John Wayne Gacy, Serial Killer, Died on May 5, 1994

The Life of John Wayne GacyJohn Wayne Gacy was an American serial killer, convicted and later executed for the rape and murder of 33 boys and young men between 1972 and his arrest in 1978, 27 of whom he buried in a crawl space under the floor of his house, while others were found in nearby rivers. He became notorious as the "Killer Clown" because of the many block parties he threw for his friends and neighbors, entertaining children in a clown suit and makeup, under the name of "Pogo the Clown".

The Death of John Wayne Gacy
On February 6, 1980, Gacy's trial began in Chicago. During the trial, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. However, this plea was rejected outright; Gacy's lawyer, Sam Amirante, said that Gacy had moments of temporary insanity at the time of each individual murder, but regained his sanity before and after to lure and dispose of victims.

While on trial, Gacy joked that the only thing he was guilty of was "running a cemetery without a license." At one point in the trial, Gacy's defense also tried to claim that all 33 murders were accidental deaths as part of erotic asphyxia, but the Cook County Coroner countered this assertion with evidence that Gacy's claim was impossible. Gacy had also made an earlier confession to police, and was unable to have this evidence suppressed. He was found guilty on March 13 and sentenced to death.

On May 10, 1994, Gacy was executed at Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois, by lethal injection. His last meal consisted of a dozen deep fried shrimp, a bucket of original recipe chicken from KFC, a pound of fresh strawberries and French fries. His execution was a minor media sensation, and large crowds of people gathered for "execution parties" outside the penitentiary, with numerous arrests for public intoxication, open container violations, and disorderly conduct. Vendors sold Gacy-related T-shirts and other merchandise, and the crowd cheered at the moment when Gacy was pronounced dead.

According to reports, Gacy did not express remorse. His last words to his lawyer in his cell were to the effect that killing him would not bring anyone back, and it is reported his last words were "kiss my ass," which he said to a correctional officer while he was being sent to the execution chamber.

Before the execution began, the lethal chemicals unexpectedly solidified, clogging the IV tube that led into Gacy's arm, and prevented any further passage. Blinds covering the window through which witnesses observed the execution were drawn, and the execution team replaced the clogged tube with a new one. Ten minutes later, the blinds were reopened and the execution resumed. It took 18 minutes to complete.] Anesthesiologists blamed the problem on the inexperience of prison officials who were conducting the execution, saying that proper procedures taught in "IV 101" would have prevented the error. This apparently led to Illinois' adoption of a different method of lethal injection. On this subject, the chief prosecutor at Gacy's trial, William Kunkle, said "He still got a much easier death than any of his victims."

After his execution, Gacy's brain was removed. It is currently in the possession of Dr. Helen Morrison, who interviewed Gacy and other serial killers in an attempt to isolate common personality traits of violent sociopaths; however, an examination of Gacy's brain after his execution by the forensic psychiatrist hired by his lawyers revealed no abnormalities.

Alice Faye Died on May 9, 1998

The Life of Alice Faye
Alice Faye (born Alice Jeane Leppert on May 5, 1915 - May 9, 1998) was an American actress and singer. She is remembered first for her stardom at 20th Century Fox and, later, as the radio comedy partner of her second husband, bandleader-comedian Phil Harris.

Born in New York City, she was the daughter of a New York police officer of German descent and his Irish-American wife, Charley and Alice Leppert. Faye's entertainment career began in vaudeville as a chorus girl (she failed an audition for the Ziegfeld Follies when it was revealed she was too young), before she moved to Broadway and a featured role in the 1931 edition of George White's Scandals. By this time, she had adopted her stage name and first reached a radio audience on Rudy Vallee's The Fleischmann Hour (1932-1934), where she may have met her future husband and comedy partner Harris for the first time.

Meanwhile, she got her first major film break in 1934, when Lilian Harvey abandoned the lead role in a film version of George White's 1935 Scandals, in which Vallee was also to appear. Hired first to perform a musical number with Vallee, Faye ended up as the female lead. And she became a hit with film audiences of the 1930s, particularly when Fox mastermind producer Darryl F. Zanuck made her his protege. He softened Faye from a wisecracking show girl to a youthful, yet somewhat motherly figure such as she played in a few Shirley Temple films.

Faye also received a physical makeover, from being something of a singing version of Jean Harlow to sporting a softer look with a more natural tone to her blonde hair and more mature makeup. This transition was practically a plot point of 1938's Alexander's Ragtime Band, in which Faye's ascent (she plays a singer who moves from barrooms to fame) is dramatized by her increasingly elegant grooming.

Cast in musicals most of all, Faye introduced many popular songs to the hit parade. Considered less than serious as an actress and more than serious as a singer, Faye nailed what many critics consider her best acting performance in 1937's In Old Chicago. She more than held her own - in spite of a mild speech impediment - with co-stars such as Vallee, Al Jolson, Charlotte Greenwood, and Edward Everett Horton, as well as leading men such as Don Ameche, Tyrone Power, and John Payne.
Color film flattered Faye enormously, and she shone in the splashy musical features that were a Fox trademark in the 1940s. She frequently played a performer, often one moving up in society, allowing for situations that ranged from the poignant to the comic. Films such as Weekend in Havana and That Night in Rio (atypically, as a Brazilian aristocrat) made good use of Faye's husky singing voice, solid comic timing, and flair for carrying off the era's starry-eyed romantic storylines. 1943's The Gang's All Here is perhaps the epitome of these films, with lavish production values and a range of supporting players (including the memorable Carmen Miranda in the indescribable "Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat" number) that camouflage the film's trivial plot and leisurely pacing.

In 1943, after taking a year off to have her first daughter, Faye starred in the Technicolor musical Hello, Frisco, Hello. It was in this film that she sang her trademark song, "You'll Never Know". Released at the height of World War II, the film became one of Faye's personal favorites and one of her highest-grossing pictures for Fox.

Faye's career continued until 1944 when she was cast in Fallen Angel. whose title became only too telling, as circumstances turned out. Designed ostensibly as Faye's vehicle, the film all but became her celluloid epitaph when Zanuck, trying to build his new protege Linda Darnell, ordered many Faye scenes cut and Darnell emphasized. When Faye saw a screening of the final product, she drove away from the Fox studio refusing to return, feeling she had been undercut deliberately by Zanuck.

Zanuck hit back, it is said, by having Faye blackballed for breach of contract, effectively ending her film career. Released in 1945, Fallen Angel was Faye's last film as a major Hollywood star.

But seventeen years after the Fallen Angel debacle, Faye went before the cameras again, in 1962's State Fair. While Faye received good reviews, the film was not a great success, and she made only infrequent cameo appearances in films thereafter.

