In 1911 John Mahoney, a freight handler at Chicago’s South Walker Street terminal, was overcome by heat prostration. That isn’t in itself unusual, heat stroke is not uncommon in Chicago’s hot and humid summers. What was unique about Mr. Mahoney is that he was overcome while working on November 11. His was, newspapers reported, the first incidence of heat prostration ever recorded in Chicago in the month of November. What is, perhaps, even more bizarre, the very next day two men were found in the city frozen to death.
On February 2nd, 1980 the first details of what would be recognized as one of the greatest scandals of the era were released. According to the FBI, eight sitting members of the United States congress had been implicated in an investigation of political corruption.
When Communist China decided to intervene in the Korean War in December, 1950, hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the People’s Volunteer Army drove UN troops below the 38th parallel. Less than a month later, in late January, 1951, UN troops of General Matthew Ridgeway’s 8th army prepared to counter attack.
Each year, based on age and law and international convention, old copyrights expire and once protected works fall into the public domain. Animal Crackers, the second major motion picture to feature the Marx brothers, disappeared for nearly a quarter of a century, and parts of it were nearly forgotten for 86 years, and today it belongs to the public.