On This Day in History II

October 15

Deeply disturbed by the murders of prostitutes around the Whitechapel district of London, builder George Lusk was elected chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee in 1888.

In an effort to find the killer, his name and address was printed on posters appealing for information.

But on October 15 of that year, he received the opposite of what he was hoping for.

A letter marked "From Hell" was posted to Lusk, along with half a kidney.

"I may send you the bloody knif that took it out if you only wate a whil longer," the letter read.

"Catch me when you can Mishter Lusk."

Despite the inclusion of a human kidney, investigators to this day are still unsure whether the letter was a hoax or a genuine letter written by the serial killer.

The purported killer had given himself a nickname in a previous letter sent to London's Central News Agency: Jack the Ripper.

While five known cases have been attributed to the murderer, Jack the Ripper remains one of the most notorious serial killers of all time.

https://www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-news-headlines-on-this-day-in-pictures-famous-historical-images-crime-sport-celebrity-world-news-global-events-anniversaries/a4e6a3c2-97d9-46c2-864d-910637d4aa03#1

does anyone else sides me think it was Rasputin?

jirqoadai wrote:does anyone else sides me think it was Rasputin?

Possibly him, but he went through so fast, 4,200 mph on one of dem Russian missiles, no body saw him ?

November 3

After being plunged into darkness for five days following Superstorm Sandy in 2012, lights went back on in lower Manhattan on November 3.

Cars are blurred as they pass by a darkened Flatiron Building in a section of Manhattan still in a blackout following Hurricane Sandy on October 30, 2012 in New York City.

On this day, November 10, 1975...

https://www.ontarioparks.com/parksblog/edmund-fitzgerald-40-years-later/

The Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior.  It had left Superior, Wisconsin - where the CN later had me working, including the ore-loading yard; and was en route to Cleveland, Ohio - where I lived at the time. Which had industry at the time; today, not so much.

Two neighbors of ours, apprentices, went down.  That was unusual for our suburban city; but the Greater Cleveland area was home to some of the 29 hands on board.  Another waterfront village, Fairport Harbor, in nearby Lake County, was home to more of them.

The Fitz was owned by a Cleveland company and most of the men on board lived there, even if by custom it had been home-ported elsewhere from time to time.

The mystery of why it went down has been done to death, by those in the periphery.  The best theory I've come across, involves (as with most accidents) an unfortunate set of mistakes that come together.

First, changeable weather.  Late fall is the absolute worst time on the Great Lakes.  In wider lakes, like Superior, the swells can rival that of the ocean; and most lake freighters do not have the freeboard or naval architecture to endure high seas.  It's not part of their normal operation, unlike, say, ocean freighters.

Second, that weather took down the Fitz's radar system.  There was no redundancy.

Third, the charts the Fitz (and other boats) were using, had a shoal incorrectly marked.  So even though the Arthur Anderson running behind, could guide the Fitz on positioning, the shoal was in a different place, with less clearance.

Fourth, a couple of hatches were leaking.

ALL of this together, created the perfect storm.  First incident, of course, the weather and loss of navigation.  Second incident, the Fitz was riding lower in the water because of flooding in the cargo hold.

Third, the shoal markings they were using were incorrect.  Possibly, with the pounding of the chop, the Fitz grounded on the shoal, unknown, un-felt by anyone.

This may well have opened the bottom and even weakened or broken the keel.  Which would explain why the boat broke in half later.

Because of this new source of water, the bilge pumps were no longer able to keep on top of flooding.

Meantime, the bow of the boat was going under with the swells...tremendous stress for an ore boat of that design.  But it was also heavier than was safe, due to the flooding.  Theories have it, that the bow and forward superstructure dove deep in a swell, the back broke, and they just never came back up, either half.

November 11

1918
WWI armistice, signed by the Allies and Germany, comes into effect and World War I hostilities end at 11am "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month"

Lest we forget.

On November 12, 1954, Ellis Island, the gateway to America, shuts it doors after processing more than 12 million immigrants since opening in 1892. Today, tens of millions of Americans can trace their roots through Ellis Island, located in New York Harbor off the New Jersey coast and named for merchant Samuel Ellis, who owned the land in the 1770s.

On January 2, 1892, 15-year-old Annie Moore, from Ireland, became the first person to pass through the newly opened Ellis Island, which President Benjamin Harrison designated as America’s first federal immigration center in 1890. Before that time, the processing of immigrants had been handled by individual states.

Not all immigrants who sailed into New York had to go through Ellis Island. First- and second-class passengers submitted to a brief shipboard inspection and then disembarked at the piers in New York or New Jersey, where they passed through customs. People in third class, though, were transported to Ellis Island, where they underwent medical and legal inspections to ensure they didn’t have a contagious disease or some condition that would make them a burden to the government. Only two percent of all immigrants were denied entrance into the U.S.