Faye and Harris continued various projects, individually and together, for the rest of their lives. Faye made a return to Broadway after forty-three years in a revival of Good News, opposite her old Fox partner John Payne (who was replaced by Gene Nelson). In later years, Faye became a spokeswoman for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, promoting the virtues of an active senior lifestyle. The Faye-Harris marriage endured until Harris's death in 1995; before that, the couple donated a large volume of their entertainment memorabilia to Harris's hometown Linton, Indiana.

Faye's first marriage, to Tony Martin in 1937, ended in divorce in 1940. A year later, however, she married Phil Harris. This marriage became a plotline on an episode of the hit radio show hosted by Harris's then-employer, Jack Benny, which struck platinum in both Faye's personal and her professional life.

The couple had two daughters, Alice (b. 1942) and Phyllis (b. 1944), and began working in radio together as Faye's film career declined. First, they teamed to host a variety show on NBC, The Fitch Bandwagon, in 1946. Originally conceived as a music showcase, the Harrises' gently tart comedy sketches made them the show's breakout stars. By 1948, Fitch bowed away as sponsor in favour of Rexall, the pharmaceutical giant, and the show---now a strictly situation comedy with a music interlude each from husband and wife---was renamed The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show.

Harris's comic talent was already familiar through his tenure on The Jack Benny Show, where he played Benny's wisecracking, jive-talking hipster bandleader. With their own show revamped to a sitcom, bandleader Harris and singer-actress Faye played themselves, raising two precocious children in and out of slightly zany situations, mostly involving Harris's band guitarist Frank Remley (Elliott Lewis), obnoxious delivery boy Julius Abruzzio (Walter Tetley, familiar as nephew Leroy on The Great Gildersleeve), Robert North as Faye's fictitious deadbeat brother, Willie, and sponsor's representative Mr. Scott (Gale Gordon), and usually involving bumbling, malapropping Harris needing rescue from acidly loving Faye.

The Harrises' two daughters were played on radio by Jeanine Roos and Anne Whitfield; written mostly by Ray Singer and Dick Chevillat, the show stayed on NBC radio fixture until 1954.

Faye singing ballads and swing numbers in her honey contralto voice was a regular highlight of the show, as was a knack for tart one-liners equal to her husband's. The show's running gags also included portraying Faye as something close to an heiress ("I'm only trying to protect the wife of the money I love" was a typical Harris drollery) and occasional barbs by Faye aimed at her rift with Zanuck, usually referencing Fallen Angel in one or another way.

The Death of Alice Faye
hree years after her husband's death, Alice Faye died in Rancho Mirage, California from stomach cancer at the age of 83. Her ashes rest beside those of Phil Harris at the mausoleum of the Forest Lawn Cemetery (Cathedral City) near Palm Springs, California. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in recognition of her contribution to Motion Pictures at 6922 Hollywood Boulevard. The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show remains a favourite of old-time radio collectors.

Shel Silverstein Died on May 8, 1999

The Life of Shel Silverstein
Sheldon Alan "Shel" Silverstein (September 25, 1930–May 8, 1999) was an American poet, songwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist, screenwriter, and author of children's books. He sometimes styled himself as Uncle Shelby, especially for his early children's books.

Silverstein confirmed he never studied the poetry of others and, therefore, developed his own quirky style: laid-back and conversational, occasionally employing profanity and slang. Silverstein had been writing and drawing since early adolescence, and had developed his own writing style because he would not read work from other writers. After graduating from Theodore Roosevelt High School several months before his class, he attended the University of Illinois, however he was expelled for failing grades in 1949. Shortly after, he began attending Roosevelt University, and graduated from there in 1953 with a bachelor's degree. Shortly after he graduated, he was drafted into the Army.

Silverstein was stationed in Kyoto, Japan and South Korea, and during his tour, he worked as cartoonist for the Pacific military newspaper Stars and Stripes, and had worked alongside and befriended Don Carpenter, who would later become a novelist and screenwriter. He served in the Army for two years until he was honorably discharged in 1955.

Silverstein's passion for music was clear early on as he studied briefly at Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University He is remembered as one of the greatest songwriters of our time. As such, Silverstein tended to shun publicity and even photographers. Nonetheless, his musical output included an astounding catalog of songs. A great number of which were huge hits for other artists - most notably the rock & roll group Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show (later shortened to just Dr. Hook).

He wrote the music and lyrics for "A Boy Named Sue" (which was performed by Johnny Cash and for which Silverstein won a Grammy in 1970), Tompall Glaser's highest-charting solo single "Put Another Log on the Fire," "One's on the Way" (which was a hit for Loretta Lynn), and "The Unicorn" (which, despite having nothing to do with Ireland nor Irish culture, became the signature piece for the Irish Rovers in 1968 and is popular in Irish pubs all over the world to this day). Another Silverstein-penned song recorded by Cash is "25 Minutes to Go," sung from the point of view of a man facing his last 25 minutes on Death Row, with each line of the song counting down one minute closer. He wrote the lyrics and music for most of the Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show songs, including "The Cover of the Rolling Stone," "Freakin' at the Freakers' Ball," "Sylvia's Mother," "The Things I Didn't Say", and a cautionary song about venereal disease, "Don't Give a Dose to the One You Love Most." He also wrote many of the songs performed by Bobby Bare, including "Rosalie's Good Eats Café," "The Mermaid," "The Winner," "Tequila Sheila," and co-wrote with Baxter Taylor the song "Marie Laveau," for which the songwriters received a BMI Award in 1975. "The Mermaid" was also covered in 2005 by Great Big Sea, which released its version on the album The Hard and the Easy. Further famous songs that Shel Silverstein wrote were "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan," (first recorded by Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show in 1975) which was re-recorded in 1979 by Marianne Faithfull and later featured in the films Montenegro and Thelma & Louise and "Queen of the Silver Dollar," (first recorded by Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show in 1973) which appeared on Emmylou Harris's 1975 album Pieces of the Sky, later covered by Dave & Sugar as well as Doyle Holly in 1973. Shel was nominated for an Oscar for his music for the film Postcards from the Edge. He also composed original music for several other films and displayed a musical versatility in these projects, playing guitar, piano, saxophone, and trombone.

Bibliography

Grab Your Socks! (1956)
Now Here's My Plan (1960)
Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book (1961)
A Playboy's Teevee Jeebies oh la la (1961)
(Uncle Shelby's story of) Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back (1963)
A Giraffe and a Half (1964)
The Giving Tree (1964)
Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros? (1964)
Uncle Shelby's Zoo (1964)
More Playboy's Teevee Jeebies (1965)
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1974)
The Missing Piece (1976)
Different Dances (1979)
A Light in the Attic (1981)
The Missing Piece Meets the Big O (1981)
Falling Up (1996)
Draw a Skinny Elephant (1998)
Runny Babbit (2005) (published posthumously)
Don't Bump the Glump! and Other Fantasies (2008, originally published in 1964)

Silverstein believed that written works needed to be read on paper—the correct paper for the particular work. He usually would not allow his poems and stories to be published unless he could choose the type, size, shape, color, and quality of the paper himself. Being a book collector, he took seriously the feel of the paper, the look of the book from the inside and out, the typeface for each poem, and the binding of his books. He did not allow his books to be published in paperback because he did not want his work to diminish in any way.

