1919 John
W. Strutt (Lord Rayleigh), 77, mathematician
1882 Charles
J. Guiteau, hanged for the assassination of President Garfield
^top^
After only four months in office,
while on his way to visit his ill wife in Elberon, New Jersey,
President
James A. Garfield, 49, was shot in the back and the arm
at the railroad station in Washington DC, by Charles J. Guiteau,
a disappointed office seeker with messianic visions, who had
unsuccessfully sought an appointment to be US consul in Paris.
Guiteau peaceably surrendered to police, calmly announcing,
"I am a Stalwart.
Arthur
is now president of the United States."
Garfield, mortally ill, was treated
in Washington and then taken to the seashore at Elberon, New
Jersey, where he attempted to recuperate with his family. For
80 days he performed only one official act--the signing of an
extradition paper. It was generally agreed that, in such cases,
the vice president is empowered by the Constitution to assume
the powers and duties of the office of president. But should
he serve merely as acting president until Garfield recovered,
or would he receive the office itself and thus displace his
predecessor?
Because of an ambiguity in the
Constitution, opinion was divided, and, because Congress was
not in session, the problem could not be debated there. On 02 September
1881, the matter came before a cabinet meeting, where it was
finally agreed that no action would be taken without first consulting
Garfield. But in the opinion of the doctors this was impossible,
and no further action was taken before the death of the president,
the result of slow blood poisoning, on 19 September.
The following day, Arthur was
inaugurated as the twenty-first president of the United States.
Garfield had three funerals: one in Elberon, another in Washington,
where his body rested in state in the Capitol for three days,
and a third in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was buried. Charles
Guiteau's murder trial began in November, and on 25 January
1882, he was found guilty and sentenced to death. On 30 June
1882, he is hanged in his jail in Washington. |
1849 Albertus Brondgeest, Dutch artist born on 02 December 1786.
1849 Peter de Wint, British painter born on 21 January 1784. —
LINKS
— Boats
on a Beach at Hastings
1798 Simon Julien de Parme, French artist born on 28 October 1735
(alternative date of death: 23 or 24 February 1800). — Relative?
of Pierre
Julien [1732-1804]?
1802 Gaetano Gandolfi, Italian painter and printmaker born on
30 August 1734. — LINKS
— Heads
of a Turk and Several Women (etching) — Alexander
Presenting Campaspe to Apelles (1797)
1662 Jan Corneliszoon Verspronck, Dutch painter specialized in
Portraits
born in 1597. — MORE
ON VERSPRONCK AT ART “4” JUNE
— LINKS
— Girl
in a Blue Dress (giant size) _ Girl
in a Blue Dress _ Girl
in a Blue Dress — Portrait
of a Bride — Portrait
of a Woman — Portrait
of a Man and Portrait of a Woman — Anna
von Schoonhoven1849 Albertus Brondgeest, Dutch artist born
on 02 December 1786.
1849 Peter de Wint, British painter born on 21 January 1784. —
LINKS
— Boats
on a Beach at Hastings
1798 Simon Julien de Parme, French artist born on 28 October 1735
(alternative date of death: 23 or 24 February 1800). — Relative?
of Pierre
Julien [1732-1804]?
1802 Gaetano Gandolfi, Italian painter and printmaker born on
30 August 1734. — LINKS
— Heads
of a Turk and Several Women (etching) — Alexander
Presenting Campaspe to Apelles (1797)
1678 Pauwel de Vos, Flemish painter born in 1591 (1596?). —
LINKS
— Still-Life
1662 Jan Corneliszoon Verspronck, Dutch painter specialized in
Portraits
born in 1597. — MORE
ON VERSPRONCK AT ART “4” JUNE
— LINKS
— Girl
in a Blue Dress (giant size) _ Girl
in a Blue Dress _ Girl
in a Blue Dress — Portrait
of a Bride — Portrait
of a Woman — Portrait
of a Man and Portrait of a Woman — Anna
von Schoonhoven
1660 William
Oughtred, mathematician.
1649 Simon Vouet, French painter born on 09 January 1590. —
MORE
ON VOUET AT ART “4” JUNE —
LINKS — The
Holy Family with the Infant John the Baptist — The
Last Supper — St.