On November 16, 1532, Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish explorer and conquistador, springs a trap on the Incan emperor, Atahualpa. With fewer than 200 men against several thousand, Pizarro lures Atahualpa to a feast in the emperor’s honor and then opens fire on the unarmed Incans. Pizarro’s men massacre the Incans and capture Atahualpa, forcing him to convert to Christianity before eventually killing him.

By 1532, the Inca Empire was embroiled in a civil war that had decimated the population and divided the people’s loyalties. Atahualpa, the younger son of former Incan ruler Huayna Capac, had just deposed his half-brother Huascar and was in the midst of reuniting his kingdom when Pizarro arrived in 1531, with the endorsement of Spain’s King Charles V. On his way to the Incan capital, Pizarro learned of the war and began recruiting soldiers still loyal to Huascar.
Pizarro met Atahualpa just outside Cajamarca, a small Incan town tucked into a valley of the Andes. Sending his brother Hernan as an envoy, Pizarro invited Atahualpa back to Cajamarca for a feast in honor of Atahualpa’s ascendance to the throne. Though he had nearly 80,000 soldiers with him in the mountains, Atahualpa consented to attend the feast with only 5,000 unarmed men. He was met by Vicente de Valverde, a friar traveling with Pizarro. While Pizarro’s men lay in wait, Valverde urged Atahualpa to convert and accept Charles V as sovereign. Atahualpa angrily refused, prompting Valverde to give the signal for Pizarro to open fire. Trapped in tight quarters, the panicking Incan soldiers made easy prey for the Spanish. Pizarro’s men slaughtered the 5,000 Incans in just an hour. Pizarro himself suffered the only Spanish injury: a cut on his hand sustained as he saved Atahualpa from death.

Realizing Atahualpa was initially more valuable alive than dead, Pizarro kept the emperor in captivity while he made plans to take over his empire. In response, Atahualpa appealed to his captors’ greed, offering them a room full of gold and silver in exchange for his liberation. Pizarro consented, but after receiving the ransom, Pizarro brought Atahualpa up on charges of stirring up rebellion. By that time, Atahualpa had played his part in pacifying the Incans while Pizarro secured his power, and Pizarro considered him disposable. Atahualpa was to be burned at the stake—the Spanish believed this to be a fitting death for a heathen—but at the last moment, Valverde offered the emperor clemency if he would convert. Atahualpa submitted, only to be executed by strangulation. The day was August 29, 1533.

Fighting between the Spanish and the Incas would continue well after Atahualpa’s death as Spain consolidated its conquests. Pizarro’s bold victory at Cajamarca, however, effectively marked the end of the Inca Empire and the beginning of the European colonization of South America.

Red Lily wrote:November 11

1918
WWI armistice, signed by the Allies and Germany, comes into effect and World War I hostilities end at 11am "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month"

Lest we forget.

sign it all ya want, they never stopped fighting.

The Elizabethan Age begins
Queen Mary I, the monarch of England and Ireland since 1553, dies and is succeeded by her 25-year-old half-sister, Elizabeth.

The two half-sisters, both daughters of King Henry VIII, had a stormy relationship during Mary’s five-year reign. Mary, who was brought up as a Catholic, enacted pro-Catholic legislation and made efforts to restore the pope to supremacy in England. A Protestant rebellion ensued, and Queen Mary imprisoned Elizabeth, a Protestant, in the Tower of London on suspicion of complicity. After Mary’s death, Elizabeth survived several Catholic plots against her; though her ascension was greeted with approval by most of England’s lords, who were largely Protestant and hoped for greater religious tolerance under a Protestant queen. Under the early guidance of Secretary of State Sir William Cecil, Elizabeth repealed Mary’s pro-Catholic legislation, established a permanent Protestant Church of England, and encouraged the Calvinist reformers in Scotland.
In foreign affairs, Elizabeth practiced a policy of strengthening England’s Protestant allies and dividing her foes. Elizabeth was opposed by the pope, who refused to recognize her legitimacy, and by Spain, a Catholic nation that was at the height of its power. In 1588, English-Spanish rivalry led to an abortive Spanish invasion of England in which the Spanish Armada, the greatest naval force in the world at the time, was destroyed by storms and a determined English navy.

With increasing English domination at sea, Elizabeth encouraged voyages of discovery, such as Sir Francis Drake’s circumnavigation of the world and Sir Walter Raleigh’s expeditions to the North American coast.

The long reign of Elizabeth, who became known as the “Virgin Queen” for her reluctance to endanger her authority through marriage, coincided with the flowering of the English Renaissance, associated with such renowned authors as William Shakespeare. By her death in 1603, England had become a major world power in every respect, and Queen Elizabeth I passed into history as one of England’s greatest monarchs.