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Events, deaths, births, of JUL 09
[For Jul 09 Julian go to  Gregorian date: 1583~1699: Jul 19 — 1700s: Jul 20 — 1800s: Jul 21 — 1900~2099: Jul 22]
ALTERNATE SITES    ALL FOR 020709      ANY DAY  OF THE YEAR IN HISTORY       ART “4” JUL 09
• Krushchev and Eisenhower trade threats over Cuba... • German code broken... • Troops crush trade union... • Condamnés à mort par la Révolution... • Tremblement de terre à  Santorin... • Jean~Ray nait... • Zachary  Taylor dies... • Early victory at Monocacy... • Romanov remains identified... • The real Neruda is born...
On a July 09:
2002 Alexander Pirrie, 13, receives a gold medal from Queen Elizabeth II for winning a Golden Jubilee poetry competition in the 11- to 14-year-old age category. His poem, "Boogie in the Garden," is about the recent Golden Jubilee pop concert held on the grounds of Buckinham Palace: “"Hey there Queen! / Gonna boogie in the garden. / Boogie so loud / Gonna need a Royal Pardon. / This party's out to prove / You're the best there's ever been, / As a hip hop happening / Cool mean QUEEN!”
2002 MIT astronomers discover asteroid 2002 NT7, about 2 km wide. Unlike most asteroids, which circle the Sun in the plane of the planets, 2002 NT7's plane is tilted 42º. After observing it for a week, astronomers calculate that every 2.29 years it goes through the planets' plane, not far from Earth's orbit. With the uncertainties of calculations based on such a short range of observations, they estimate that there is a 1 in 250'000 chance of a collision with the Earth on 01 February 2019. Several weeks later the odds are reduced to infinitesimal.
2001 Even the Russians' chief puppet in Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov, says that the Russian troops have committed “criminal actions,” beating and robbing civilians during recent searches for rebels. This same day Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy Viktor Kazantsev, a former commander of Russian forces in Chechnya says: “Both militants and the authorities are equally responsible for instability on the territory of Chechnya.. Actions by one stupid Russian commander reduce Russian government efforts to nothing.”
2001 Income and Racial Disparities in the Undercount in the 2000 Presidential Election (PDF format), a US congressional study, finds that the votes of people living in poor and minority communities were much more likely to go uncounted in the 2000 presidential election than were the ballots of the more affluent. [surprised?].
2001 Correio da Manha reports that Preta -- Portuguese for "black" -- walks alone to a church in neighboring Ermesinde to take her usual place next to the altar in time for 7.30 a.m. mass. Whenever worshippers stand up or sit down, Preta does the same. Once mass is over, she usually walks back home. Sometimes Preta will return in a car -- but only with a human she knows, the newspaper said. Congregations have grown at the church as many people come just to see Preta, Correio da Manha said.
Unlike many humans, Preta the dog goes to church every Sunday -- and even walks 16 miles (26 km) to get there. Every Sunday for the last three years, the pooch has headed out of her owner's home in the northern Portuguese town of Sobrado at 5 a.m., Correio da Manha newspaper reported on Monday. A former stray, Preta -- Portuguese for "black" -- walks alone to a church in neighboring Ermesinde to take her usual place next to the altar in time for 7.30 a.m. mass. Whenever worshippers stand up or sit down, Preta does the same. Once mass is over, she usually walks back home. Sometimes Preta will return in a car -- but only with a human she knows, the newspaper said. Congregations have grown at the church as many people come just to see Preta, Correio da Manha said.
2000 The 13th International AIDS Conference opens in Durban, South Africa.
1998 Andrés Pastrana, presidente electo de Colombia, y el jefe de las FARC, Manuel Marulanda, se reúnen en la selva para negociar el proceso de paz.
1997 Apple's Amelio ousted         ^top^
      Apple Computer chairman and CEO Gilbert Amelio was ousted from Apple on July 9, 1997. His unexpected departure came less than a year and a half after he was named chairman in February 1996. Amelio became the third Apple chief forced out in four years, including John Sculley in 1993 and Michael Spindler in 1996. The company had missed a number of major opportunities since the late 1980s. Although the Macintosh was a tremendously popular success, it failed to set industry standards, and Apple saw its market share dip to a low of 3.8 percent in 1998. Meanwhile, Apple invested some $500 million developing the Newton handheld computer-- an ill-fated product finally put out of its misery in 1998. Apple cofounder Steve Jobs replaced Amelio as acting head of the company and presided over the launch of the popular iMac, which began restoring Apple's market share and profitability.
1994 Kim Jong Il, hijo del fallecido presidente Kim Il-Sung, se proclama nuevo jefe de Estado de Corea del Norte.
1993 Por cuarta vez consecutiva, Felipe González es elegido presidente del Gobierno español por el Congreso de los Diputados .
1993 Romanov remains identified         ^top^
      Peter Gill of the British Forensic Science Service announces that his team has positively identified the remains of Russia's last czar, Nicholas II, his wife, Czarina Alexandra, three of their five children, and four of their servants. The British scientists used DNA fingerprinting to identify the nine skeletons, which had been excavated from a shallow mass grave near Ekaterinburg by Russians scientists in 1991.
      On July 16, 1918, during the Bolshevik Revolution, three centuries of the Romanov dynasty come to an end when Soviet troops executed Nicholas and his family. Their final resting place, and the rumor that one or more of the Romanov children might have survived, remained a mystery until the early 1990s, when Russian scientists were commissioned to seek out and identify their remains. After excavating the site at Ekaterinburg, the Russians tentatively identified the skeletons by superimposing computer images of their reconstructed skulls on old Romanov family photographs.
      In 1993, to confirm the findings, the remains were sent to Britain where forensic scientists extracted DNA from the bones, identified the individuals' sex, and determined whether or not they were related. Then, in a groundbreaking procedure, the scientists isolated the DNA's mitochondria to prove that the remains were of the Romanov lineage. Unlike nuclear DNA, which is inherited from both mother and father, mitochondrial DNA is passed on only from mother to child, remaining unchanged for generations. Using a blood sample donated by Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II and grandson of the czarina's sister, the remains of Alexandra and her three Romanov daughters were identified, and then, using samples donated from other Romanov descendants, Nicholas was positively identified.
      Unaccounted for were the Czarevich Alexei, and one daughter, who the Russian scientists initially believed to be Anastasia. In the decades after the Bolshevik Revolution, there were several claimants to the title of Grand Duchess Anastasia. The best known was Anna Anderson, who turned up in Berlin in the 1920s claiming to be Anastasia. In 1968 Anderson emigrated to Charlottesville, Virginia, where she died and was cremated in 1968. However, some of her hair was preserved, and in the summer of 1993, Gill and his team were called in. Using the same procedure as they had with the Ekaterinburg remains, they determined that Anderson's mitochondrial DNA matched that of another family, not the Romanovs, settling decades of disputes. In the next year, a Russian government commission presented "definite proof" that one of the skeletons was in fact Anastasia's, and that the missing Romanov daughter was Maria.
1992 Hackers indicted         ^top^
      Five members of a computer hacking ring known as "Masters of Deception" are indicted on charges of computer tampering, fraud, wire fraud, illegal wiretapping, conspiracy, and violation of federal privacy laws. The FBI tapped computer data transmission to gather evidence against the hackers, who allegedly stole at least 176 credit reports from one company and broke into systems at New York Telephone, Pacific Bell, U.S. West, Martin Marietta, and NYU.