Jerome and the Angel
1520 Montezuma
murdered as Spanish flee Aztec capital, hundreds of Spaniards
killed or drowned.
^top^
Faced with an Aztec revolt against
their rule, Spanish forces under Hernando Cortes fought their
way out of Tenochtitlan at heavy cost. Known to the Spanish
as La Noche Triste, or "the Night of Sadness," hundreds of soldiers
drowned in Lake Texcoco when the vessel carrying them and Aztec
treasure hoarded by Cortes sank. Montezuma II, the Aztec emperor
who had become merely a subject of Cortes in the previous year,
was also killed during the struggle; by an Aztec or a Spaniard
it is not known.
In 1519, Cortes, learning of
political strife in the Aztec Empire, landed on the eastern
coast of Mexico with six hundred men and marched to Tenochtitlan,
the empire's capital. Joined by rival Indian groups who resented
the Aztec's power, and aided by Montezuma II's belief that Cortes
was the reincarnation of the god Quetzalcoatl, the Spanish entered
Tenochtitlan unopposed on November 8, 1519.
Cortes subsequently took the
Aztec emperor hostage and began to govern his empire through
him. In the spring of 1520, Cortes marched back to the coast
to defeat Panfilo de Narvaez, a Spanish rival. When he returned
to Tenochtitlan in June, he found that the subordinate he had
left in command in charge of the city had massacred many of
its occupants, and the Aztec population was on the brink of
revolt.
On 30 June, after the uprising
began, Cortes fled the capital and Montezuma was killed and
succeeded by his brother. During the Spaniard's retreat, they
defeated a large Aztec army at Otumba and then occupied Tlaxcala.
In late May of the next year, Cortes returned to Tenochtitlan,
and after a three-month siege the city fell. Cuauhtemoc, the
new Aztec emperor, was taken prisoner and later executed. His
death marked the end of Aztec civilization.
Faced with an Aztec revolt against
their rule, forces under the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés
fight their way out of Tenochtitlán at heavy cost. Known to
the Spanish as La Noche Triste, or "the Night of Sadness," many
soldiers drowned in Lake Texcoco when the vessel carrying them
and Aztec treasures hoarded by Cortés sank. Montezuma II, the
Aztec emperor who had become merely a subject of Cortés in the
previous year, was also killed during the struggle; by the Aztecs
or the Spanish, it is not known.
Tenochtitlán was founded in 1325
A.D. by a wandering tribe of hunters and gatherers on islands
in Lake Texcoco, near the present site of Mexico City. In only
one century, this civilization grew into the Aztec Empire, due
largely to its advanced system of agriculture. The empire came
to dominate central Mexico and by the ascendance of Montezuma
II in 1502 had reached its greatest extent, reaching as far
south as perhaps modern-day Nicaragua. At the time, the empire
was held together primarily by Aztec military strength, and
Montezuma II set about establishing a bureaucracy, creating
provinces that would pay tribute to the imperial capital of
Tenochtitlán. The conquered peoples resented the Aztec demands
for tribute and victims for the religious sacrifices, but the
Aztec military kept rebellion at bay.
Meanwhile, Hernán Cortés, a young
Spanish-born noble, came to Hispaniola in the West Indies in
1504. In 1511, he sailed with Diego Velázquez to conquer Cuba
and twice was elected mayor of Santiago, the capital of Hispaniola.
In 1518, he was appointed captain general of a new Spanish expedition
to the American mainland. Velázquez, the governor of Cuba, later
rescinded the order, and Cortés sailed without permission. He
visited the coast of Yucatán and in March 1519 landed at Tabasco
in Mexico's Bay of Campeche with 500 soldiers, 100 sailors,
and 16 horses. There, he won over the local Indians and was
given a female slave, Malinche--baptized Marina--who became
his mistress and later bore him a son. She knew both Maya and
Aztec and served as an interpreter. The expedition then proceeded
up the Mexican coast, where Cortés founded Veracruz, mainly
for the purpose of having himself elected captain general by
the colony, thus shaking off the authority of Velázquez and
making him responsible only to King Charles V of Spain.