The Death of Shel Silverstein
Shel Silverstein died sometime during the weekend of May 8, 1999, in Key West, Florida, of a heart attack. His body was found by two housekeepers the following Monday, May 10. It was reported that he could have died on either day that weekend.

Gustave Flaubert Died on May 8, 1880

The life of Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert (December 12, 1821 – May 8, 1880) was a French writer who is counted among the greatest Western novelists. He is known especially for his first published novel, Madame Bovary (1857), and for his scrupulous devotion to his art and style, best exemplified by his endless search for "le mot juste" ("the right word").

Flaubert was born on December 12, 1821, in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, in the Haute-Normandie region of France. He was the second son of Achille-Cléophas Flaubert (1784–1846), a surgeon, and Anne Justine Caroline (née Fleuriot) (1793–1872). He began writing at an early age, as early as eight according to some sources. He was educated in his native city and did not leave it until 1840, when he went to Paris to study law.

In Paris, he was an indifferent student and found the city distasteful. He made a few acquaintances, including Victor Hugo. Towards the close of 1840, he travelled in the Pyrenees and Corsica. In 1846, after an attack of epilepsy, he left Paris and abandoned the study of law.

In September 1849, Flaubert completed the first version of a novel, The Temptation of Saint Anthony. He read the novel aloud to Louis Bouilhet and Maxime du Camp over the course of four days, not allowing them to interrupt or give any opinions. At the end of the reading, his friends told him to throw the manuscript in the fire, suggesting instead that he focus on day to day life rather than on fantastic subjects.

In 1850, after returning from Egypt, Flaubert began work on Madame Bovary. The novel, which took five years to write, was serialized in the Revue de Paris in 1856. The government brought an action against the publisher and author on the charge of immorality, which was heard during the following year, but both were acquitted. When Madame Bovary appeared in book form, it met with a warm reception.

In 1858, Flaubert traveled to Carthage to gather material for his next novel, Salammbô. The novel was completed in 1862 after four years of work.

Drawing on his childhood experiences, Flaubert next wrote L'Éducation sentimentale (Sentimental Education), an effort that took seven years. L'Éducation sentimentale, his last complete novel, was published in 1869.

He wrote an unsuccessful drama, Le Candidat, and published a reworked version of La Tentation de Saint-Antoine, portions of which had been published as early as 1857. He devoted much of his time to an ongoing project, Les Deux Cloportes (The Two Woodlice), which later became Bouvard et Pécuchet, breaking from the obsessive project only to write the Three Tales in 1877. This book comprised three stories: Un Cœur simple (A Simple Heart), La Légende de Saint-Julien l'Hospitalier (The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaller), and Hérodias (Herodias). After the publication of the stories, he spent the remainder of his life toiling on the unfinished Bouvard et Pécuchet, which was posthumously printed in 1881. It was a grand satire on the futility of human knowledge and the ubiquity of mediocrity. He believed the work to be his masterpiece, though the posthumous version received lukewarm reviews. Flaubert was a prolific letter writer, and his letters have been collected in several publications.

Flaubert was fastidious in his devotion to finding the right word ("le mot juste"), and his mode of composition reflected that. He worked in sullen solitude - sometimes occupying a week in the completion of one page - never satisfied with what he had composed, violently tormenting his brain for the best turn of a phrase, the final adjective. His private letters indeed show that he was not one of those to whom correct, flowing language came naturally. His style was achieved through the unceasing sweat of his brow. Flaubert’s just reward, then, is that many critics consider his best works to be exemplary models of style.

The Death of Gustave Flaubert
In 1870 Flaubert became very sick, but continued to write after attaining Chevalier, Legion of Honour, though ironically he resisted ennobling human nature in his writings. Anne Justine Caroline Flaubert, his mother, died in 1872, the one woman to provide constancy and comfort to Gustave.

Afflicted by syphilis and rapidly declining health, two weeks before his death, he told his niece Caroline, "Sometimes I think I'm liquefying like an old Camembert." On 8 May, 1880, Flaubert suddenly died from brain hemorrhage.

He is buried at Rouen Cemetery in Normandy, France alongside another literary giant Marcel Duchamp. His unfinished Bouvard et Pécuchet was published in 1880, followed by his Correspondence in 1923, containing the letters and forever immortalizing the tumultuous love affair between himself and Louise Colet.

Alexander von Humboldt Died on May 6, 1856

The Life of Alexander von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt (help·info) (September 14, 1769 – May 6, 1859) was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher, and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835). Humboldt's quantitative work on botanical geography was foundational to the field of biogeography.

Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt traveled to Latin America, exploring and describing it in a manner generally considered to be a modern scientific point of view for the first time. His description of the journey was written up and published in an enormous set of volumes over 21 years. He was one of the first to propose that the lands bordering the Atlantic were once joined (South America and Africa in particular). Later, his five-volume work Kosmos (1845) attempted to unify the various branches of scientific knowledge. Humboldt supported and worked with other scientists, including Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac, Justus von Liebig, Louis Agassiz, Matthew Fontaine Maury, and most notably Aimé Bonpland (with whom he conducted much of his scientific exploration).

There has been some criticism of the written accounts of Humboldt's explorations. His writings are known for their fantastical descriptions of the so-called 'new continent', while leaving out its inhabitants. Coming from the Romantic school of thought, Humboldt believed that '...nature is perfect till man deforms it with care.'[3] In this line of thinking, he largely neglected the human societies amidst this nature. The writing style that describes the 'new world' without people is a trend among explorers both of the past and present. Views of indigenous peoples as 'savage' or 'unimportant' leaves them out of the historical picture.

The Death of Alexander von Humboldt
On February 24, 1857 Humboldt suffered a minor stroke, which passed without perceptible symptoms. It was not until the winter of 1858-1859 that his strength began to decline, and that spring, on May 6, he died quietly in Berlin at the age of 89.

The honours which had been showered on him during life continued after his death. His remains, prior to being interred in the family resting-place at Tegel, were conveyed in state through the streets of Berlin, and received by the prince-regent at the door of the cathedral. The first centenary of his birth was celebrated on September 14, 1869, with great enthusiasm in both the New and Old Worlds. Numerous monuments erected in his honour, and newly explored regions named after Humboldt, bear witness to his wide fame and popularity.

Violet Jessop, Titanic Survivor, Died on May 5, 1971

The Life of Violet Jessop
Violet Constance Jessop (2 October 1887 – 5 May 1971) was an ocean liner stewardess and nurse who achieved fame by surviving the disastrous sinkings of two sister ships: the RMS Titanic in 1912 and the HMHS Britannic in 1916. In addition, she had been on board the one other ship of the class, the RMS Olympic, when it collided with the HMS Hawke in 1911.