1991 Prodigy begins testing a service allowing customers to pay bills electronically. The service, which costs about $9.95 a month on top of Prodigy's monthly online service fee, allows members to pay up to 20 bills electronically. About a quarter of a million subscribers participate in the test.
1991 Felipe González y Mijail Gorbachov firman en Moscú un Tratado de Amistad y Cooperación entre España y la URSS.
1990 Legion of Doom hackers plead guilty         ^top^
      Three hackers, part of a group called the "Legion of Doom," plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud BellSouth Corporation. The group, which included about 15 hackers in at least six states, allegedly monitored telephone lines, stole proprietary information including credit card data, and shared information that allowed other hackers to break into BellSouth and other computer systems. The case raises awareness of hackers and the increasing need for computer security.
1988 Carlos Saúl Menem, gobernador de la provincia argentina de La Rioja, es elegido por el partido peronista candidato para las próximas elecciones presidenciales.
1982 Margaret Thatcher begins her 2nd term as British prime minister
1981 Las sentencias por el atentado contra la cafetería California-47 en Madrid, cometido en mayo de 1979, condenan a los miembros del GRAPO a 270 años de cárcel.
1978 Nearly 100'000 demonstrators march on Wash DC for ERA.
1976 En España, primer Consejo de Ministros del gabinete Adolfo Suárez.
1976 Uganda asks UN to condemn Israeli hostage rescue raid on Entebbe
1971 US turns over DMZ responsibility to South Vietnamese.         ^top^
     Six kilometers south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), about 500 U.S. troops of the 1st Brigade, 5th Mechanized Division turn over Fire Base Charlie 2 to Saigon troops, completing the transfer of defense responsibilities for the border area. On the previous day, nearby Fire Base Alpha 4 had been turned over to the South Vietnamese. This was part of President Richard Nixon's Vietnamization policy, which had been announced at a June 1969 conference at Midway Island. Under this program, the United States initiated a comprehensive effort to increase the combat capabilities of the South Vietnamese armed forces. As the South Vietnamese became more capable, responsibility for the fighting was gradually transferred from U.S. forces. Concurrent with this effort, there was a gradual withdrawal of U.S. forces.
1966 USSR protests U.S. bombing of Haiphong         ^top^
      The Soviet Union sends a note to the U.S. embassy in Moscow charging that the air strikes on the port of Haiphong endangered four Soviet ships that were in the harbor. The United States rejected the Soviet protest on July 23, claiming, "Great care had been taken to assure the safety of shipping in Haiphong." The Soviets sent a second note in August charging that bullets had hit a Russian ship during a raid on August 2, but the claim was rejected by the U.S. embassy on August 5. The Soviets complained on a number of occasions during the war, particularly when the bombing raids threatened to inhibit their ability to resupply the North Vietnamese.
1964 Entra en funcionamiento la mayor central hidroeléctrica de Europa, en Aldeadávila de la Ribera (Salamanca).
1960 Khrushchev and Eisenhower trade threats over Cuba         ^top^
      President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev trade verbal threats over the future of Cuba. In the following years, Cuba became a dangerous focus in the Cold War competition between the United States and Russia. In January 1959, Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro overthrew the long-time dictator Fulgencio Batista. Although the United States recognized the new Castro regime, many members of the Eisenhower administration harbored deep suspicions concerning the political orientation of the charismatic new Cuban leader. For his part, Castro was careful to avoid concretely defining his political beliefs during his first months in power. Castro's actions, however, soon convinced U.S. officials that he was moving to establish a communist regime in Cuba. Castro pushed through land reform that hit hard at U.S. investors, expelled the U.S. military missions to Cuba, and, in early 1960, announced that Cuba would trade its sugar to Russia in exchange for oil. In March 1960, Eisenhower gave the CIA the go-ahead to arm and train a group of Cuban refugees to overthrow the Castro regime. It was in this atmosphere that Eisenhower and Khrushchev engaged in some verbal sparring in July 1960. Khrushchev fired the first shots during a speech in Moscow. He warned that the Soviet Union was prepared to use its missiles to protect Cuba from U.S. intervention. "One should not forget," the Soviet leader declared, "that now the United States is no longer at an unreachable distance from the Soviet Union as it was before." He charged that the United States was "plotting insidious and criminal steps" against Cuba. In a statement issued to the press, Eisenhower responded to Khrushchev's speech, warning that the United States would not countenance the "establishment of a regime dominated by international communism in the Western Hemisphere." The Soviet Premier's threat of retaliation demonstrated "the clear intention to establish Cuba in a role serving Soviet purposes in this hemisphere." The relationship between the United States and Cuba deteriorated rapidly after the Eisenhower-Khrushchev exchange. The Castro regime accelerated its program of expropriating American-owned property. In response, the Eisenhower administration severed diplomatic relations with Cuba in January 1960. A little more than a year later, in April 1961, the CIA-trained force of Cuban refugees launched an assault on Cuba in the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion. The invaders were killed or captured, the Castro government cemented its control in Cuba, and the Soviet Union became Cuba's main source of economic and military assistance.
1961 Signature entre la Grèce et le Marché Commun de l’accord qui débute le processus d’intégration de la Grèce. Il faudra deux décennies pour ce processus se termine et que la Grèce n’entre, en 1981, dans l’Europe.
1958 Giant splash caused by fall of 90 million tons of rock & ice into Lituya Bay, Alaska washes 1,800 feet up the mountain
1957 Discovery of element 102 (Nobelium) announced
1954 El general Castillo Armas, jefe del alzamiento anticomunista, es elegido presidente de la Junta Militar de Guatemala.
1953 1st helicopter passenger service (NYC)
1951 US President Truman asks Congress to formally end state of war with Germany
1947 First female US Army officer         ^top^
      In a ceremony held at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, General Dwight D. Eisenhower appoints Florence A. Blanchfield lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, making her the first woman in U.S. history to hold permanent military rank. A member of the Army Nurse Corps since 1917, Blanchfield had secured her commission following the passage of the Army-Navy Nurse Act of 1947 by Congress. Blanchfield, who served as superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps during World War II, had been instrumental in securing passage of the Army-Navy Nurse Act, working tirelessly with Congresswoman Frances Payne Bolton and others. In 1951, Blanchfield would receive the Florence Nightingale Award from the International Red Cross, and in 1978, a U.S. Army hospital in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, would be named in her honor.
1944 during World War II, American forces secure Saipan as the last Japanese defenses fall.
1941 German “Enigma” code broken         ^top^
      British cryptologists break the secret code used by the German army to direct ground-to-air operations on the Eastern front. British experts had already broken many of the Enigma codes for the Western front. Enigma was the Germans' most sophisticated coding machine. Invented in 1919 by Hugo Koch, a Dutchman, it looked like a typewriter and was originally employed for business purposes. The Germany army adapted the machine for wartime use and considered its encoding system unbreakable. They were wrong.
      The Brits had broken their first Enigma code as early as the German invasion of Poland and had intercepted virtually every message sent until after the occupation of Holland and France. Britain nicknamed the intercepted messages Ultra. Now, with the German invasion of Russia, the Allies needed to be able to intercept coded messages transmitted on this second, Eastern, front.