At Veracruz, Cortés trained his
army and then burned his ships to ensure loyalty to his plans
for conquest. Having learned of political strife in the Aztec
Empire, Cortés led his force into the Mexican interior. On the
way to Tenochtitlán, he clashed with local Indians, but many
of these peoples, including the nation of Tlaxcala, became his
allies after learning of his plan to conquer their hated Aztec
rulers. Hearing of the approach of Cortés, with his frightful
horses and sophisticated weapons, Montezuma II tried to buy
him off, but Cortés would not be dissuaded. On November 8, 1519,
the Spaniards and their 1000 Tlaxcaltec warriors were allowed
to enter Tenochtitlán unopposed.
Montezuma suspected them to be
divine envoys of the god Quetzalcóatl, who was prophesied to
return from the east in a "One Reed" year, which 1519 was on
the Aztec calendar. The Spaniards were greeted with great honor,
and Cortés seized the opportunity, taking Montezuma hostage
so that he might govern the empire through him. His mistress,
Marina, was a great help in this endeavor and succeeded in convincing
Montezuma to cooperate fully.
In the spring of 1520, Cortés
learned of the arrival of a Spanish force from Cuba, led by
Pánfilo Narváez and sent by Velázquez to deprive Cortés of his
command. Cortés led his army out of Tenochtitlán to meet them,
leaving behind a garrison of 80 Spaniards and a few hundred
Tlaxcaltecs to govern the city. Cortés defeated Narváez and
enlisted Narváez' army into his own. When he returned to Tenochtitlán
in June, he found the garrison under siege from the Aztecs,
who had rebelled after the subordinate that Cortés left in command
of the city massacred several Aztec chiefs, and the population
on the brink of revolt. On 30 June, under pressure and
lacking food, Cortés and his men fled the capital at night.
In the fighting that ensued, Montezuma was killed--in Aztec
reports by the Spaniards, and in Spanish reports by an Aztec
mob bitter at Montezuma's subservience to Spanish rule. He was
succeeded as emperor by his brother, Cuitláhuac.
During the Spaniards' retreat,
they defeated a large Aztec army at Otumba and then rejoined
their Tlaxcaltec allies. In May 1521, Cortés returned to Tenochtitlán,
and after a three-month siege the city fell. This victory marked
the fall of the Aztec empire. Cuauhtémoc, Cuitláhuac's successor
as emperor, was taken prisoner and later executed, and Cortés
became the ruler of vast Mexican empire.
The Spanish conquistador led
an expedition to Honduras in 1524 and in 1528 returned to Spain
to see the king. Charles made him Marqués del Valle but refused
to name him governor because of his quarrels with Velázquez
and others. In 1530, he returned to Mexico, now known as New
Spain, and found the country in disarray. After restoring some
order, he retired to his estate south of Mexico City and sent
out maritime expeditions from the Pacific coast. In 1540, he
returned to Spain and was neglected by the court. He died in
1547. |
|
On
a 30 June: 
2002
Parliamentary and presidential elections in Bolivia. None of the eleven
candidates gets anywhere near the required 50% of the vote, so the Congress,
on 03 August, will have to choose who will take office on 06 August between
the two top vote-getters, Manfred Reyes Villa (20%) [< photo],
46, of the Nueva Fuerza Republicana, mayor of Cochabamba and former military
captain offering “social revolution”, and Gonzalo “Goni”
Sánchez de Lozada (22%) [31 May 2002 photo >],
(72 minus 1 day), of the MNR, ex-president (1993-1997) who owns Bolivia's
largest mining company. The other presidential candidates are social
democrat Jaime Paz Zamora (Movimiento de la Izquierda Revolucionaria
and NM) another ex-president (1989-1993), Juan Evo Morales Aima (Movimiento
Al Socialismo), 42, an indigenous leader of Bolivia's coca farmers who
was expelled from Congress in 2001 accused of inciting violence (18%),
Ronald Maclean Abarda (Acción Democrática Nacionalista), Alberto Costa
Obregón (Libertad y Justicia), Felipe Quispe Huanca (MIP) another
indigenous leader and a former leftist guerilla, Nicolás Felipe
Valdivia Almanza (Condepa), Jorge Rolando Morales Anaya (Partido Socialista),
Max Johnny Fernández Saucedo (UCS), René Oswald Blattman
Bauer (Movimiento Ciudadano para el Cambio).
1834
Congress creates Indian Territory (now Oklahoma)
1953
