MAY 23 — 1934 Police catch up to Bonnie & Clyde; 1927 Lucky Lindburgh Lands in Paris!; 1785 Ben Franklin announces bifocals invention; 2000 Eminem releases Marshall Mathers LP
MAY 23
1934 – Police finally catch up with Bonnie and Clyde.
…Clyde Champion Barrow and his companion, Bonnie Parker were shot to death by officers in Louisiana after one of the most colorful and spectacular manhunts the nation had seen up to that time.
The two lovebirds met in Texas in January 1930. Bonnie was 19 and married to an imprisoned murderer, and Clyde was in jail for robbery. When Clyde was paroled he and Bonnie hooked up and began a life of crime together. How cute. They went on a robbery and shooting spree, possibly killing 13 people including police officers. The two found some friends to continue their crime spree with them and successfully eluded police, until the friends were caught.
Bonnie and Clyde escaped a trap set up by the Dallas Texas sheriff and his deputies, stole a car and headed to Oklahoma, then robbed someone in Louisiana in December 1933. A month later Bonnie and Clyde headed back to Texas and liberated five prisoners from the Eastham State Prison Farm while Clyde covered their retreat with busts of machine gun fire. The killing spree continued
In April 1934 near Grapevine TX, one day at a traffic stop, before the young officers could even draw their guns they were shot. Wanted signs were posted everywhere. Louisiana and Texas police collaborated on their intel, and discovered bonnie and Clyde near Sailes, Louisiana.
Before dawn on May 23 lawmen hid in the bushes along a country road, and when Bonnie and Clyde appeared, the officers opened fire, killing the couple instantly. Bonnie and Clyde were further immortalized in a famous 1967 movie starring Raye Dunaway and Warren Beatty.
1927 – Lucky Lindbergh makes headlines everywhere.
St. Louis Post Dispatcher: Lindbergh Lands Safely at Paris. New York Times: Lindbergh Does It! To Paris in 33 ½ hours, Flies 1,000 Miles Through Snow and Sleet; Cheering French Carry Him Off Field. Paris Times: C’est Lindbergh ze best avaiateur! Oui Oui!
Yes, the other day I discussed Charles Lindbergh’s incredible trip across the Atlantic in his single engine plane with his four sandwiches and two jugs of water, all to face the $25,000 challenge by New York hotel owner Raymond Ortiega.
Supposedly after making the flight, when he nearly arrived to France, he yelled out from the cockpit at a fisherman, “Which way is Ireland?” but the fisherman was just confused. Lucky Lindy would land the Spirit of St. Louis onto Bourguet Field in Paris to a big party of 150,000 folks who pulled him out of the cockpit and raised him on their shoulders. Several days later he returned to the United States where his journey was celebrated by 4 million people at a parade in New York, then later met with President Calvin Coolidge to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
1810 – Happy birthday Margaret Fuller.
…She’s America’s first female full0time book reviewer in journalism. Margaret was a journalist, critic, and women’s rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movement. She encouraged many reforms besides education for reform, including prison reform and the emancipation of slaves.
Susan B. Anthony cited Fuller as a source of inspiration. In her personal life she was accused of being overly confident and having a bad temper. I say good for her. How would her cause be taken seriously if she was soft spoken and humble? Probably not very.
Like a boss!
1785 – Ben Franklin announces the invention of the bi-focals.
Historians sometime argue this, but if you check a correspondence between George Whatley and John Fenno, editor of the Gazette, suggests that Franklin actually invented them long before that. Well if Franklin is the first to wear them, then who else would’ve invented them? So that’s the argument.
2000—Eminem releases the Marshall Mothers LP.
It’s his third album, produced mostly by Dr. Dre and Eminem, along with the 45 King, Bass Brothers, and Mel-Man. The album sold more than 1.76 million copies in the US in the first week alone, becoming the fastest selling studio album by any solo artist in American music history. In 2001, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album and was nominated for Album of the Year. It was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of American in 2011 for shipping 10 million copies in the US.
By 2012 it had sold over 32 million albums worldwide. Former US Senate Chairman Lynne Cheney had a good time with that one, saying the album promotes violence of the most degrading kind against women, labeling Eminem as a rap singer who advocates murder and rape. I believe she was talking about the song Kill You.