      The first breakthrough occurred on July 9, regarding German ground-air operations, but various keys would continue to be broken by the Brits over the next year, each conveying information of higher secrecy and priority than the next. (For example, a series of decoded messages nicknamed "Weasel" proved extremely important in anticipating German anti-aircraft and antitank strategies against the Allies.) These decoded messages were regularly passed to the Soviet High Command regarding German troop movements and planned offensives, and back to London regarding the mass murder of Russian prisoners and Jewish concentration camp victims.
1934 Heinrich Himmler, jefe de las SS y la Gestapo, se hace cargo de los campos de concentración en Alemania.
1932 El gobierno peruano decreta el estado de sitio en todo el país y envía tropas y aviones a la provincia de Libertad para reprimir el movimiento comunista.
1926 Tremblement de terre à Santorin         ^top^
      En quelques dizaines de secondes, près de 2500 maisons de l’île de Théra (plus connue aujourd’hui sous le nom de Santorin) sont détruites par une secousse sismique de grande envergure. Ces destructions et surtout le déblaiement des décombres permettra de mettre à jour de nombreux vestiges (objets usuels mais surtout murs d’enceinte et d’habitation) de 2 grandes métropoles qui à l’époque Dorienne occupaient le Piton rocheux, haut de 370 m. qui surplombe les plages côtières ; elles auraient été détruites par une catastrophe semblable à celle de 1926, mais beaucoup plus importante aux environs de 1.500 ou 1.600 A.C.N. L’existence de la ville grecque antique (deux millénaires avant J.C.) était déjà connue et déterminée mais les fouilles n’avaient guère progressé depuis 50 ans. Certains auteurs ont voulu voir dans cette catastrophe ancienne celle qui a détruit la civilisation mythique de l’Atlantide, dont parle Platon. Mais rien ne prouve que Santorin soit la partie élevée d’un continent disparu sous les eaux.
1919 Henry Ford gets 100% control         ^top^
      The Ford Motor Company is reorganized as a Delaware corporation with Edsel Ford as company president on this day in 1919. The reorganization is the last step in Henry Ford’s drive to gain 100% of the company’s stock for his family. He borrowed heavily in order to buy out the minority shareholders. The extent to which the Ford family has maintained control over the company makes Ford unique in the annals of business history. Edsel Ford held the title of President until his death in 1943, but Henry effectively ran the company until 1945, when Henry Ford II took control of the company.
      The year following the Ford stock buyout saw a postwar recession that rattled the automotive industry, forcing Henry Ford to the brink of defaulting due to his heavy borrowing to manage the buyout. Ford implemented a ruthless cost-cutting policy, pinching pennies in production and administration while laying off half of his office staff and three-quarters if his foremen. Still short of money, he used all of his remaining stock parts in the winter of 1920-21 to build tens of thousands of Model Ts, shipping them to Ford dealers who were still struggling to sell existing Model Ts.
      Faced with the prospect of losing money on sales or losing their dealerships, the dealers were forced to push the extra cars hard. They never forgave Henry Ford for his extortionist policy, but it worked, and Ford turned the company around. By 1923 Ford held 60% of the domestic car market. Henry Ford earned respect in Wall Street for his initiative, probably because he saved so many of their dollars. A Dow Jones release described Ford as having “displayed a degree of financial astuteness totally unexpected.” Similar authoritarian tactics would lead Ford and his company into trouble in the years after the Great Depression.
1918 Faulkner joins the Royal Air Force         ^top^
      William Faulkner, 20, joins the Royal Air Force, but will never see combat because World War I will end before he completes his training. Faulkner joined the RAF after his high school sweetheart, Estelle, married another man. He quit his hometown, Oxford, Mississippi, visited friends in the North, and headed to Canada, where he joined the Royal Air Force.
      After the war, he returned to Mississippi, where he wrote poetry. A neighbor funded the publication of his first book of poems, The Marble Faun (1924). His first novel, Soldiers' Pay, was published two years later. Faulkner got a second chance at his high school sweetheart when Estelle, now the mother of two, divorced her first husband. She married Faulkner in 1929, and the couple bought and restored a ruined mansion near Oxford while Faulkner finished The Sound and the Fury, published in October 1929. The following year, he published As I Lay Dying, with Light in August (1932) and Absalom, Absalom (1936) following.
      Faulkner's novels challenged conventional forms and were slow to catch on with the reading public. His work did not earn him enough money to support his family, so he supplemented his income selling short stories to magazines and working as a Hollywood screenwriter. He wrote two critically acclaimed films, both starring Humphrey Bogart. To Have and Have Not was based on an Ernest Hemingway novel, and The Big Sleep was based on a mystery by Raymond Chandler.
      He published a classic collection of short stories, Go Down, Moses, in 1942. The collection included The Bear, one of his most famous stories, which had previously appeared in the Saturday Evening Post. Faulkner's reputation received a significant boost with the publication of The Portable Faulkner (1946), which included his many stories set in Yoknapatawpha county. Three years later, in 1949, he won the Nobel Prize for literature. His Collected Stories (1950) won the National Book Award. During the rest of his life, he lectured frequently on university campuses. He died of a heart attack on 6 July 1962.
NOVELS: summaries [YOK] indicates the setting is Yoknapatawpha
Soldiers Pay  (1926)
Mosquitoes  (1927)
[YOK]Sartoris  (1929)
[YOK]The Sound and the Fury  (19291007)
[YOK]As I Lay Dying  (19301006)
[YOK]Sanctuary  (1931)
[YOK]Light in August  (1932)
Pylon  (1935)
[YOK]Absalom, Absalom!  (19361026)
[YOK]The Unvanquished  (1938)
If I Forget Thee Jerusalem [The Wild Palms]  (1939)
[YOK]The Hamlet  (1940)
[YOK]Go Down, Moses  (19420511)
[YOK]Intruder in the Dust  (1948)
[YOK]Requiem for a Nun  (1951)
A Fable  (1954)
[YOK]The Town  (1957)
[YOK]The Mansion  (1959)
[YOK]The Reivers  (1962)
[YOK]Flags in the Dust  (1973)   		SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS (listings)
New Orleans Sketches
These 13
Doctor Martino and Other Stories
The Portable Faulkner
Knight's Gambit
Collected Stories of William Faulkner
Big Woods: The Hunting Stories
Three Famous Short Novels
Selected Short Stories of William Faulkner
The Wishing Tree
A Faulkner Miscellany
Uncollected Stories of William Faulkner
1915 Germany surrenders South West Africa to Union of South Africa
1914 Thursday : in the aftermath of the June 28 assassination in Sarajevo of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and of his wife, Sophia:
  • The Austrians meet to formalize their strategy. A non-ultimatum super-ultimatum will be used. A non-ultimatum in that it will be in the form of a simple timed note; a super-ultamatum in that it will be formulated to generate a refusal. The fate of Serbia has been sealed.
    • 1900 Australia se constituye en Estado Federal mediante la adopción de la Commonwealth of Australia Act.
    1896 William Jennings Bryan delivers his famous "cross of gold" speech at the Democratic national convention in Chicago, denouncing supporters of the gold standard. Bryan would win the party's presidential nomination.
    1893 Daniel H Williams performs "world's 1st successful heart operation"
    1892 Troops crush trade union         ^top^
          By the late nineteenth century, the workers at Andrew Carnegie's Homestead, PA plant had eked out a modicum of power. They won a key strike in 1889, and in the process became a potent unit of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. Still, these victories hardly erased the harsh working conditions at the Homestead mills. Nor did they mean that the Carnegie Company was pleased with or readily recognized the union. Ever mindful of Amalgamated's potentially deleterious impact on his profit margins, Andrew Carnegie looked to erode the power of the union.
