times" announced that one of its reporters, Jayson
Blair, had "committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud."
2005 - A new Holocaust memorial is dedicated in Germany; officially
called the "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe."
Births
1832 - William Grace, Irish-born American ship-owner; founder of W. R.
Grace & Company.
1838 - John Wilkes Booth, American actor and assassin of Abraham Lincoln,
the 16th President of the United States.
1899 - Fred Astaire (Frederick Austerlitz), American dancer, actor.
1902 - David O. Selznick, American movie producer.
1936 - Gary Owens, American comic actor and announcer.
1955 - Mark David Chapman, assassin of John Lennon.
1957 - Sid Vicious (born John Simon Ritchie/Beverley), English bassist
for the punk band the Sex Pistols.
1960 - Bono (born Paul David Hewson), lead singer and principal lyricist
of the Irish rock band U2.
1963 - Lisa Nowak, American astronaut.
1976 - Rob Malda, also known as CmdrTaco, is one of the founders of
Slashdot.
1977 - Nick Heidfeld, German Formula One driver.
Deaths
1424 - Go-Kameyama, 99th Emperor of Japan.
1774 - King Louis XV of France.
1792 - John Stevens, American delegate to the Continental Congress from
New Jersey.
1818 - Paul Revere, American Revolution hero.
1863 - Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson died of pneumonia a week after
losing his arm from friendly fire during the Battle of Chancellorsville.
1897 - Andrés Bonifacio, Filipino leader of the Philippine Revolution
against Spanish colonial rule in the late 19th century.
1977 - Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay Le Sueur), American actress.
1989 - Woody Shaw, American jazz trumpet player and composer.
1990 - Walker Percy, an American Southern author whose interests included
philosophy and semiotics.
1999 - Shel Silverstein, American poet, cartoonist, and composer.
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