April 5, 1588 – Author and
political philosopher Thomas Hobbes was born in Westport, Wilshire, England.
His most famous book is 1651’s “Leviathan.”
April 5, 1621 – The Mayflower sets
sail from Plymouth, Mass. on a return trip to England.
April 5, 1722 – The Dutch explorer
Jacob Roggeveen discovered Easter Island.
April 5, 1774 - In London, Benjamin
Franklin wrote an open letter to Great Britain's prime minister, Frederick,
Lord North. Franklin's satirical letter suggested that the British impose
martial law upon the colonies and appoint a "King's Viceroy of all North
America." The letter was published in The Public Advertiser on April 15.
April 5, 1778 - North Carolina
became the tenth state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
April 5, 1792 – U.S. President
George Washington exercised his authority to veto a bill, the first time this
power was used in the United States. He vetoed ameasure for apportioning
representatives among the states.
April 5, 1810 - Alabama author
Philip Henry Gosse was born in Worcester, England.
April 5, 1825 – During his historic tour of the United
States, Lafayette arrived in Selma, Ala.
April 5, 1837 – Poet Algernon Charles Swinburne was born in
London.
April 5, 1856 - Booker T. Washington, African-American
educator, author and leader, was born on a farm near Hale's Ford, Franklin
County, Virginia. Born a slave, Washington worked his way through school and in
1881 was selected to head the newly established Normal School for Colored Teachers
at Tuskegee, Alabama. He guided the development of the institution until his
death in 1915. (The date of his birth was unknown even to Washington; based on
evidence submitted after his death, the Board of Trustees of Tuskegee Institute
adopted April 5, 1856, as "the exact date of his birth.")
April 5, 1862 – During the Civil War, the Battle of Yorktown
began as Union forces under General George McClellan established siege lines at
Yorktown.
April 5, 1865 - Confederate General Robert E. Lee pulled his
troops from Amelia Court House and retreated.
April 5, 1869 - Daniel Bakeman, the last surviving soldier
of the U.S. Revolutionary War, died at the age of 109 and was buried in
Sandusky Cemetery in Freedom, New York.
April 5, 1871 – Croation explorer Mirko Seljan was born in
Karlovac, Croatia.
April 5, 1887 - Anne Sullivan taught Helen Keller the
meaning of the word "water" as spelled out in the manual alphabet.
April 5, 1900 – Archaeologists in Knossos, Crete, discovered
a large cache of clay tablets with hieroglyphic writing in a script they call
Linear B.
April 5, 1906 – J.D. Deming and his wife, Fannie D. Deming,
sold their bank building to the Peoples Bank of Evergreen, Ala.
April 5, 1909 – On a Sunday night, an unknown number of
burglars entered the residence of Conecuh County Tax Collector W.S. Oliver and
stole his pants, which contained money and other valuables.
April 5, 1911 – During “one of the worst storms” in years,
over six inches of rain fell in Evergreen as “rain fell in torrents and the
wind reached a high velocity.”
April 5, 1915 – Conecuh County Circuit Court convened with
Judge Gamble presiding. E.C. Lee of Evergreen was the foreman of the grand
jury, and Solicitor Bricken was also on hand to represent the state.
April 5, 1916 – Gregory Peck, who portrayed Atticus Finch in
“To Kill a Mockingbird,” was born in La Jolla, Calif.
April 5, 1917 – Crime and suspense writer Robert Block was
born in Chicago. He is best known for his 1959 novel, “Psycho.”
April 5, 1923 – Baseball player John Ottis Johnson was born.
April 5, 1925 – The Woman’s Club of Perdue Hill, Ala.
presented Alabama Lodge No. 3 with the desk that LaFayette spoke from during
his visit to Claiborne in 1825. The desk has a sliver plate attached to it to
commemorate his visit.
April 5, 1937 – Evergreen received 6.92 inches of rain
during a 36-hours period that resulted in 8.65 inches of rain between Sat.,
April 3, and Mon., April 5.
April 5, 1937 - A movie version of Alabama author Octavus
Roy Cohen's book “Jim Hanvey, Detective”
was released.
April 5, 1938 – Work began on the new athletic stadium at
the Evergreen High School. It would eventually be named Brooks Stadium, and
later Brooks Memorial Stadium, in honor of J.R. Brooks, who was mayor of
Evergreen, Ala. when the work began.
April 5, 1939 - Author Thomas R. Atkins was born in Mobile,
Ala.
April 5, 1944 – 1st Lt. Laula M. Middleton of Conecuh
County, Ala. was declared dead. He was declared missing in action a year
earlier over North Africa in World War II while serving with the 310 Bomber
Group Allied Air Force. He went MIA when the bombing plane of which he was crew
member was lost in combat over the Mediterranean Sea between Sicily and
Tunisia. A marker in his memory was placed in the Belleville United Methodist
Church Cemetery and Evergreen’s airport was named Middleton Field in his honor.
April 5, 1945 – An early morning fire destroyed the home of
Mr. and Mrs. H.C. Gilmore on Magnolia Street in Evergreen.
April 5, 1950 – NFL punter Marv Bateman was born in Salt
Lake City, Utah. He would go on to play for the University of Utah, the Dallas
Cowboys and the Buffalo Bills.
April 5, 1951 – Major League Baseball second baseman Rennie
Stennett was born in Colon, Panama. He would go on to play for the Pittsburgh
Pirates and the San Francisco Giants.
April 5, 1951 – NFL linebacker Brad Van Pelt was born in
Owossa, Mich. He would go on to play for Michigan State, the New York Giants,
the Los Angeles Raiders and the Cleveland Browns.
April 5, 1951 – Army PFC Ralph Sasser of Escambia County,
Ala. was killed in action in Korea.
April 5, 1956 – A B-25, converted to a civilian
cargo-carrying plane, disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle with three aboard in
the vicinity of the Tongue of the Ocean, a mile-deep underwater canyon to the
east of Andros Island in the Bahamas.
April 5, 1965 - The color of National Football League
penalty flags used by officials was changed from white to bright gold.
April 5, 1994 – Modern rock icon Kurt Cobain, 27, of Nirvana
committed suicide with a shotgun on this day in 1994. His body was discovered
inside his home in Seattle, Washington, three days later by Gary Smith, an
electrician, who was installing a security system in the suburban house.
Despite indications that Cobain, the lead singer of Nirvana, killed himself,
several skeptics questioned the circumstances of his death.
April 5, 1999 - Barry Bonds was walked intentionally for the
270th time of his career. He passed Hank Aaron on the all-time list.
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