          In 1892, the company made its move against Amalgamated, though not with Carnegie at the helm: the steel baron had departed for a vacation in Scotland, leaving the task of smashing the union in the hands of his partner, Henry Clay Frick. Frick took his mission all too seriously: after refusing to renew the company's contract with Amalgamated, he dug in for war, erecting a three-mile long steel wire fence around the plant. Frick also enlisted the aid of the Pinkerton Detective agency, which sent three hundred men to Homestead to ensure the plant's transition to non-union workers. Amalgamated's leaders responded in kind, lining up scores of workers, as well as a good chunk of the town, to wage battle against the plant.
          The showdown begins in earnest on July 2, as Frick halted work at Homestead until the plant was staffed entirely by non-union workers. Three days later, the Homestead affair turned bloody, as the Pinkerton agents made their first appearance on the scene. Attempting to reach the plant via the Monongahela River, the agents were met by Amalgamated's forces; the two sides engaged in a long and vicious battle that left nine strikers and seven agents dead. Despite the losses, Amalgamated's motley army was able to turn back the detectives.
          Sensing that they were on the verge of disaster, officials for Carnegie enlisted the aid of the Pennsylvania Government. And, on this day in 1892, the state sends 7000 troops to Homestead to "restore law and order." The militia effectively squelched Amalgamated's strike: the troops helped the Carnegie restaff its plant with non-union workers and by September, the Carnegie company would have resumed production. Later that November, the union conceded defeat and called off its strike; Carnegie responded by summarily firing and even blacklisting the strikers.
    1863 Union troops enter Port Hudson
    1862 Gen John Hunt Morgan captures Tompkinsville, Ky
    1853 Adm Perry & US Navy visit Japan
    1846 US takes San Francisco         ^top^
          An American naval captain occupies the small settlement of Yerba Buena, a site that will later be renamed San Francisco. Surprisingly, Europeans did not discover the spectacular San Francisco Bay until 1769, although several explorers had sailed by it in earlier centuries. When Spanish explorers finally found the bay in that year, they immediately recognized its strategic value. In 1776, the Spanish built a military post on the tip of the San Francisco peninsula and founded the mission of San Francisco de Asis (the Spanish name for Saint Francis of Assisi) nearby. The most northern outpost of the Spanish, and later Mexican, empire in America, the tiny settlement remained relatively insignificant for several decades. However, the potential of the magnificent harbor did not escape the attention of other nations. In 1835, the British Captain William Richardson established a private settlement on the shore of Yerba Buena Cove, several miles to the east of the Mexican mission. That same year the U.S. government offered to purchase the bay, but the Mexicans declined to sell. In retrospect, the Mexicans should have sold while they still had the chance. A little more than a decade later, a dispute between the U.S. and Mexico over western Texas led to war. Shortly after the Mexican War began, U.S. Captain John Montgomery sailed his warship into San Francisco Bay, anchoring just off the settlement of Yerba Buena. On this day in 1846, Montgomery led a party of marines and sailors ashore. They met no resistance and claimed the settlement for the United States, raising the American flag in the central plaza. The following year, the Americans renamed the village San Francisco. When the Mexicans formally ceded California to the United States in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe, San Francisco was still a small town with perhaps 900 occupants. That same year, however, gold was discovered at the nearby Sutter's Fort. San Francisco became the gateway for a massive gold rush, and by 1852, the town was home to more than 36,000.
    1820 Fernando VII renueva solemnemente su juramento de fidelidad constitucional y pronuncia el primero de los discursos de la Corona, en el que declara su voluntaria aceptación de las limitaciones constitucionales al poder monárquico.
    1816 Indépendance de l'Argentine. En 1810, le peuple argentin s'était soulevé contre l'Espagne et le Vice-Roi avait été renversé. L'Argentine, quatrième pays d'Amérique par son étendue, nourrit de nos jours d'immenses troupeaux de boeufs, dont elle exporte la viande dans le monde entier. — Argentina declared independence from Spain.
    1810 Napoleón Bonaparte consigue integrar Holanda en su Imperio.
    1807 Napoleón Bonaparte y los reyes de Rusia y Prusia firman la "paz de Tilsit", que favorece los intereses franceses.
    1789 Première Assemblée Constituante en France         ^top^
          Les Etats-Généraux, réunis par le Roi Louis XVI sous la pression morale, économique et sociale des philosophes, de la bourgeoisie et du peuple, se proclament Assemblée Constituante. Les députés veulent donner à la France de nouvelles institutions et passer de la Monarchie Absolue (de Droit divin) qui caractérise l’Ancien Régime, à une Monarchie Constitutionnelle et Représentative. Le Roi ne serait plus Roi de par la volonté de Dieu, mais subordonné à la Constitution et au respect des Libertés reconnues par celle-ci. Les Députés " recommencent l’Histoire " selon un mot du Député Barère. La Déclaration Universelle des Droits de l’Homme sortira de ce début de Révolution, et même si les événements et les différentes Assemblées diminuent la portée pratique de ces grandes déclarations de principe, elles n’en demeurent pas moins le début de toutes les démocratisations et de toutes les révolutions qui vont secouer la terre entière pendant les deux siècles à venir.!
    1717 Tropas españolas toman la isla de Cerdeña.
    1595 Johannes Kepler describes geometric solid construction of universe
    1540 England's King Henry VIII gets annulled his 6-month-old marriage to Anne of Cleves, 4th of his 6 wives..
    TO THE TOP
    Deaths which occurred on a July 09:
    2002 Marilyn Griffin, stabbed more than 70 times by her husband, Sgt. Cedric Griffin, 28, of the 37th Engineer Battalion, 20th Engineer Brigade, of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Sergeant Griffin then sets the corpse on fire. He had not been to Afghanistan, unlike the other three Fort Bragg wife-murderers of the summer of 2002: Sgt. 1st Class Rigoberto Nieves (with suicide, 11 June 2002); Master Sgt. William Wright (29 June 2002; suicide 23 March 2003); and Sgt 1st Class Brandon Floyd (with suicide, 19 July 2002). On 23 July 2002, Maj. David Shannon, of Fort Bragg, was murdered by his wife Joan Shannon.
    2002 Sheri Scherer, stabbed with a kitchen knife by her ex-husband John Scherer, 41, in her home in the 2300 block of Massachusetts Avenue in Naperville, Illinois. John was under stress since the divorce a year earlier, losing jobs, getting drunk, and he had been evicted from his apartment a week earlier. He takes his daughter, Rachel, 6, and flees with her in his SUV. The next day he would deliberately crash the SUV at high speed into a semitrailer on a rural Iowa road, killing himself and the girl.
    2001 Nafez Saleh al-Nazer, 25, Palestinian suicide bomber, at about 07:00 in a pickup truck full of explosives which explodes prematurely, hurting no one else, near an Israeli military guard tower. Nazer belonged to Hamas' military wing, Izzedine al Qassam.
    2001 Shai Shalom Cohen, 22, Israeli army captain, from wounds sustained late on 8 July when a remote control roadside bomb exploded near his jeep as he was traveling south of Hebron, West Bank.
    1996 Melvin Belli, 88, in San Francisco, attorney.
    1992 Raimundo Fernández-Cuesta, político falangista español.
    1990 Luis Basurto, dramaturgo español.
    1982:: 8 on the ground and all 146 people aboard a Pan Am Boeing 727 crashing in Kenner, Louisiana.