Violet Jessop was born to William and Katherine Jessop, Irish emigrants living near Bahía Blanca, Argentina. William Jessop had emigrated from Dublin in the mid-1880s to try his hand at sheep farming in the Argentine. His fiancée, Katherine Kelly, followed him out there from Dublin in 1886. Violet was the first of nine children, only six of whom survived. Violet herself contracted tuberculosis at an early age and despite doctor's predictions survived. After her father died, Violet and her family moved to Great Britain where she attended a convent school.

In 1908, after her mother became sick, Violet left school and became a stewardess for the Royal Mail Line. In 1910 she began working for the White Star Line and in 1911, while working on board the RMS Olympic she experienced her first incident on an Olympic-class vessel. Off the Isle of Wight, the British warship HMS Hawke collided with the Olympic, seriously damaging both ships.

Violet boarded the RMS Titanic as a stewardess on 10 April 1912 and four days later on 14 April, at 11:40 PM the Titanic struck an iceberg and began to sink. Violet described in her memoirs that she was ordered up on deck where she watched as the crew loaded the lifeboats. She was later ordered into lifeboat 16, and as the boat was being lowered, one of the Titanic's officers gave her a baby to look after. The next morning Violet and the rest of the survivors were rescued by the RMS Carpathia. According to Violet, while on board the Carpathia, a woman grabbed the baby she was holding and ran off with it without saying a word.

During World War I Violet served as a nurse for the British Red Cross. In 1916, she was on board His Majesty's Hospital Ship Britannic when the ship apparently struck a mine and sank in the Aegean Sea. While the Britannic was sinking she jumped out of a lifeboat being sucked into the Britannic's propellers. She was sucked under the water and struck her head on the ship's keel before being rescued by another lifeboat.[1] She later stated that the cushioning due to her thick auburn hair helped save her life. She had also made sure to grab her toothbrush before leaving her cabin on the Britannic, saying later that it was the one thing she missed most immediately following the sinking of the Titanic.

After the war Violet continued to work for the White Star Line, before joining the Red Star Line and then the Royal Mail Line again. During her tenure with the Red Star Violet went on two round the world cruises on that company's largest ship, the Belgenland. In her late 30's Violet had a brief marriage and in 1950 she retired to Great Ashfield, Suffolk. Years after her retirement, she got a telephone call on a stormy night from a woman claiming to be the baby she saved from the sinking Titanic. The voice asked Violet if she saved a baby on that dreadful night. "Yes", Jessop replied. The voice then said "Well, I was that baby", laughed, and then hung up. Her friend, and biographer John Maxtone-Graham said it was most likely some children in the village playing a joke on her. She replied, "No, John, I had never told that story to anyone before I told you now." To this day, the baby she saved has never been positively identified.

The Death of Violet Jessop
In 1971, after surviving two sinking ships and one ship collision, Violet Jessop dies of congestiev heart failure. She was 84 years old.

Jeffrey Miller, Kent State Victim, Died on May 4, 1970

The Life of Jeffrey Miller
(March 28, 1950 – May 4, 1970) was a student at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio when he was shot and killed by Ohio National Guardsmen in the Kent State shootings. At the time of his death, Miller had recently transferred to Kent State from Michigan State University. While at Michigan State, Miller pledged Phi Kappa Tau fraternity where his older brother had been a member.

The Death of Jeffrey Miller
Miller was shot after lobbing a tear-gas canister back at Ohio National Guardsmen at a protest against the Vietnam War. He was facing the Guardsmen while standing in an access road leading into the Prentice Hall parking lot at a distance of approximately 270 ft. A single rifle bullet entered his open mouth and exited at the back of his head at the base of his posterior skull, killing him almost instantly.

John Filo's iconic Pulitzer Prize-winning photo, the most famous picture from the event, features fourteen-year-old runaway Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling over Miller's body.

Three other students were killed in the shootings: Allison Krause, Sandra Scheuer, and William Knox Schroeder. The shootings led to protests and a national student strike, causing hundreds of campuses to close because of both violent and non-violent demonstrations. The Kent State campus remained closed for six weeks. Five days after the shootings, 100,000 people demonstrated in Washington, D.C., against the war and protesting the killing of unarmed students on a college campus.

Miller was buried in Hartsdale, New York. A memorial has been erected at Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School, the school that replaced Miller's high school in Plainview, New York. Miller's mother had been a secretary to the principal of J.F. Kennedy H.S. in the 1960s. There is a Kent State Memorial Lecture Fund at MIT established in 1970 by one of Jeffrey Miller’s childhood friends.

Dalida Died on May 3, 1987

The Life of Dalida
Dalida (17 January 1933 – 3 May 1987) was an Italian singer born and grown up in Egypt who lived most of her life in France. Dalida was born Yolanda Cristina Gigliotti to middle-class parents in Shoubra, Cairo, Egypt. Her family was of Italian origin, her grandparents having emigrated at the turn of the century from Calabria.

In 1951, at the age of 18, Dalida entered a beauty pageant, and shortly after began working as a model for a Cairo-based fashion house. In 1954, she entered the Miss Egypt pageant, and was awarded first prize. It was here she was spotted by French director Marc de Gastyne, and, much to the reluctance of her parents, she moved to Paris on Christmas Eve of the same year with the intention of pursuing a career in motion pictures. It was about this time she adopted the name Dalila, which was shortly thereafter changed to the more familiar Dalida.

Dalida performed and recorded in more than 10 languages including: French, Italian, Arabic, German, Spanish, Hebrew, English, Dutch, Japanese, and Greek. Some of Dalida's most well known songs are: Avec le temps, Je suis malade, Paroles, Paroles (with Alain Delon), Il venait d'avoir 18 ans, Gigi l'Amoroso, Salma ya salama and Laissez-moi danser.
Dalida’s quest for a career in French cinema proved to be of limited success. Instead, she began taking singing lessons, and was booked as a cabaret act on the Champs Elysées, which proved successful. Performing the song "Etrangère au Paradis" in a variety show at Coquatrix’s recently-opened Paris Olympia theatre, Dalida was introduced to Lucien Morisse and Eddie Barclay, who played a considerable part in launching the starlet’s career. Morisse was artistic producer of the popular Radio Europe 1, and Barclay an established record producer. After signing a recording contract with Barclay, Dalida’s debut single "Madona" was promoted heavily by Morisse, and was a moderate success. However, the release of "Bambino" in 1956 would prove to be even more triumphant - it spent 46 weeks in the French top ten and remains one of the biggest-selling singles in French history, and for its sales (which exceeded 300,000 copies) Dalida was awarded her first gold disc, presented on 17 September 1957. In the same year, she would also support Charles Aznavour at The Olympia. The follow up single to "Bambino", the exotic-sounding "Gondolier", was released in the Christmas on 1957, was also a great success, as were other early releases such as "Come Prima (Tu Me Donnes)", "Ciao Ciao Bambina", and a cover of The Drifters’ "Save the Last Dance For Me", "Garde-Moi la Dernière Danse".

