Moments in Time – February 2, 2022

#Middlebury

• On Feb. 19, 1851, an angry mob in San Francisco’s business district “tries” two Australian suspects in the robbery and assault of C.J. Jansen, a store owner. When the makeshift jury deadlocked, the suspects were returned to law-enforcement officials. Local authorities convicted the men at a real court trial.
• On Feb. 15, 1898, a massive explosion sinks the battleship USS Maine in Cuba’s Havana harbor, killing 260 crew members. A U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry ruled that the ship was blown up by a mine, with Spain the likely suspect.
• On Feb. 17, 1915, after encountering a severe snowstorm, the German zeppelin L-4 crash-lands in the North Sea near the Danish coastal town of Varde. The Danish coast guard rescued 11 members of the crew; they were brought to Odense as prisoners to be interrogated.
• On Feb. 16, 1968, the first official 911 call is placed in the United States, but 911 was not standard across the country for many years after its adoption by Congress. By 1987, only half of the nation was using the system.
• On Feb. 20, 1974, Reg Murphy, an editor of The Atlanta Constitution, is kidnapped by William A.H. Williams after being lured from his home. For the next 49 hours, Williams drove Murphy around the city, stopping to phone in ransom demands to the newspaper. The money was finally delivered to Williams and Murphy was released. Williams served only nine years in prison.
• On Feb. 14, 1990, 3.7 billion miles away from the sun, the Voyager 1 spacecraft takes a photograph of Earth. The picture, known as the Pale Blue Dot, depicts our planet as a nearly indiscernible speck roughly the size of a pixel. Voyager 1’s journey continues.
• On Feb. 18, 2001, racer Dale Earnhardt Sr. dies in a last-lap crash at the 43rd Daytona 500, the fourth NASCAR driver to die within a nine-month period. Earnhardt, 48, was driving his famous black No. 3 Chevrolet and vying for third place when he collided with another car, then crashed into a wall.

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