    1980 Arend Heyting, Dutch mathematician, born on 09 May 1898, important in the development of intuitionistic logic and algebra.
    1974 Earl Warren, in Washington DC, former California governor and U.S. Chief Justice.
    1974 Juan Domingo Perón, político y presidente argentino.
    1953 Henri Eugène Padé, French mathematician, born on 17 December 1863, who made important contributions to the theory of continued fractions. He made the first systematic study of Padé approximants (optimal rational approximations to functions given by their power series).
    1947 Augusto Giacometti, Swiss painter and decorative artist born on 16 August 1877. — more
    1944:: 168 as world's largest circus tent catches fire at Ringling Brother's - Barnum & Bailey 2nd performance. (Hartford Conn)
    1918:: 101 in worst US train wreck, Nashville, Tennessee. 171 are injured
    1917 Some 800 as British warship Vanguard explodes at Scapa Flow.
    1873 Franz Xavier Winterhalter, German painter born on 20 April 1806. — MORE ON WINTERHALTER AT ART “4” JULY — LINKS — Il dolce far niente — A Lady — The Decameron — Prince Albert — Julia Louise Bosville, Lady Middleton — H.R.H Princess Marie-Clementine of Orleans, full-length — Madame Ackerman, wife of the Chief Finance Minister of King Louis Philippe — The Empress Eugénie — Napoléon III — Queen Victoria — a different Queen Victoria — Prince Albert — Queen Victoria and family — Mme Rimsky-Korsakov
    1864 Over 2000 soldiers in Early victory at Monocacy.         ^top^
          Confederate General Jubal Early brushes a Union force out of his way as he heads for Washington. Early's expedition towards the Union capital was designed to take pressure off Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia around Petersburg.
          Beginning in early May, Ulysses S. Grant's Union army had continually attacked Lee and drove the Confederates into trenches around the Richmond-Petersburg area. In 1862, the Confederates faced a similar situation around Richmond, and they responded by sending General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson to the Shenandoah Valley to occupy Federal forces. The ploy worked well, and Jackson kept three separate Union forces away from the Confederate capital.
          Now, Lee sent Early on a similar mission. Early and his force of 14'000 marched down the Shenandoah Valley, crossed the Potomac into Maryland, and then veered southeast toward Washington. Union General Lew Wallace, commander of the Middle Department and stationed in Baltimore, patched together a force of 6000 local militiamen and soldiers from various regiments to stall the Confederates while a division from Grant's army around Petersburg arrived to protect Washington. Wallace placed his makeshift force along the Monocacy River near Frederick.
          Early in the morning of 09 July, Early's troops easily pushed a small Federal guard from Frederick before encountering the bulk of Wallace's force along the river. Wallace protected three bridges over the river. One led to Baltimore, the other to Washington, and the third carried the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Early's first attack was unsuccessful. A second assault, however, scattered the Yankees. The Union force retreated toward Baltimore, and the road to Washington was now open to Early and his army. Union losses for the day stood at 1800, and Early lost 700 of his men. However, the battle delayed Early's advance to Washington and allowed time for the Union to bring reinforcements from Grant's army.
    1860 Les premiers des 5000 chrétiens maronites massacrés à Damas en 4 jours         ^top^
          La folie meurtrière de la communauté druze de la ville de Damas s'est déchaînée. Pendant quatre jours, quelques 5000 chrétiens maronites sont massacrés par des bandes fanatiques qui forcent les portes, violent, tuent et pillent. Le pacha n'a pas respecté ses engagements à la fin de la guerre de Crimée, il reste totalement indifférent. En revanche, l'émir Abd el-Kader sauve plus de 1500 chrétiens qu'il accueille et protège dans son palais. A la nouvelle de ces émeutes, l'émotion est si forte en France et en Angleterre qu'on décide d'envoyer un corps expéditionnaire "pour aider le sultan à rétablir la paix". La France est mandatée par l'Europe et agira fermement.
    1850 Mirza 'Ali Mohammad of Shiraz ("the Bab" Baha 'i precursor] executed by firing squad in Tabriz, Iran; Rahmat 16, 7
    1850 Zachary Taylor, the twelfth president of the United States, from cholera morbus         ^top^
          Raised in Kentucky with little formal schooling, Taylor received a U.S. army commission in 1808, became a captain in 1810, and was promoted major during the War of 1812 in recognition of his defense of Fort Harrison against attack by Shawnee chief Tecumseh. In 1832, he became a colonel and served in the Black Hawk War and in the campaigns against the Seminole Indians in Florida, winning the nickname of "Old Rough and Ready" for his informal attire and indifference to physical adversity.
          Sent to the Southwest to command the U.S. Army at the Texas border, Taylor crossed the Rio Grande with the outbreak of the Mexican-American War in 1846. In May, Taylor defeated the Mexicans at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and in September captured the city of Monterrey. In February of 1847, he achieved his crowning military victory at the Battle of Buena Vista, where he was outnumbered three to one.
          This victory firmly established Taylor as a popular hero, and in 1848 he was nominated the Whig presidential candidate, despite his lack of a clear political platform. Elected in November, Taylor soon fell under the influence of William H. Seward, a powerful Whig senator, and in 1849 supported the Wilmot Proviso, which would exclude slavery from all the territory acquired as a result of the Mexican War. His inflexible responses to Southern criticisms of this policy aggravated the nation's sectional conflict, put him in opposition to the measures that were to become the Compromise of 1850, and revealed his political inexperience. Matters are at a stalemate when he dies suddenly after serving only 16 months of his term. He is succeeded by Millard Fillmore.
    1848 Jaime Balmes, filósofo y escritor español.
    1828 Gilbert Stuart, US painter specialized in portraits, born on 03 December 1755. — MORE ON STUART AT ART “4” JULY — LINKS — Josiah Quincy — James MacDonald of Inglesmauldie _ detail 1 (head) _ detail 2 (face) — Reverend William Ellery Channing _ detail (head) — William Rufus Gray _ detail (head) — Richard Yates — George Washington (1795) — George Washington (1796) — head detail of a different George Washington — Washington at Dorchester Heights — James Madison — John Adams (1810) — John Adams (1826) — James Monroe — The Percy Children and dog.
    1797 Edmund Burke, born on 12 January 1729, British statesman and political thinker prominent from 1765 to about 1795... — BURKE ONLINE: A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful -- Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790, here Burke champions conservatism in opposition to Jacobism) — Thoughts on the Present Discontents, and Speeches — Speech on Concilation with America — A Letter to a Noble Lord — Selected Works — Selections from the Speeches and Writings

    Condamnés à mort par la Révolution: ^top^
    1794 (21 messidor an II):
    BOCQUILLON André, 38 ans, né à Hébuterne, demeurant à Bienvillers au Bois, époux de Devray Thérèse, guillotiné à Arras
    DEGREMONT Pierre, 21 ans, valet de charrue, né à Nauteghan près d'Oudenarde, demeurant à Wanghem, fils de Jean Baptiste et de Antefelle Marie Françoise, à Arras
    DEVRAY Jacques François, 65 ans, garde de bois, né et demeurant à Bienvillers au Bois, veuf de Fauvelle Marie, à Arras
    Domiciliés dans le département du Vaucluse, comme contre-révolutionnaires, par la commission populaire séante à Orange:
    ... domiciliés à Apt: CHAIX Elizard, fabricant de briques. — PEYROUARD François Elzéard, juge du tribunal du district d'Apt.
