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On May 30, 1899, amateur bandit Pearl Hart and her boyfriend Joe Boot hold up an Arizona stagecoach. After taking $421 in cash from three passengers, Hart took pity on them and handed each back $1 so they could buy something to eat when they arrived in town.- On May 28, 1902, Owen Wister’s “The Virginian” is published. It was the first “serious” Western. The book became a sensation almost overnight, selling more than 1.5 million copies by 1938 and inspiring four movies and a Broadway play.
- On May 26, 1927, Henry Ford and his son Edsel drive the 15 millionth Model T Ford out of their factory, marking the famous automobile’s official last day of production. The “Tin Lizzie” averaged about 17 mpg and could travel up to 45 mph.
- On May 27, 1939, a ship carrying 937 Jewish refugees is turned away from Cuba. The ship sailed close to Florida, hoping to disembark there, but a State Department telegram stated that the asylum-seekers must first “await their turns on the waiting list and qualify for and obtain immigration visas.” After appeals to Canada also were denied, the ship was forced to sail back to Europe.
- On May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa of Nepal, become the first explorers to reach the summit of Mount Everest. News of their achievement broke on June 2, the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.
- On May 31, 1962, in Israel, Nazi SS officer Adolf Eichmann is executed for his crimes against humanity during World War II. Following the war, Eichmann had fled to Argentina, where he was found by Mossad agents.
- On May 25, 1977, Memorial Day weekend opens with an intergalactic bang as the first of George Lucas’ blockbuster “Star Wars” movies hits American theaters.
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