Dalida toured extensively from 1958 through the early 1960s, playing dates in France, Egypt, Italy and United States. Her tour of Egypt and Italy spread her fame outside of France and Dalida soon became well-known throughout Europe. However, her tour of America was less successful and fame eluded her in English-speaking markets.

Despite enormous career success, Dalida’s private life was marred by a series of failed relationships and personal problems. Her first husband, Lucien Morisse committed suicide several years after her divorce. Two of her lovers, Luigi Tenco and Richard Chanfray, also took their own lives.

The Death of Dalida
On 3 May 1987 Dalida died as a result of an overdose of barbiturates,[2] leaving a suicide note reading "Life has become unbearable ... Forgive me." Dalida was buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre, Paris, and a life-size statue of the singer stands outside her tomb.

Since her death, Dalida has become a cult figure to a new generation of fans.In 1999 the play "Solitudini - Luigi Tenco e Dalida", written and directed by Maurizio Valtieri, was performed in Rome. In 2005, her life was documented in the two-part TV film Dalida, in the role of Dalida was Sabrina Ferilli. From 11 May to September 2007, The Paris City Hall commemorated the 20th anniversary of Dalida’s death with an exhibition of her outfits and previously unreleased photographs.

Have you ever seen such a beautiful and iconic tomb? Perfectly fit for a diva like Dalida.

Jack Wild Died on March 2, 2006

The life of Jack Wild
Jack Wild (30 September 1952 – 2 March 2006) was an English actor who achieved fame for his roles in both stage and screen productions of the Lionel Bart musical Oliver! with Ron Moody, Shani Wallis and Oliver Reed. For the latter performance (playing the Artful Dodger), he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the age of 16, but the Oscar went to Jack Albertson for his performance in The Subject Was Roses. Jack Wild appeared with actor Mark Lester in two films: Oliver! (1968) and Melody (1971).

Excessive drinking at an early age quickly derailed Wild's career. Some observers believe that Wild was the inspiration for "Little Man, What Now?" on Morrissey's first solo album Viva Hate.[citation needed] The song wistfully laments an unnamed, forgotten child star of Wild's approximate age.

Sobering up in 1988, he returned to the big screen in a few minor roles, such as in the 1991 Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He was also reported to be developing a TV situation comedy with Suzi Quatro around the same time, but those plans never materialized in an actual series. For the most part, though, Wild spent the remainder of his career working in theater.

The Death of Jack Wild
Wild died on 2 March, 2006, aged 53, after a long battle with oral cancer, which he claimed[citation needed] was caused by his alcoholism and smoking. Diagnosed with the disease in 2000, he underwent surgery in July 2004 and had part of his tongue and both vocal cords removed. Because of this surgery, he had lost his speech and had to communicate through his wife, Clare Harding, whom he had met in the pantomime Cinderella Greenwich where Jack played one of the ugly stepsisters. He is buried in Toddington Parish Cemetery

Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones Died on May 1, 1965

The life of Spike Jones
(December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was a popular musician and bandleader specializing in performing satirical arrangements of popular songs. Ballads and classical works receiving the Jones treatment would be punctuated with gunshots, whistles, cowbells and ridiculous vocals. Through the 1940s and early 1950s, the band recorded under the title Spike Jones and his City Slickers and toured the USA and Canada under the title The Musical Depreciation Revue.

Spike Jones's Record Hits:

Der Fuehrer's Face
In 1942, a strike by the American Federation of Musicians prevented Spike from making commercial recordings for over two years. He could, however, make records for radio broadcasts. These were released on the Standard Transcriptions label (1941–46) and have been reissued on a CD compilation called (Not) Your Standard Spike Jones Collection.
Recorded days before the record ban, Jones scored a huge broadcast hit late in 1942 with "Der Fuehrer's Face," a humorous attack on Adolf Hitler that followed every use of the word "Heil" with a razzberry (as in the repeated phrase "Sieg Heil, (razzberry), Heil (razzberry), right in Der Fuehrer's face!").

The song was originally written for Walt Disney's 1943 propaganda cartoon, first titled Donald Duck in Nutzi Land according to the Disney Archives. The success of the record prompted Disney to retitle the animated cartoon after the song. The song eventually reached number three on the charts, and it is said that even Hitler heard it. In fact, in the satirical magazine Cracked, in an article satirizing the fascination with Nazis, Hitler was depicted swinging a sledgehammer at a jukebox, from which a voice emanates singing "I went 'F-z-z-z-t-t-t!' right in Der Fuehrer's Face!".

More Satire
Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccupping verse for 1942's "Clink! Clink! Another Drink" (reissued in 1949 as "The Clink! Clink! Polka"). The romantic ballad "Cocktails for Two", originally written to evoke an intimate romantic rendezvous, was re-recorded by Spike Jones in 1944 as a raucous, horn-honking, voice-gurgling, hiccuping hymn to the cocktail hour. The Jones version was a huge hit, much to the resentment of composer Sam Coslow. Other Jones satires followed: "Hawaiian War Chant," "Chloe," "Holiday for Strings," "You Always Hurt the One You Love," "My Old Flame," (referring to Peter Lorre's voice and eerie scenes in contemporary movies) and many more.

All I Want for Christmas
Spike's recording, "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth," with a piping vocal by George Rock, was a number-one hit in 1948. (Dora Bryan recorded a 1963 variation, "All I Want For Christmas is a Beatle".)

The Death of Spike Jones
Jones was a lifelong smoker; he was once said to have gotten through the average workday on coffee and cigarettes. Smoking contributed to his contracting emphysema. His already thin frame deteriorated, to the point where he used an oxygen tank offstage, and onstage he was confined to a seat behind his drum set. He died at the age of 53, and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California.

Leader of the Nazi Party, Adolf Hitler, Died on April 30, 1945

The Life of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated NSDAP), also called the Nazi Party. He was the ruler of Germany from 1933 to 1945, serving as Chancellor from 1933 to 1945 and as head of state (Führer und Reichskanzler) from 1934 to 1945.

A decorated veteran of World War I, Hitler joined the Nazi Party in 1920 and became its leader in 1921. Following his imprisonment after a failed coup in 1923, he gained support by promoting nationalism, antisemitism and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and propaganda. He was appointed chancellor in 1933, and quickly established a totalitarian and fascist dictatorship. Hitler pursued a foreign policy with the declared goal of seizing Lebensraum ("living space") for Germany, directing the resources of the state toward this goal. His rebuilt Wehrmacht invaded Poland in 1939, leading to the outbreak of World War II in Europe.

Within three years, Germany and the Axis powers occupied most of Europe and large parts of Africa, East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. However, the Allies gained the upper hand from 1942 onward and in 1945 Allied armies invaded Germany from all sides. His forces committed numerous atrocities during the war, including the systematic killing of as many as 17 million civilians including the genocide of an estimated six million Jews, a crime known as the Holocaust.