    ... domiciliés à Mondragon: DAUTRIE Louis Augustin, aîné, ex noble, officier dans la garde français.. — DAUTRIE Joseph Juste, cadet, ex comte, et capitaine des dragons.
    ... domiciliés à Bollène: FITEAU J. Math. Simon, ex jésuite.. — GUILLERMIER Marie Anne Magdeleine, ex noble, ex religieuse.. — ROCHER Marie Anne Marguerite, ex noble, et religieuse.. — TALLIEN Thérèse Madeleine, ex religieuse.
    Par la commission militaire séante à Bordeaux (Gironde):
    DUMIRAT Jean Baptiste, père, ancien militaire, 65 ans, né à Bordeaux, domicilié à Gradignan (Gironde), comme s'étant montré l'ennemi de la révolte [sic].
            ... nés et domiciliés à Bordeaux:
    BARITAUT Jean, 47 ans, ex conseiller au parlement de Bordeaux, comme complice d'émigrés.
    DELRIBAL Guillaume, fils aîné, 39 ans, comme espion des aristocrates, d'après la déclaration de ses concitoyens.
    DUPRAT Pierre, père, notaire, 70 ans, comme connu même avant la révolution, pour un homme peu délicat, et ayant acquis des biens par des moyens qu'un honnête homme ne peut se permettre, et s'étant prononcé en faveur du roi, sur la mort duquel il a versé des larmes.
    Par le tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris:
    LEBARBIER Charles François Alexandre, homme de loi, ex juge seigneurial, domicilié au Puy (Dôme), comme convaincu d'avoir favorisé les fédéralistes, empêché d'accepter la constitution républicaine.
    VOILLEMIER Charles, soldat, 18 ans, né à Neuf-Château (Vosges), domicilié à Chaumont (Haute-Marne), comme ayant adressé au comité révolutionnaire de Chaumont une lettre, dans laquelle il se dénonce lui-même comme conspirateur décidé.
    BEILLOEIL François, 58 ans, né à Rurmitage, ex curé, ex-curé domicilié à Colleville, canton de Caen (Calvados), comme contre-révolutionnaire convaincu de s'être déclaré l'ennemi du peuple, de sa liberté et de sa souveraineté.
    CART-BALTHAZARD A., 47 ans, né à Mouthe, homme d’affaires,comme conspirateur dans la prison des Carmes, où il était détenu.
          ... comme complices de la conspiration contre la liberté et la souveraineté du peuple, dans la prison du Luxembourg, où ils étaient détenus:
    BORDEAU Marie, femme Bassetla-Marelle, ex noble, 38 ans, née à Jaurice. — BORNEGALTHIER C.J.B.R, 49 ans, né à Nantes, ex noble. — BASSET Catherine, femme Fransan, 50 ans, née à St-Maurice-le-Gourdan. — CHAMPAGNE L. R., 51 ans, né à Sens, ex noble. — CHARBONNIER SAINTE CROIX A. D., 37 ans, né à Toulouse (Haute Garonne). — DOTDECOP C., gentilhomme du prince de Salm, 40 ans, né à Berning en Prusse. — DROUIN Noël, marchand fripier, 43 ans, né à Villeloi, domicilié à Orléans (Loiret). — DUCORNETTE-LAMINIERE L. F., ex noble, 62 ans, né à Montmorillon. — DURFORT G. F. A., 35 ans, ex noble, né à Toulouse (Haute Garonne). — FAQUET J. C., 59 ans, né à Aucourt, ex valet de chambre de la tante du tyran roi. — FRERET A. F., ex noble 64 ans, né à Savenay . — GUILLERMAIN F., ex noble, 50 ans, né à Gouzon. — HUARD A., ex prêtre, 24 ans, né à Angers (Mayenne et Loire). — MILNER J.F, 43 ans, né à Bruxelles, marchand de tableaux. — MORICAUD P. épicier, 33 ans, né à Versailles (Seine et Oise). — NOLIN G. 45 ans, né à Larogue-Trubat, marchand de tableaux. — NONANT F. P., 69 ans, né à Nogent-le-Rotrou, ex noble ex chartreux. — ORNANO J. M., 68 ans, ex noble, né en Corse. — BRICHET M. 47 ans, né à Anjau, commis, comme complice du complot des prisonniers de la prison nationale. — CARBONNIERES J.C [et/ou J.A.]. 58 [ou 57] ans, né[s] à Boussac, ex noble[s] et chanoine[s]. — DUVAL-BEAUMONTEL M. J. B., 63 ans, né à St Léonard-de-Beaumont-le-Roger, ex noble. — GONIN Jean Baptiste, vannier, 55 ans, né à Digny-Baujolois, domicilié à Regny (Oise). — GUERIN Grégoire, volontaire de la première réquisition, 20 ans, né et domicilié à Menou (Nièvre). — BOURMEAU-FLEURY J.R.A, 54 ans, né à Meudon, commissaire pour la vente des biens nationaux, domicilié à Paris. — COEURDACIER Simon François, 40 ans, né à St Denys, actuellement Françiade, doreur et gendarme, domicilié à Paris. — DUPLAIN DE SAINTE ALBINE Jean Baptiste, 46 ans, né à Lyon (Rhône), domicilié à Paris depuis huit ans, ci-devant libraire à Lyon, puis journaliste à Paris.
              ... nés à Paris:
    CHAMBON D'ARBOUVILLE G.L. 59 ans, ex noble maréchal de camp.. — FRETEAU F. F. S., femme Chambon-d’Arbouville, ex noble. — DALLY L. J., 58 ans, ex noble, maréchal de camp. — DELAPORTE H. J., négociant, 60 ans. — DESELLE C. A., 44 ans, ex noble. — DIDIER S. F., 65 ans, né à Grenoble(Isère), ex chanoine. — DURAND-DUBIGNON F.J, 74 ans, ex major des cent-suisse. — FRAN-KART J., fils, 28 ans — GEOFFROY-DACY J. C., ex noble, et caissier général des finances, 64 ans. — MOREAU P. L., 68 ans, ex chevalier de l'ordre de St Michel. — TARDIEU-MALESY A.C, 64 ans, ex-noble.
               ... nés et domiciliés à Paris:
    BORNEDALTIER G.H.V., fils, ex noble, 20 ans. — ARTOIS-LEVI M.S., femme Dulac, 28 ans, ex-noble. — DAMIEN F. M., 49 ans, huissier. — DORIVAL J. B., 66 ans, ex commissaire au Châtelet de Paris.
          ... comme contre-révolutionnaires:
    BARON Antoine, 46 ans, né à Dijon, horloger, domicilié à Autun (Saône et Loire). — BRUK Marie Anne, 60 ans, née à melle, vivant de son bien, ... en provoquant par des discours, la dissolution de la représentation nationale. — BRUKE M. A. Louise, domiciliée à Tonnerre (Yonne). — DUHAU Jean Baptiste, compagnon cloutier, 41 ans, domicilié à Gray (Haute Saône). — MAUVOISIN Henri, marchand d'estampes, 40 ans, né à Venet (Meurthe), domicilié à Niceville même département.
    1794 (21 messidor an II): Simon Jude Masse, 47 ans, guillotiné place du Trône Renversé.
