#Middlebury
On May 20, 1506, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus dies in Spain. Columbus, and most others, underestimated the world’s size, calculating that East Asia must lie about where North America sits on the globe.- On May 23, 1701, at London’s Execution Dock, British privateer William Kidd, known as Captain Kidd, is hanged for piracy and murder. In 1695, Kidd was commissioned to defend English ships from pirates in the Red Sea. When arrested with a shipload of treasure, Kidd’s Whig sponsors failed to back his claims of legitimacy.
- On May 19, 1715, the colony of New York passes a law making it illegal to “gather, rake, take up, or bring to the market, any oysters whatsoever” between the months of May and September. The regulation was intended to help preserve certain species.
- On May 24, 1844, before members of Congress, American inventor Samuel F.B. Morse dispatches a telegraph message from the U.S. Capitol to a railroad station in Baltimore. The message – “What Hath God Wrought?” – was telegraphed back to the Capitol a moment later.
- On May 18, 1917, six weeks after the United States formally entered World War I, Congress passes the Selective Service Act, giving the president the power to draft soldiers. Of the almost 4.8 million Americans who served in the war, some 2.8 million were drafted.
- On May 21, 1901, Connecticut becomes the first state to limit the speed of motor vehicles to 12 mph in cities and 15 mph on country roads. As late as 1930, a dozen states had no speed limit, while 28 states did not even require a driver’s license.
- On May 22, 1969, actor Paul Newman makes his onscreen racing debut in the film “Winning.” Newman played a struggling race car driver who must turn around his fortunes by winning the Indianapolis 500.
© 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
You must be logged in to post a comment.