The Death of Adolf Hitler
Late in the evening of the 28th, when defeat and death were both imminent, Hitler dictated his last will and a two-part political testament (shown below) in which he expressed many of the same sentiments he had stated in Mein Kampf back in 1923-24. He essentially blamed the Jews for everything, including the Second World War. He also made a reference to his 1939 threat against the Jews along with a veiled reference to the subsequent gas chambers.

Just before midnight he married Eva Braun in a brief civil ceremony. There was then a celebration of the marriage in his private suite. Champagne was brought out and those left in the bunker listened to Hitler reminisce about better days gone by. Hitler concluded, however, that death would be a release for him after the recent betrayal of his oldest friends and supporters.

By the afternoon of April 29, Soviet ground forces were about a mile away from the Führerbunker. Inside the bunker the last news from the outside world told of the downfall and death of Mussolini, who had been captured by Italian partisans, executed, then hung upside down and thrown into the gutter.

Hitler now readied himself for the end by first having his poison tested on his favorite dog, Blondi. He also handed poison capsules to his female secretaries while apologizing that he did not have better parting gifts to give them. The capsules were for them to use if the Soviets stormed the bunker.

About 2:30 in the morning of April 30, Hitler came out of his private quarters into a dining area for a farewell with staff members. With glazed eyes, he shook hands in silence, then retired back into his quarters. Following Hitler's departure, those officers and staff members mulled over the significance of what they had just witnessed. The tremendous tension of preceding days seemed to suddenly evaporate with the realization that the end of Hitler was near. A lighthearted mood surfaced, followed by spontaneous displays of merry-making even including dancing.

At noon, Hitler attended his last military situation conference and was told the Soviets were just a block away. At 2 p.m. Hitler sat down and had his last meal, a vegetarian lunch. His chauffeur was then ordered to deliver 200 liters of gasoline to the Chancellery garden.

Hitler and his wife Eva then bid a final farewell to Bormann, Goebbels, Generals Krebs and Burgdorf, other remaining military aides and staff members.

Hitler and his wife then went back into their private quarters while Bormann and Goebbels remained quietly nearby. Several moments later a gunshot was heard. After waiting a few moments, at 3:30 p.m., Bormann and Goebbels entered and found the body of Hitler sprawled on the sofa, dripping with blood from a gunshot to his right temple. Eva Braun had died from swallowing poison.

As Soviet shells exploded nearby, the bodies were carried up to the Chancellery garden, doused with gasoline and burned while Bormann and Goebbels stood by and gave a final Nazi salute. Over the next three hours the bodies were repeatedly doused with gasoline. The charred remains were then swept into a canvas, placed into a shell crater and buried.

The Last Will of Adolf Hitler
As I did not consider that I could take responsibility, during the years of struggle, of contracting a marriage, I have now decided, before the closing of my earthly career, to take as my wife that girl who, after many years of faithful friendship, entered, of her own free will, the practically besieged town in order to share her destiny with me. At her own desire she goes as my wife with me into death. It will compensate us for what we both lost through my work in the service of my people.

What I possess belongs - in so far as it has any value - to the Party. Should this no longer exist, to the State; should the State also be destroyed, no further decision of mine is necessary.

My paintings, in the collections which I have bought in the course of years, have never been collected for private purposes, but only for the extension of a gallery in my home town of Linz on Donau.

It is my most sincere wish that this bequest may be duly executed.

I nominate as my Executor my most faithful Party comrade,
Martin Bormann

He is given full legal authority to make all decisions.

He is permitted to take out everything that has a sentimental value or is necessary for the maintenance of a modest simple life, for my brothers and sisters, also above all for the mother of my wife and my faithful co-workers who are well known to him, principally my old Secretaries Frau Winter etc. who have for many years aided me by their work.

I myself and my wife - in order to escape the disgrace of deposition or capitulation - choose death. It is our wish to be burnt immediately on the spot where I have carried out the greatest part of my daily work in the course of a twelve years' service to my people.

Given in Berlin, 29th April 1945, 4:00 a.m.
Signed: A. Hitler

Signed as witnesses:
Dr. Joseph Goebbels
Martin Bormann
Colonel Nicholaus von Below

Guitarist Mick Ronson Died on April 29, 1993

The Life of Mick Ronson
Mick Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993) was an English guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. He is most well known for his work with David Bowie from 1970 to 1973, Bowie's glam rock period, including being part of Ziggy Stardust's Spiders from Mars band. "He provided this strong, earthy, simply-focussed idea of what a song was all about. And I would simply flutter all around him on the edges and decorate. I was sort of the interior decorator, ha ha", said David Bowie.

He also had a solo career, the most notable example of which was his "Slaughter On 10th Avenue" album, that reached No. 9 on the UK album charts. Ronson also guested on various different bands' releases after his time with Bowie. Some of those musicians and bands include Lou Reed, Ian Hunter, Bob Dylan, Morrissey, and Mott the Hoople. He was named the 64th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone.

Ronson was an important contributer to the development of rock n' roll in the 1970s, and his playing is what helped shape the genre now known as "Glam rock".

The Death of Mick Ronson
In August 1991 after visiting a doctor with severe back pain, Ronson was diagnosed as having inoperable liver cancer. Despite the diagnosis, he kept working, this time with Morrissey on his acclaimed album, "Your Arsenal". Ronson finally succumbed on 29 April 1993 in London at the age of 46 while completing his last solo album, "Heaven And Hull". The final song on that album - the live "All The Young Dudes" (from Ronson, Bowie, Hunter and Queen's performance at the Freddy Mercury tribute concert on 20 April 1992) brought Ronson's career around in a perfect circle - being a song written by Bowie and originally produced by both Bowie and Ronson for Mott The Hoople. Sadly, that concert was to be Ronson's final appearance on stage. He is survived by his wife Suzi Fussey Ronson and daughter Lisa.

Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini Died on April 28, 1945

The Life of Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini, GCB KSMOM GCTE (July 29, 1883, Predappio, Forlì, Italy – April 28, 1945, Giulino di Mezzegra, Italy) was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by 1925. After 1936, his official title was "His Excellency Benito Mussolini, Head of Government, Duce of Fascism, and Founder of the Empire". Mussolini also created and held the supreme military rank of First Marshal of the Empire along with King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, which gave him and the King joint supreme control over the military of Italy. Mussolini remained in power until he was replaced in 1943; for a short period after this until his death he was the leader of the Italian Social Republic.

Mussolini was among the founders of Italian fascism, which included elements of nationalism, corporatism, national syndicalism, expansionism, social progress and anti-communism in combination with censorship of subversives and state propaganda. In the years following his creation of the fascist ideology, Mussolini influenced, or achieved admiration from, a wide variety of political figures.