          Né à Oresmeaux (Somme), il était marchand mercier rue St Denis, section du Bon Conseil. et était emprisonné depuis huit mois au Luxembourg.
          Il fait partie des 1306 suppliciés jetés dans les deux fosses communes du cimetière de Picpus Ardent défenseur des réformes et de la République, très actif au sein de la Section, il a été arrêté et condamné pour avoir signé (le dernier parait-il) la pétition des 20'000.
          Il semblerait qu'il ait bénéficié du "billet de sortie" ... arrivé trop tard. Son exécution a été reconnue "une erreur". Le 20 pluviose An III, il est réhabilité
          “Et toi, MASSE, vertueux citoyen, l'ami et l'honneur de ta famille, aimé et estimé de tes voisins, par qui fus-tu assassiné ? par le Comité Révolutionnaire de la Section ! Les scélérats applaudirent à ton supplice, mais les bons citoyens en versèrent des larmes. Si de toi, il reste encore quelquechose ici-bas, si ton ombre plane dans cette enceinte, sois témoin des pleurs que nous donnons à ta mémoire, vois les fleurs que nous jetons sur ta tombe ..." (Discours du citoyen Therrein à l'assemblée générale de la Section du Bon Conseil)
          Le 7 vendémiaire, sa veuve et ses quatre enfants rentrèrent en possession de leurs biens, enfin ... ce qu'il en restait. --// http://rcombes.ifrance.com/rcombes/masse simon jude.htm
    1746 Felipe V, primer rey de España de la dinastía Borbón.
    1441 Jan van Eyck, Flemish painter born in 1390 or 1368 (active 1422-1441). — MORE ON VAN EYCK AT ART “4” JULY — LINKS —  Madonna with Canon van der Paele [click on link for large reproduction and commentary] — Van Eyck's most famous masterpiece is the huge Ghent Altarpiece made up of too many paintings to list here, but go to detailed listing and commentary of The Ghent Altarpiece — The Virgin of the Chancellor Rolin — Portrait of Cardinal Nicola Albergati — Portrait of a Young Man — Man in a Red Turban (probably a self-portrait) — Portrait of Margaret van Eyck, Artist's Wife(?) — Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife Giovanna Cenami (The Arnolfini Marriage) — Madonna from the Inn's Hall — The Lucca Madonna — The Madonna of Canon van der Paele — The Virgin and Child in a Church — The Virgin  and Child with Saints and Donor — Three Maries at the open sepulchre
    1228 Stephen Langton, 73 , English cardinal whose appointment as archbishop of Canterbury precipitated King John's quarrel with Pope Innocent III and played an important part in the Magna Carta crisis. It was Langton who formulated the original division of the Bible into chapters in the late 1100s.
    Births which occurred on a July 09:
    1942 Ramón Irigoyen, filólogo y escritor español.
    1937 David Hockney, British Pop painter, draftsman, printmaker, photographer, and stage designer. — MORE ON HOCKNEY AT ART “4” JULY — LINKS — Mother I — My Mother — Model With Incomplete Self~Portrait — Big Splash — Sprinklers — Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy — Beverly Hills Housewife — Nichols Canyon — Place Furstenberg — Portrait Surrounded by Artistic Devices — Portrait of Nick Wilder in Pool — Three Chairs Before Fragment of a Picasso Mural — Portrait of an Artist
    1929 Hassan II king of Morocco (1961-1999). He died on 23 July 1999.
    1916 Edward Heath (C) British Prime Minister (1970-74)
    1896 William Cameron Townsend, American missionary and linguist. In 1942 he established what has become the largest evangelical missionary agency in the world --Wycliffe Bible Translators (WBT). He died in 1982.
    1887 Samuel Eliot Morison historian (Admiral of the Ocean Sea)
    1887 Emilio Mola Vidal, general español.
    1887 Jean-Raymond-Marie de Kremer         ^top^
        Il sera mieux connu sous le pseudonyme de Jean Ray (encore qu’il en aura eu bien d’autres). Il nait à Gand chef-lieu de la Flandre Orientale en Belgique).
          Cet auteur fantastique qui a rempli l'enfance et l'adolescence de bien des lecteurs, d’aventures, de rêves, de couleurs exotiques, de monstres hurlants. De son adolescence chez les Jésuites, on ne connaît pas grand chose. Sauf qu’il sèchait volontiers les cours pour courir la ville, le port, les docks. Il fait paraître, en 1925, aux éditions de la Renaissance du livre, à Bruxelles, les Contes du whisky. Dans les tavernes des ports flamands, le whisky délie les langues ; au hasard des rencontres, l’auteur recueille des récits étranges de marins. Telle la brume venue de la mer envahissant lentement les ruelles du vieux port, dans ces récits s’insinue subrepticement une autre réalité imperceptible, intercalaire, dont la logique propre déroute, perturbe la raison raisonnante, "un monde voisin invisible, impénétrable pour nous parce qu’étant situé sur un autre plan". Mais ce premier livre ne rencontre guère de succès, aussi Jean Ray se cherche-t-il un autre public.
          Sous le pseudonyme de John Flanders, il séduit par son réel talent de conteur un vaste public d’adolescents. Il écrit un nombre incalculable d’histoires, de nouvelles qui paraissent dans des hebdomadaires, des revues: Le Journal de Gand, Mercure de Flandres, Le XXe Siècle, Bravo et même Tintin, etc. La plupart sont écrites en néerlandais et certaines ont été traduites en français et publiées sous les titres : Le Carrousel du suspens (1970), Contes d’horreur et d’aventures (1972). En 1932, les éditions de l’Abbaye d’Averbode, le plus grand éditeur catholique, et pour les jeunes) sollicitent sa collaboration pour les séries "presto-films" et "Vlaamse Filmpjs", romans pour jeunes, d’une trentaine de pages : 165 titres furent édités de 1931 à 1964 sous les titres suivants : Mystères et aventures (1946), Un roman de la mer (1957), Hirro l’enfant de la jungle et Les Prisonniers de Morstanhill (1959), La Porte sous les eaux (1960).
          Toujours vers 1930, Jean Ray commence à réécrire, plutôt qu’à traduire, les aventures d’Harry Dickson, le Sherlock Holmes américain. La série originale paraît en Allemagne avant 1914. Vers 1909, quelques aventures traduites en français paraissent chez Fernand Laven, dans la série "Les dossiers secrets du roi des détectives". Jean Ray signe un contrat qui doit faire de lui le traducteur en français de ces 178 fascicules, récemment traduits de l’allemand en néerlandais. Mais Jean Ray n’accomplit pas seul ce travail, d’autres traducteurs et auteurs y participent, ce qui explique l’inégale valeur des fascicules de cette série, les meilleurs portant la griffe de Jean Ray. Publiés anonymement par Romn, Beek-en-Kunsthandel à Amsterdam et distribués par H. Jansens à Gand, ces fascicules ont posé aux multiples amateurs dont font partie François Lelionnais, Raymond Queneau, Alain Resnais, Boris Vian, de sérieux problèmes d’attribution.
          Dans cette série d’aventures policières, Jean Ray donne au fantastique une place de choix. La toile de fond est ce Londres un peu sordide de la fin du XIXe siècle que Dickens, en qui Jean Ray reconnaît un de ses premiers maîtres, avait si mystérieusement décrit. Ainsi, Harry Dickson se mesure à de nombreux et dangereux criminels : à Mystéras, au vampire qui chante, à Georgette Cuvelier ; il ne refuse jamais de lutter contre toutes sortes d’entités, hommes, démons, demi-dieux, qui se jettent en travers de son chemin. Il allie à de sérieuses connaissances scientifiques une intelligence pleine d’astuce et un courage à toute épreuve.
