#Middlebury
On Dec. 2, 1777, Philadelphia housewife and nurse Lydia Darragh single-handedly saves the lives of Gen. George Washington and his Continental Army when she overhears the British planning a surprise attack. The British were stunned to find the army waiting for them the next day.- On Dec. 5, 1872, a British brig spots the Mary Celeste, an American vessel, sailing erratically near the Azores Islands with not a soul onboard. The last entry in the captain’s log was dated 11 days earlier.
- On Dec. 4, 1945, the U.S. Senate approves full U.S. participation in the United Nations. A resolution designed to force the president to get congressional consent before approving U.S. troops for any U.N. peacekeeping forces was defeated.
- On Nov. 30, 1954, the first modern instance of a meteorite striking a human being occurs in Alabama when an 8.5-pound meteorite crashes through the roof of a house and strikes a woman. She was not permanently injured.
- On Dec. 3, 1984, an explosion at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, leads to the worst industrial accident in history. At least 2,000 people died and another 200,000 were injured when toxic gas enveloped the city. Plant workers had failed to act when gauges showed a dangerous build-up of pressure in the tanks.
- On Dec. 1, 1990, over 130 feet below the English Channel, workers drill an opening through a wall of rock, connecting the two ends of an underwater tunnel linking Great Britain with the European mainland. The completed “Chunnel” rail shuttle through the tunnel runs 31 miles and takes 20 minutes.
- On Nov. 29, 2011, Conrad Murray, the doctor convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the 2009 death of singer Michael Jackson, is sentenced to four years in prison. The pop star died after suffering cardiac arrest while under the influence of propofol.
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