Among the domestic achievements of Mussolini from the years 1924–1939 were: his public works programmes such as the taming of the Pontine Marshes, the improvement of job opportunities, and public transport. Mussolini also solved the Roman Question by concluding the Lateran Treaty between the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See. He is also credited with securing economic success in Italy's colonies and commercial dependencies.

Although he initially favoured siding with France against Germany in the early 1930s, Mussolini became one of the main figures of the Axis powers and, on 10 June 1940, Mussolini led Italy into World War II on the side of Axis. Three years later, Mussolini was deposed at the Grand Council of Fascism, prompted by the Allied invasion. Soon after his incarceration began, Mussolini was rescued from prison in the daring Gran Sasso raid by German special forces.

Following his rescue, Mussolini headed the Italian Social Republic in parts of Italy that were not occupied by Allied forces. In late April 1945, with total defeat looming, Mussolini attempted to escape to Switzerland, only to be captured and summarily executed near Lake Como by Communist Italian partisans. His body was taken to Milan where it was hung upside down at a petrol station for public viewing and to provide confirmation of his demise.

The Death of Benito Mussolini
Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were stopped by communist partisans Valerio and Bellini and identified by the Political Commissar of the partisans' 52nd Garibaldi Brigade, Urbano Lazzaro, on April 27, 1945, near the village of Dongo (Lake Como), as they headed for Switzerland to board a plane to escape to Spain. During this time Claretta's brother even posed as a Spanish consul (The Last 100 Days, John Toland). Mussolini had been traveling with retreating German forces and was apprehended while attempting to escape recognition by wearing a German military uniform. After several unsuccessful attempts to take them to Como they were brought to Mezzegra. They spent their last night in the house of the De Maria family.

The next day, Mussolini and his mistress were both summarily executed, along with most of the members of their 15-man train, primarily ministers and officials of the Italian Social Republic. The shootings took place in the small village of Giulino di Mezzegra. According to the official version of events, the shootings were conducted by "Colonel Valerio" (Colonnello Valerio). Valerio's real name was Walter Audisio. Audisio was the communist partisan commander who was reportedly given the order to kill Mussolini by the National Liberation Committee. When Audisio entered the room where Mussolini and the other fascists were being held, he reportedly announced: "I have come to rescue you!... Do you have any weapons?" He then had them loaded into transports and driven a short distance. Audisio ordered "get down"; Petacci hugged Mussolini and refused to move away from him when they were taken to an empty space. Shots were fired and Petacci fell down. Just then Mussolini opened his jacket and screamed "Shoot me in the chest!". Audisio shot him in the chest. Mussolini fell down but he didn't die; he was breathing heavily. Audisio went near and he shot one more bullet in his chest. Mussolini's face looked as if he had significant pain. Audisio said to his driver "Look at his face, the emotions on his face don't suit him". The other members were also lined up before a firing squad later the same night. It has also been suggested Mussolini was killed by communist Partisan commander Luigi Longo in accordance with the British high-ranked officials in Italy, who did not want Mussolini to survive because he could uncover the secret relationship he had entertained with the United Kingdom. Furthermore, it is possible that Italian Partisans did not want to try Mussolini because they feared he could eventually be used by USA administration to fight the Communist influence in Italy.

On April 29, 1945, the bodies of Mussolini and his mistress were taken to the Piazzale Loreto (in Milan) and hung upside down on meathooks from the roof of a gas station, then stoned by civilians from below. This was done both to discourage any fascists from continuing the fight and as an act of revenge for the hanging of many partisans in the same place by Axis authorities. The corpse of the deposed leader became subject to ridicule and abuse.

After he himself was captured and sentenced to death, Fascist loyalist Achille Starace was taken to the Piazzale Loreto and shown the body of Mussolini. Starace, who once said of Mussolini "He is a God", saluted what was left of his leader just before he was shot. The body of Starace was subsequently strung up next to the body of Mussolini.

After his death and the display of his corpse in Milan. Mussolini was buried in an unmarked grave in Musocco, the municipal cemetery to the north of the city. On Easter Sunday 1946 his body was located and dug up by Domenico Leccisi and two other neo-Fascists. Making off with their hero, they left a message on the open grave: "Finally, O Duce, you are with us. We will cover you with roses, but the smell of your virtue will overpower the smell of those roses."

On the loose for months—and a cause of great anxiety to the new Italian democracy—the Duce's body was finally 'recaptured' in August, hidden in a small trunk at the Certosa di Pavia, just outside Milan. Two Fransciscan brothers were subsequently charged with concealing the corpse, though it was discovered on further investigation that it had been constantly on the move. Unsure what to do, the authorities held the remains in a kind of political limbo for 10 years, before agreeing to allow them to be re-interred at Predappio in Romagna, his birth place, after a campaign headed by Leccisi and the Movimento Sociale Italiano.

Leccisi, now a fascist deputy, went on to write his autobiography, With Mussolini Before and After Piazzale Loreto. Adone Zoli, the Prime Minister of the day, contacted Donna Rachele, the former dictator's widow, to tell her he was returning the remains, as he needed the support of the far-right in parliament, including Leccisi himself. In Predappio the dictator was buried in a crypt (the only posthumous honour granted to Mussolini). His tomb is flanked by marble fasces and a large idealised marble bust of himself sits above the tomb.

Ralph Waldo Emerson Died on April 27, 1882

The Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, philosopher, poet, and leader of the transcendentalist movement in the early 19th century. His teachings directly influenced the growing New Thought movement of the mid 1800s.

Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay, Nature. As a result of this ground breaking work he gave a speech entitled The American Scholar in 1837, which Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. considered to be America's "Intellectual Declaration of Independence". Emerson once said "Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you."

Considered one of the great orators of the time, Emerson's enthusiasm and respect for his audience enraptured crowds. His support for abolitionism late in life created controversy, and at times he was subject to abuse from crowds while speaking on the topic, however this was not always the case. When asked to sum up his work, he said his central doctrine was "the infinitude of the private man."

The Death of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Beginning as early as the summer of 1871 or in the spring of 1872, Emerson was losing his memory and suffered from aphasia. By the end of the decade, he forgot his own name at times and, when anyone asked how he felt, he responded, "Quite well; I have lost my mental faculties, but am perfectly well".

Emerson's Concord home caught fire on July 24, 1872; Emerson called for help from neighbors and, giving up on putting out the flames, all attempted to save as many objects as possible. The fire was put out by Ephraim Bull, Jr., the one-armed son of Ephraim Wales Bull. Donations were collected by friends to help the Emersons rebuild, including $5,000 gathered by Francis Cabot Lowell, another $10,000 collected by LeBaron Russell Briggs, and a personal donation of $1,000 from George Bancroft. Support for shelter was offered as well; though the Emersons ended up staying with family at the Old Manse, invitations came from Anne Lynch Botta, James Elliot Cabot, James Thomas Fields and Annie Adams Fields. The fire marked an end to Emerson's serious lecturing career; from then on, he would lecture only on special occasions and only in front of familiar audiences.