          Mais Jean Ray n’abandonne pas pour autant l’écriture de purs récits fantastiques : en 1932 paraît un recueil, La Croisière des ombres, où une de ses plus célèbres nouvelles, La Ruelle ténébreuse, est publiée en 1942, Le Grand Nocturne, en 1943, Le Cercle de l’épouvante, Malpertuis, La Cité de l’indicible peur ; en 1944, Les Derniers Contes de Cantorbury ; en 1947, Le Livre des Fantômes, en 1964, Le Carrousel des maléfices et Les Contes noirs du Golf.
          Dans son chef-d’œuvre, Malpertuis, le lecteur passe sans coup férir du plus naturel au plus inadmissible, du plus fabuleux au plus infernal. Une étrange poésie de la peur nous envoûte encore plus violemment que dans les autres récits de Jean Ray. Car Malpertuis, c’est la demeure de l’épouvante où se sont réincarnés des dieux de l’Antiquité. Jean Ray meurt en 1964, à soixante-dix-sept ans, alors qu’il commence à acquérir une large audience qui ne cesse de croître grâce aux rééditions de ses œuvres entreprises par les éditions Marabout, puis par Le Masque.
          Jean Ray a toujours soutenu que les multiples aventures qu’il raconte lui sont vraiment arrivées et que, aujourd’hui vieux loup de mer, très jeune, il avait répondu au grand appel de sa race : la mer. En fait, il était plus un homme de port qu’un vrai marin. Il a surtout voyagé en rêve et regardé partir maints bateaux pour de lointaines destinations. Fascinés par son œuvre, des cinéastes l’ont porté à l’écran : Harry Kumel a tourné Malpertuis, Jean-Pierre Mocky La Cité de l’indicible peur, la Télévision belge s’en est inspirée pour de nombreux courts métrages et films. Créée dès 1970 à Louvain, une fondation Jean-Ray s’attache à faire connaître l’œuvre de Jean Ray--John Flanders.
    1879 Ottorino Respighi Bologna, Italy, composer (Pines of Rome)
    1858 Franz Boas anthropologist/linguist (Mind of Primitive Man) -- Some of his other works (online as page images): The Central Eskimo, The Decorative Art of the Indians of the North Pacific Coast , The Social Organization and the Secret Societies of the Kwakiutl Indians , Tenth Report on the North-western Tribes of Canada (ca.1895)
    1855 (1856?) Jacob Smits, Dutch Belgian painter who died on 15 February 1928. — Evening Landscape
    1850 Anton “Toni” von Stadler, Austrian artist who died on 17 September 1917.
    1845 George Howard Darwin, Charles Darwin's mathematical astronomer son, who studied the three-body-problem. He died on 07 December 1912.
    1834 Jan Neruda, in Prague, Bohemia, Czech poet and novelist,         ^top^
         He would grow up to be one of the most prominent representantives of Czech Realism. Neruda's poetry collections were based on contemporary spoken language. He was a member of "the May school", which dominated Czech literature in the 1860s and 1870s, and which opened doors to the currents in the European literatures. The cosmopolitical group took its name from the title of Karel Mácha's (1810-1836) lyrico-epic poem, Máj, published shortly before the poet's premature death. Its plot centers on the execution of an outlaw, a victim of passions and alienation from society. 'The May school' expressed its desire to break away from the narrow provincialism and nationalism of preceding period, and emphasized general human themes.
          Neruda grew up in a colorful part of old Prague called Malá Strana (Little Quarter). After studies of philosophy and philology, he worked as a teacher until 1860, when he became free-lance writer and journalist, contributing influental essays to Národni Listy, a liberal newspaper. Neruda lived as a bachelor but his close friend was the writer Karolina Svètla. Neruda traveled widely in Europe and Near East, recording his observations of foreign cultures in numerous feuilletons.
          In his poems, hymns and ballads Neruda promoted the idea of rebirth of Czech patriotism. He participated in all the central cultural and political struggles of his generation, and gained a reputation as a sensitive critic, followed the rapid rise of Czech literature, theatre, and fine arts. Neruda became with Vitezslav Hálek the most prominet advocate of the new literary trends.
          Neruda was known for his satirical depiction of the petty bourgeois of Prague. His childhood and youth the author described in his most popular prose work, POVIDKY MALOSTRANSKÉ (1878, Tales of the Little Quarter), a collection of short stories, which led the Chilean poet Ricardo Neftali Reyes Basoalto to adopt the pseudonym Pablo Neruda.

    Selected works:

  • HRBITOVNÍ KVÍTÍ, 1857 - Cemetery Flowers
  • ZENICH Z HLADU, 1859
  • PRODANÁ LÁSKA, 1859
  • ZENA MILUJE SRDNATOST, 1860
  • MERENDA NESTRÍDMÝCH, 1860
  • FRANCESCA DA RIMINI, 1860
  • JÁ TO NOJSEM, 1863
  • ARABESKY, 1864
  • PARIZSKÉ OBRÁZKY, 1864
  • KNIHY VERŠU, 1867 - Books of Verses
  • ZPEVY PÁTECNI, 1869
  • RUZNI LIDÉ, 1871
  • OBRAZY Z CIZINY, 1872
  • STUDIE, KRÁTKÉ A KRATŠI, 1876
  • ZERTY, HRAVÉ A DRAVÉ, 1877
  • MENŠI CESTY, 1877
  • POVIDKY MALOSTRANKÉ, 1878 - Tales of the Little Quarter
  • KOSMICÉ PISNE, 1878 - Cosmic Songs
  • BALLADY A ROMANCE, 1878-83 - Ballads and Romances
  • PROSTÉ MOTIVY, 1883 - Plain Themes / Simple Motifs
  • ZPÉVY PÁTECNÍ, 1896 - Friday Songs
  • SEBRANE SPISY, 1907-13
  • SPISY, 1950

    • 1832 Joseph-Victor Ranvier, French artist who died on 24 May 1896.
    1828 Adolf Schreyer, German artist who died on 29 or 30 July 1899.
    1819 Elias Howe Spencer Mass, invented sewing machine.
    1802 Thomas Davenport, who would invent the first commercial electric motor.
    1764 Ann Ward Radcliffe English Gothic novelist (The Italian). RADCLIFFE ONLINE: The Mysteries of Udolpho — Poems
    1744 François Guillaume Ménageot, French painter who died on 04 October 1816. — more
    Holidays Argentina : Independence Day (1816) / Morocco : Youth Day/King Hassan II's Birthday / US : National POW/MIA Recognition Day
    Religious Observances Christian : St Thomas More, humanist/martyr / Old Catholic : St Maria Goretti, virgin/martyr / Baha'i: (16 rahmat) martyrdom of the Bab / Santos Cirilo, Alejandro, Audacio, Bricio, Zenón y Beltran. Santas Verónica y Victoria.
    Thoughts for the day:“Whatever you have, spend less.” [make your heirs happy]
    “Whatever you spend, get a job that pays more.”
    “Crime does not pay.”
    “Grime does not pay.”
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    updated Wednesday 09-Jul-2003 3:36 UT
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