In 1862, Mexican troops defeated French occupying forces in the Battle of Puebla. In a reenactment of the Battle de Puebla, “French” troops advance on Mexican positions in Puebla in 1998. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
In 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Mercury capsule Freedom 7. Here, the Redstone-MR7 is shown during lift-off from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla. The booster placed Shepard, who is inside a Project Mercury spacecraft Mercury 7, into a suborbital flight which attained a speed of 5,100 miles per hour. (AP Photo/NASA)
In 1981, Irish Republican Army hunger-striker Bobby Sands died at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland in his 66th day without food. Escorted by hooded members of the IRA, the coffin of hunger Sands leaves a Belfast church followed by his sister Marcella and his 7-year-old son Gerald. (AP Photo/Robert Dear)
In 1994, Singapore caned American teenager Michael Fay for vandalism, a day after the sentence was reduced from six lashes to four in response to an appeal by President Bill Clinton. Here, Fay, accompanied by his father George, behind, leaves the Queenstown Prison in Singapore following his release. (AP Photo/Tan Ah Soon)
Today is Sunday, May 5, the 125th day of 2019.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On May 5, 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte, 51, died in exile on the island of St. Helena.
On this date:
In 1494, during his second voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus landed in Jamaica.
In 1818, political philosopher Karl Marx, co-author of “The Communist Manifesto” and author of “Das Kapital,” was born in Prussia.
In 1862, Mexican troops defeated French occupying forces in the Battle of Puebla.
In 1891, New York’s Carnegie Hall (then named “Music Hall”) had its official opening night, featuring Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky as a guest conductor.
In 1892, Congress passed the Geary Act, which required Chinese in the United States to carry a certificate of residence at all times, or face deportation.
In 1925, schoolteacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating a state law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution. (Scopes was found guilty, but his conviction was later set aside.)
In 1934, the first Three Stooges short for Columbia Pictures, “Woman Haters,” was released.
In 1942, wartime sugar rationing began in the United States.
In 1945, in the only fatal attack of its kind during World War II, a Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing the pregnant wife of a minister and five children. Denmark and the Netherlands were liberated as a German surrender went into effect.
In 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Mercury capsule Freedom 7.
In 1981, Irish Republican Army hunger-striker Bobby Sands died at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland on his 66th day without food.
In 1994, Singapore caned American teenager Michael Fay for vandalism, a day after the sentence was reduced from six lashes to four in response to an appeal by President Bill Clinton.
Ten years ago: Connie Culp, America’s first face transplant recipient, appeared before reporters at the Cleveland Clinic. (Culp underwent the procedure after being shot by her husband in a failed murder-suicide attempt.) Texas health officials confirmed the first death of a U.S. resident with swine flu.
Five years ago: A narrowly divided Supreme Court upheld Christian prayers at the start of local council meetings. Philadelphia guard Michael Carter-Williams won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year Award.
One year ago: Russians demonstrated in scores of cities across the country against the impending inauguration of Vladimir Putin to a new term as president, and police responded by reportedly arresting nearly 1,600 of them. North Korea readjusted its time zone to match South Korea’s, saying it was an early step toward making the longtime rivals “become one.” NASA launched the Mars InSight lander from California on a flight of more than six months to the red planet, where the robot geologist would dig deeper in to the Martian surface than ever before. Justify, on his way to a Triple Crown sweep, splashed through the slop at Churchill Downs to win the Kentucky Derby by 2½ lengths, becoming the first horse since Apollo in 1882 to win the Derby without having raced as a 2-year-old.
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