Moments in Time – November 15, 2023

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• On Nov. 27, 2017, eight donkeys were released from jail after four days’ imprisonment for the crime of eating expensive saplings in the Jalaun district of Uttar Pradesh, India. Authorities said the animals had made a mess of the plants, which were worth nearly $1,000 and placed near the jail as part of a governmental cleanup campaign, even after their owner was “warned a couple of times.”
• On Nov. 28, 1920, 36 volunteers for the Irish Republican Army ambushed the Royal Irish Constabulary’s Auxiliary near Kilmichael in County Cork, killing 16 soldiers. The attack occurred one week after “Bloody Sunday” and marked an escalation in the IRA’s campaign during the Irish War of Independence.
• On Nov. 29, 1877, with very little preamble, a young Thomas Edison demonstrated his hand-cranked phonograph for the first time at the office of the “Scientific American.” The editors were astonished to hear the machine say: “Good morning. How do you do? How do you like the phonograph?” Edison patented the device a few months later.
• On Nov. 30, 2022, Russia’s upper house of Parliament unanimously voted against promoting homosexual relationships in advertising, books and films, assigning a fine of up to 5 million rubles (approximately $80,000) to anyone caught violating the ban.
• On Dec. 1, 1960, Paul McCartney and original Beatles drummer Pete Best were arrested in Hamburg, Germany, and deported from the country on the mistaken accusation of attempted arson. The men were given just five minutes to pack their belongings, and Best even had to leave his drums behind.
• On Dec. 2, 1777, legend holds that a Philadelphia housewife and nurse by the name of Lydia Darragh helped save the lives of Gen. George Washington and his Continental Army when she overheard British soldiers planning a surprise attack on the general’s army, to take place on the following day, and alerted American Lt. Thomas Craig.
• On Dec. 3, 1947, Tennessee Williams’ play “A Streetcar Named Desire” opened on Broadway, featuring Vivien Leigh as the emotionally troubled Blanche Dubois and Marlon Brando in his breakout role as her antagonistic brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. The drama earned a half hour of applause from the audience at its conclusion, and a Pulitzer Prize for Williams.

© 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.