Moments in Time – February 15, 2023

#MiddleburyCT

• On Feb. 27, 1693, England’s first women’s magazine, “The Ladies Mercury,” debuted. With a print run of just four weeks, each single-sheet, double-sided issue consisted of an advice column addressing “all the most nice and curious questions concerning love, marriage, behavior, dress and humor of the female sex, whether virgins, wives or widows.”
• On March 5, 1774, John Hancock delivered the fourth annual Massacre Day speech, commemorating the Boston Massacre in which British soldiers killed five men in a crowd on King Street. Hancock’s oration and denunciation of the presence of British troops in Boston increased his standing as a leading patriot.
• On March 1, 1869, U.S. postage stamps featuring scenes were issued for the first time. The pictorials included a post horse and rider, a locomotive, a shield, an eagle and a ship, and the Adriatic Sea. Prior to that time, the stamps had only depicted portraits of dead statesmen.
• On March 4, 1960, actress-comedienne Lucille Ball filed for divorce from Cuban-American singer and bandleader Desi Arnaz, citing his drinking and infidelity, after 14 years of marriage. The couple most memorably earned a place in American hearts as Ricky and Lucy Ricardo on their 1950s TV sitcom “I Love Lucy.”
• On March 2, 1962, Philadelphia Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points, the most ever by an NBA player in a single game, in a match with the New York Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania, with a final winning score for the Warriors of 169-147. Six decades later, Chamberlain’s record still remains unbroken.
• On March 3, 1991, motorist Rodney King’s severe beating at the hands of Los Angeles police officers was captured on an amateur video taken by bystander George Holliday from a nearby balcony, which later led to riots when the officers were acquitted. King had been stopped and arrested for driving while intoxicated on the interstate.
• On Feb. 28, 2013, scientists electrically connected the brains of two rats with electrodes reaching into the motor cortex, the region of the brain that processes movement. The animals were then able to share and act on each other’s sensory information and were trained to press a lever when a light went on above it.

© 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.