Moments in Time – May 25, 2022

#Middlebury

• On June 6, 1683, the Ashmolean, the world’s first university museum, opens in Oxford, England. Today, the collection at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology ranges in time from the earliest implements of man, made about 500,000 years ago, to 20th century works of art.
• On June 10, 1692, in Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Bridget Bishop, the first colonist to be tried in the Salem witch trials, is hanged after being found guilty of the practice of witchcraft. The witch trials, which resulted in the executions of 19 innocent women and men, ended in October.
• On June 9, 1893, the interior of Ford’s Theatre collapses when a basement pier gives way, killing 23 people. The building – where President Lincoln was assassinated – housed hundreds of government clerks.
• On June 7, 1942, the Battle of Midway – one of the most decisive U.S. victories in its war against Japan – comes to an end. The outnumbered U.S. Pacific Fleet destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers with the loss of only one of its own, the Yorktown.
• On June 8, 1968, James Earl Ray is arrested in London, England, and charged with the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. In 1969, Ray pleaded guilty to King’s murder. Three days later, he attempted to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming he had been set up as a patsy in a larger conspiracy.
• On June 11, 1979, film actor John Wayne, born Marion Morrison, dies at age 72. The “John Wayne” name was created when the director of “The Big Trail” didn’t think Marion was a good name for an actor playing a tough Western hero.
• On June 12, 1982, a large crowd descends upon New York City’s Central Park, demanding nuclear disarmament. Estimates placed the number of attendees at over a million.

© 2022 Hearst Communications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved