What Happened Today

Al Capone was well known as the leader of the Chicago Outfit, the main criminal organization that ran illegal liquor and other illicit enterprises in Chicago in the 1920s. There was a long list of illegal activities, criminal enterprises, and bloody murders that everyone in Chicago and the country knew were the responsibility of Al Capone. Yet authorities never could convict Capone of anything too serious, because he insulated himself from actual responsibility and had the best legal team possible. Federal authorities decided to pursue a novel course of action. They prosecuted him for never paying taxes on his obviously large income. Capone would end up in Federal Prison on an 11 year sentence, but was released after eight years due to the effects of syphilitic dementia. Organized crime would continue, but now had to launder money to keep making money.

John Brown became a national figure in the 1850s as the most miltant abolitionist in the country. He was most notable for having killed pro-slavery militants in the Kansas conflict with broadswords at a place called Pottawatomie Creek. By 1859, John Brown had decided to try and launch a massive slave rebellion by attacking the United States Armory at Harper's Ferry. His initial plan worked in so much as Brown and his men took possesion of the Armory quickly. Yet the seeds of his ultimate failure were set when he allowed a train to move on and raise an alarm. A militia led by then-United States Army Colonel Robert E. Lee surrounded Brown and his men, taking them easily two days after they took the Armory. John Brown would be hanged on December 2, 1859 by the State of Virginia. But his actions already triggered anxiety that would help lead to the Civil War.

Jack the Ripper is the most famous, most discussed, and most obsessed over serial killer in history. Although his crimes, slashing the throats and then mutilating prostitutes, were gruesome and shocking enough, the speculation about who Jack the Ripper was and why he did what he did have been the animating features of Ripperology. The "From Hell" Letter sealed this interest as something more than simple fascination over crime. The third letter sent by someone believed to be the killer, the "From Hell" letter was different. It was borderline illiterate and displayed signs of pyschosis, but also disturbingly contained a kidney, supposedly from murder victim Catherine Eddowes. Despite one more murder and a lack of arrests, Jack the Ripper would continue to hold a significant amount of sway in cultural memory.

By defeating King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, Duke William of Normandy could take the English throne and kick off the Norman Conquest of England. In a way, the Battle of Hastings made a brand new England, with a new language and new customs. Yet the Norman Conquest was much more complicated than that, and the Battle of Hastings was much more complicated than is often portrayed. William was one of three claimants to the throne, and he faced the English King only after Harold had defeated the other claimant at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in September of 1066. WIlliam had superior force and the only cavalry and archers on the battlefield. But it looked like the English would be victorious on the morning of October 14, and only a last ditch effort by the Normans won the battle and England.

Throughout the summer of 1917, three shepherd children continued to see a vision of the Virgin Mary on the 13th of each month. For the month of October, the children said that this Marian apparition would appear at noon at the spot they had always seen it. A crowd of many thousands of people would show up on October 13, waiting to see the vision. After a rainy morning, the clouds broke up at noon and a dull sun gave out remarkable lights and effects, then moved around the sky. Newspaper reporters and other eyewitnesses confirm that there was strange solar activity. Many believers said they saw the vision that was promised. Rapidly, the Roman Catholic Church adopted this event as an official miracle, naming it The Miracle of the Sun.

Inejiro Asanuma had only been the Chair of the Japan Socialist Party for a few months when Otoya Yamaguchi stabbed him during a political rally. Yamaguchi's attack on Asanuma was captured both on television and in a famous news photograph. Asanuma was openly associating his party with the Chinese Communist Party of Chairman Mao. Yamaguchi was a seventeen devotee of a right wing nationalist party who wanted to restore the glory of the Emperor by opposing Communism and foreign influence. Yamaguchi intentionally used a specific samurai weapon, and three weeks after the assasination he committed suicide in a juvenile detention facility while referencing famous samurai legends.

Huldrych Zwingli was the first major Protestant Reformer in Switzerland. Although Zwingli began his Reformation after Martin Luther's in Germany, Zwingli was something else altogether. Originally a Catholic Priest who served as a military chaplain, Zwingli was a singular parish priest. He would read the Bible from the pulpit with a running commentary, which largely consisted of pointing out where he disagreed with the Church. Zurich found him alluring, but other Swiss Cantons were less sure. Zwingli never backed down and found himself in open conflict with the Catholic Cantons of the Swiss Confederation. This would lead to full military conflict and eventually the death of Zwingli in battle. Although his reformation ideas would continue, the militarism would recede and the Swiss cantons would allow for a small measure of religious tolerance after Zwingli's death.

Spiro Agnew had a swift rise in politics, going from the Baltimore County Executive to the Governor of Maryland to the Vice President of the United States under President Richard Nixon in just six years. His fall would be even swifter, as he resigned in 1973. Agnew pled no contest to a charge of tax evasion on the same day, which stemmed from significant bribery charges which covered his entire career. Agnew's replacement, Gerald Ford, would be the first Vice President appointed under the then new 25th Amendment. After Richard Nixon would resign the Presidency less than a year after Agnew's own resignation, Ford would also get to appoint the second Vice President chosen under the terms of the 25th Amendment.

Che Guevara is the most recognizable left-wing revolutionary in modern culture, largely thanks to a singular image put on t-shirts and posters. The real man was an intellectual who was deeply devoted to Marxist ideals, helping Communist revolutions around the world. An Argentinian by birth, Guevara became a doctor, then traveled around Latin America. After meeting up with the Castro brothers, he helped their revolution succeed in Cuba, then became an international representative of the new Cuban government. In the mid-1960s, though, Guevara tried to export this brand of Communist revolution. First, Guevara went to the Congo, and failed to overthrow Mobutu Sese Seko. After that, Guevara went to Bolivia. There he would be killed. Yet in death, Guevara became even more of an icon for the Cuban government and left-wing movements worldwide.

The Great Chicago Fire was unbelievably destructive. The combination of a massive conflagration and a booming city made mostly of wooden homes meant the fire spread quickly, while a particular weather pattern known as a "fire whirl" made the fire even more destructive. The immediate blame was given to Mrs. O'Leary's cow for kicking over a lantern, because it was absolutely clear that the fire began in the barn of the O'Leary house on De Koven Street. Yet the story of the cow was probably fallacious, and it might have been started by a milk theft or a craps game. The other possibility, which helps explain concurrent fires in the Midwest, is that a meteor fell over Lake Michigan. But that's not perfect either.