While the house was being rebuilt, Emerson took a trip to England, the main European continent, and Egypt. He left on October 23, 1872, along with his daughter Ellen while his wife Lidian spent time at the Old Manse and with friends. Emerson and his daughter Ellen returned to the United States on the ship Olympus along with friend Charles Eliot Norton on April 15, 1873. Emerson's return to Concord was celebrated by the town and school was canceled that day.

In late 1874, Emerson published an anthology of poetry called Parnassus, which included poems by Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Julia Caroline Dorr, Jean Ingelow, Lucy Larcom, Jones Very, as well as Thoreau and several others. The anthology was originally prepared as early as the fall of 1871 but was delayed when the publishers asked for revisions.

The problems with his memory had become embarrassing to Emerson and he ceased his public appearances by 1879. As Holmes wrote, "Emerson is afraid to trust himself in society much, on account of the failure of his memory and the great difficulty he finds in getting the words he wants. It is painful to witness his embarrassment at times".

On April 19, 1882, Emerson went walking despite having an apparent cold and was caught in a sudden rain shower. Two days later, he was diagnosed with pneumonia.[98] He died on April 27, 1882. Emerson is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Massachusetts. He was placed in a dark black walnut coffin wearing a white robe given by American sculptor Daniel Chester French.

The funeral was elaborate in keeping with his national and local importance. A private service was conducted at the Emerson residence. At its conclusion, a horse drawn hearse carried the coffin through the streets of concord packed with persons brought in by special trains to Concord for the final public service at the First Parish. The body was transported to Sleepy Hallow Cemetery. Following an Episcopal service and the dropping of flowers into the grave by his grandchildren and the schoolchildren of Concord he was buried on Authors' Ridge.

John Wilkes Booth Died on April 26, 1865

The Life of John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. Lincoln died the next morning from a single gunshot wound to the back of the head, becoming the first American president to be assassinated.

Booth was a member of the prominent 19th century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and by the 1860s was a popular actor, well known in both the Northern United States and the South. He was also a Confederate sympathizer who was vehement in his denunciation of the Lincoln Administration and outraged by the South's defeat in the American Civil War. He strongly opposed the abolition of slavery in the United States and Lincoln's proposal to extend voting rights to recently emancipated slaves.

Booth, and a group of co-conspirators whom he led, planned to kill Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward in a desperate bid to help the tottering Confederacy's cause. Although Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had surrendered four days earlier, Booth believed the war was not yet over since Confederate General Joseph Johnston's army was still fighting the Union Army under General William Tecumseh Sherman. Of the conspirators, only Booth was completely successful in carrying out his part of the plot.

The Death of John Wilkes Booth
Fleeing the screaming pandemonium he had just created after shooting Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C., John Wilkes Booth flung himself over the wall of the Presidential Box at the theater. Behind him lied an unconscious and dying President Lincoln, with a .50 caliber bullet lodged in his brain. As Booth plummeted through the air, Booth caught his foot on the bunting decorating the front of the presidential box, lost his balance and crashed onto the stage floor below. Ignoring the pain from his broken left leg, Booth hobbled to his feet running to the back of the stage. The famous actor paused at center stage to deliver his last line, "Sic Semper Tyrannis" (Thus always with tyrants). Booth then ran off into the night.

A saddled horse waited in the alley behind the theater and Booth galloped to a bridge across the Anacostia River, the first point of a pre-planned escape route to the south. An Army sentry halted the assassin asking why he was riding so late. Booth explained that he had been in Washington on an errand and had started late toward his home near Beantown. Inexplicably he volunteered his name, and that he was headed for southern Maryland, information that would shortly prove invaluable to his pursuers. Less than 10 minutes later, David Herold another conspirator in the plot to assassinate President Lincoln arrived at the bridge. Identifying himself as Smith, and giving his address as White Plains, Maryland, he convinced the sentry to let him pass. Shortly Herold caught up with Booth and the two headed southeast to a roadside inn owned by Mary Surratt. At the inn the two fugitives collected some previously stashed supplies and Booth attempted to drown the throbbing pain of his leg with a bottle of whiskey.

Booth could no longer ignore his pain. They rode to the house of Dr. Samuel Mudd, waking the doctor around 4 a.m. Mudd hesitantly let them in and later testified that even though he was acquainted with Booth, he did not recognize him as he set his leg. While the two weary fugitives slept, Mudd made his way to Bryestown to run some errands. The doctor was immediately confronted with the excited news that Lincoln had been shot and that the Army was searching for Booth. Hurriedly returning home, Mudd ordered Booth and Herold off his property. They made their way through Zekiah Swamp with the help of a black tobacco farmer to the home of Samuel Cox, a Confederate sympathizer. Unwilling to let them stay, Cox directed them to a hiding place and sent for Thomas A. Jones, a Confederate agent. Knowing that Federal troops were scouring the area, Jones advised them to remain where they were--outdoors in a thicket of pine trees--until it was safe to cross the Potomac to Virginia. During their five-day wait, most of their accomplices in the assassination were rounded up.

Failing in their first attempt, Booth and Herold finally made their way across the Potomac to Virginia on April 22. They expected a warm welcome. Instead they were grudgingly given food by various Virginians and told to move on. Aided by some Confederate soldiers, the two men found themselves at Richard Garrett's farm near Bowling Green.

After riding and searching continuously for over 24 hours, the men of the 16th New York Cavalry arrived at the Garrett farm at 2 o'clock on the morning of April 26 and quickly discovered Herold and Booth hiding in the barn. Ordered to give up, Herold fled the barn proclaiming his innocence. Booth defiantly remained inside, ignoring the threat to burn the barn if he did not surrender. As the officer in charge of the cavalry tried to negotiate with Booth, someone at the back of the barn set fire to some straw and fire spread throughout the structure. Booth at first moved towards the fire, then turned and hopped towards the door. A shot rang out, fired by Sergeant Boston Corbett. Booth fell, paralyzed. Carried to the porch of the farmhouse, Lincoln's assassin lingered between life and death.

In his last dying moments, he reportedly whispered "tell my mother I died for my country". Asking that his hands be raised to his face so he could see them, Booth uttered his final words, "Useless, useless," and died as dawn was breaking. In Booth's pockets were found a compass, a candle, pictures of five women including his fiancée Lucy Hale, and his diary, where he had written of Lincoln's death, "Our country owed all her troubles to him, and God simply made me the instrument of his punishment."

Booth's body was carried up the Potomac and buried beneath the floor of the penitentiary in Washington, DC. Sergeant Corbett was arrested and briefly held as a possible accomplice in Lincoln's death. David Herold stood trial with three other conspirators. All four were found guilty and all, including Mrs. Surratt, owner of the tavern where Booth stopped, were hanged on July 7, 1865.

Robb Douglass of Robb's Celebs Died on April 25, 2008

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