Today in History for June 10, 2015

Dr. Frederick Cook

June 10, 1596 – Willem Barents and Jacob van Heemskerk discovered Bear Island.

June 10, 1692 – During the Salem witch trials, Bridget Bishop was hanged at Gallows Hill near Salem, Massachusetts for "certaine Detestable Arts called Witchcraft & Sorceries." Following the hanging Nathaniel Saltonstall resigned from the court and was replaced by Jonathan Corwin.

June 10, 1716 – Swedish explorer Carl Gustaf Ekeberg was born in Djursholm, Uppland. He made several voyages to the East Indies and China as a sea captain, bringing back reports of the tea tree and writing a number of books.

June 10, 1752 - Benjamin Franklin flew a kite during a thunderstorm, enabling him to demonstrate the electrical nature of lightning.

June 10, 1768 - British customs officials confiscated John Hancock's sloop Liberty.

June 10, 1772 - Off Rhode Island, colonists boarded the HMS Gaspee and set it aflame. The ship was an armed British customs schooner that had run aground the previous day.

June 10, 1775 - John Adams proposed to Congress that the group of men laying siege to Boston should be considered a Continental Army.

June 10, 1776 - The Continental Congress appointed a committee to write a Declaration of Independence.

June 10, 1854 – The first class of United States Naval Academy students graduated.

June 10, 1861 – During the Civil War, at the Battle of Big Bethel, Confederate troops under John B. Magruder defeated a much larger Union force led by General Ebenezer W. Pierce in Virginia.

June 10, 1864 – During the Civil War, at the Battle of Brice's Crossroads, Confederate troops under Nathan Bedford Forrest defeated a much larger Union force led by General Samuel D. Sturgis in Mississippi. The battle continued into the next day and Forrest was able to capture 1,600 troops, 16 cannons and 176 supply wagons. Forrest’s reputation grew substantially because of this victory.

June 10, 1865 – American physician and explorer Frederick Cook was born in Callicoon, Sullivan County, New York. He is noted for his claim of having reached the North Pole on April 21, 1908, a year before April 6, 1909, the date claimed by American explorer Robert Peary, and the accounts were disputed for several years. His expedition did discover Meighen Island, the only discovery of an island in the American Arctic by a United States expedition.

June 10, 1895 - Controversial scientist Immanuel Velikovsky was born in Vitebsk, Russian Empire (in present-day Belarus). In his best-selling 1950's book, “Worlds in Collision,” he wrote about celestial catastrophes that affected ancient peoples.

June 10, 1911 – Playwright Terence Rattigan was born in London.

June 10, 1912 – Sam Moorer picked the first cotton bloom in Conecuh County, Ala., according to The Evergreen Courant.

June 10, 1912 – The Villisca axe murders were discovered in Villisca, Iowa.

June 10, 1915 – Canadian-American novelist Saul Bellow was born Solomon Bellows in Lachine, Quebec, Canada.

June 10, 1916 – An Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire led by Lawrence of Arabia broke out.

June 10, 1921 - Babe Ruth became baseball's all-time home run leader with 120.

June 10, 1924 - The Republican National Convention was broadcast by NBC radio. It was the first political convention to be on radio.

June 10, 1925 – Novelist and short-story writer James Salter was born James Horowitz in New York City.

June 10, 1929 – Biologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Edward O. Wilson was born in Birmingham, Ala. His research was presented in the books “Sociobiology: The New Synthesis” (1975) and the Pulitzer Prize-winning “On Human Nature” (1978). He received a second Pulitzer Prize for “The Ants” (1990). His most recent book is “The Meaning of Human Existence” (2014). He lived briefly in Evergreen and Brewton as a child.

June 10, 1930 – In Conecuh County, Ala. The Peoples Bank of Evergreen, founded in 1901, merged with the First National Bank of Evergreen.

June 10, 1933 - Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were in a car accident on a rural road in north Texas. The third-degree burns suffered by Parker resulted in a pronounced limp for the rest of her life.

June 10, 1944 – In baseball, 15-year old pitcher Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds became the youngest player ever in a major-league game.

June 10, 1947 – On the opening day for the Evergreen (Ala.) Softball League, Stuart Motor Co. beat Southern Coach, 21-3, and French Dry Cleaners beat National Guard, 17-10.

June 10, 1947 – Greening Masonic Lodge No. 53 in Evergreen, Ala. held its annual election of officers on this Tuesday night and the following officers were elected: Alvin Brewton, Worshipful Master; T.S. Holly, Senior Warden; Claude Murphy, Junior Warden; F.L. Cardwell, Treasurer; W.G. Jones, Secretary; A.K. Williams Jr., Senior Deacon; Ray Williams, Junior Deacon; S.J. Brundage, Tiler; Herbert Mellinger, Senior Steward; Raymond Hayes, Junior Steward; A.K. Williams Sr., Chaplain; R.F. Hyde, Marshall.

June 10, 1951 – Dothan Browns baseball player John Ottis Johnson of Evergreen, Ala. died at the age of 25, eight days after getting hit in the temple by a pitch delivered by Headland Dixie Runners pitcher Jack Clifton. The accident happened during an Alabama-Florida League game at Peanut Stadium in Headland. He is buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Evergreen.

June 10, 1956 – Lyeffion’s baseball team was scheduled to play Red Level in Red Level, Ala. Garland was scheduled to play Paul in Paul. Buck Creek was scheduled to play Flat Rock in Evergreen.

June 10, 1956 – Evergreen’s National Guard Unit, Battery C, 117th Field Artillery Battalion, 31st Infantry (Dixie) Division, was scheduled to leave on this Sunday at 6:45 a.m. for their annual two weeks of summer camp at Fort McClellan, Ala. The unit included five officers and 70 enlisted men.

June 10, 1959 - Rocky Colavito of the Cleveland Indians hit home runs in four straight at-bats.

June 10, 1977 – James Earl Ray escaped with six others from Brushy Mountain State Prison in Petros, Tenn. but was recaptured on June 13.

June 10, 1988 - Author Louis L'Amour died from lung cancer at the age 80 in Los Angeles. In all, he wrote 89 novels, 14 short-story collections and two full-length works of nonfiction.

June 10, 1981 - Pete Rose got his 3,630th career hit. The feat tied Stan Musial's National League record.

June 10, 1983 - Johnny Bench announced his plans to retire. He was a catcher in the major leagues for 16 years.

June 10, 1989 - HBO aired the first episode of "Tales from the Crypt."

June 10, 1997 - Kevin Brown of the Florida Marlins threw his first no hitter. It was the second no-hitter in Marlins history.

June 10, 2005 - Babe Ruth's 1919 contract that moved him from Boston to the Yankees sold at auction for $996,000.

June 10, 2007 - Almost 12 million people tuned in for the series finale of HBO’s critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning Mob-family drama “The Sopranos.”