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Monday, May 11, 2009

History Day.......



It's History Day again....and on this day in 1960, the Israeli Mossad proved that no matter how long it takes, Justice eventually prevails. On this day, Mossad agents captured Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires, Argentina so that he was finally made to answer for his crimes.

In other news....

1891, the future Tsar Nicholas II of Russia survives a failed assassination attempt in Japan. (This guy was just born under a very unlucky star)

1927, in America, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded.

1949, Siam changes its name to Thailand (Anna and the King of Thailand? Just not the same ring....)

1949, Israel joins the United Nations

1985, in England, 56 football fans are killed when a fire engulfs the stadium

And that's what I found..what about you guys??

4 Comments:

  • At 10:50 AM, Blogger Erika said…

    Happy Monday!

    1812
    British prime minister assassinated
    1858
    Minnesota enters the Union

    This is just too “holy cow” to not read the whole thing…1949
    The Queen of Poisoners takes her toll
    The body of Leon Besnard is exhumed in Loudun, France, by authorities searching for evidence of poison. For years, local residents had been suspicious of his wife Marie, as they watched nearly her entire family die untimely and mysterious deaths. Law enforcement officials finally began investigating Marie after the death of her mother earlier in the year.
    Marie married Leon in August 1929. The couple resented the fact that they lived relatively modestly while their families were so well off. When two of Leon's great aunts perished unexpectedly, most of their money was left to Leon's parents. Consequently, the Besnards invited Leon's parents to live with them.
    Shortly after moving in, Leon's father died, ostensibly from eating a bad mushroom. Three months later, his widow also died and neighbors began chatting about a Besnard family jinx. The inheritance was split between Leon and his sister, Lucie. Not so surprisingly, the newly rich Lucie died shortly thereafter, supposedly taking her own life.
    Becoming increasingly greedy, the Besnards began looking outside the family for their next victim. They took in the Rivets as boarders, who, under the Besnards' care, also died abruptly. No one was too surprised when the Rivets' will indicated Marie as the sole beneficiary.
    Pauline and Virginie Lallerone, cousins of the Besnards, were next in line. When Pauline died, Marie explained that she had mistakenly eaten a bowl of lye. Apparently, her sister Virginie didn't learn her lesson about carelessness, because when she died a week later, Marie told everyone that she too had inadvertently eaten lye.
    When Marie fell in love with another man in 1947, Leon fell victim to her poisoning as well. Traces of arsenic were found in his exhumed body, as well as in the rest of her family's corpses. But Marie didn't let a little bit of pesky evidence get in her way. She managed to get a mistrial twice after trace evidence was lost while conducting the tests for poison each time. By her third trial, there wasn't much physical evidence left. On December 12, 1961, Marie Besnard was acquitted. The "Queen of Poisoners," as the French called her, ended up getting away with 13 murders.

    May 11, 1987
    Butcher of Lyon on trial
    Klaus Barbie, the former Nazi Gestapo chief of German-occupied Lyon, France, goes on trial in Lyon more than four decades after the end of World War II. He was charged with 177 crimes against humanity.

     
  • At 10:13 AM, Blogger Maureen Child said…

    Erika, that's incredible!! I soo don't understand those kind of people, but its amazing that she got away with it all!

     
  • At 12:04 PM, Blogger Pat said…

    Sometimes you hear about things that leave you with your mouth hanging open. This was one of them. She just mowed everyone down who got in her way, didn't she?

     
  • At 6:36 PM, Blogger Maureen Child said…

    Pat,

    Exactly...Amazing what kind of luck that woman had...to get away with so many murders!

    Really hope there was an extra hot spot waiting for her...

     

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