http://www.massmoments.org/ A daily almanac of Massachusetts history 1440 Copyright 2006 Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities TheOtherRoom.com CFML RSS Generator Sun, 19 May 2013 04:00:00 EST en-us Visitors of Mass Moments--a daily almanac of Massachusetts history--can learn more about the Moments presented on the radio, see images and illustrations, read a primary source document, and get suggestions of links to follow and places to visit. Additionally, they can view a timeline to see when a given Moment occurred, and where applicable, a map to see where it happened. Visitors are invited to comment or ask questions about a Moment on our message board, thus providing an on-line community where Bay State history enthusiasts can meet and discuss our past. They can sign up to receive Mass Moments daily in their email, and if they post a question to the message board, they can be notified when someone has responded. Past Moments (those posted since January 1, 2005) are searchable, by key words, subject, time period, and region. A daily almanac of Massachusetts history. Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities Massachusetts almanac, radio program, eMoment, eMoments, Massachusetts history, Bay State, Western Mass, MA, Eastern Mass, Boston, Mass Moments, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, daily history, this day in history, today's history, today in history http://www.massmoments.org/rss/images/mass_moments_75.jpg http://www.massmoments.org/ info@massmoments.org Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities http://www.massmoments.org/index.cfm?mid=148 On this day in 1713, more than 200 people rioted on Boston Common over the high price of bread. The lieutenant governor tried to intervene but was shot and wounded for his efforts. This was the third such riot in four years. With grain in short supply, merchants were hoarding it to drive up prices. If they exported the grain to the West Indies, they could make even greater profits by selling to the sugar planters there. Boston selectmen tried without success to restrict grain sales to the domestic market. The riots helped persuade the colonial legislature to pass regulations designed to manage food shortages. Even with these laws on the books, however, hoarding and food riots continued throughout the eighteenth century. Sun, 19 May 2013 04:00:00 EST http://www.massmoments.org/index.cfm?mid=148 On this day in 1713, more than 200 people rioted on Boston Common over the high price of bread. The lieutenant governor tried to intervene but was shot and wounded for his efforts. This was the third such riot in four years. With grain in short supply, merchants were hoarding it to drive up prices. If they exported the grain to the West Indies, they could make even greater profits by selling to the sugar planters there. Boston selectmen tried without success to restrict grain sales to the domestic market. The riots helped persuade the colonial legislature to pass regulations designed to manage food shortages. Even with these laws on the books, however, hoarding and food riots continued throughout the eighteenth century. no 0:01:00 Boston's Poor Riot Over Cost of Bread: May 19, 1713 http://www.massmoments.org/index.cfm?mid=147 On this day in 1820, a barn filled with hay burned to the ground in Newburyport. Just three days later, cries of "fire" alarmed the town again. Terrified residents were convinced they had an arsonist in their midst. Sixteen-year-old Stephen Clark was arrested and charged with arson -- a capital offense even when there was no personal injury or loss of life. The jury found him guilty but recommended commutation of the sentence. Nevertheless, the state hanged him on May 10, 1821. Clark's case fueled the movement in Massachusetts to reduce the number of capital crimes, if not abolish the death penalty altogether. By 1852 only murder remained on the books as a capital offense. The Supreme Judicial Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in 1984. Sat, 18 May 2013 04:00:00 EST http://www.massmoments.org/index.cfm?mid=147 On this day in 1820, a barn filled with hay burned to the ground in Newburyport. Just three days later, cries of "fire" alarmed the town again. Terrified residents were convinced they had an arsonist in their midst. Sixteen-year-old Stephen Clark was arrested and charged with arson -- a capital offense even when there was no personal injury or loss of life. The jury found him guilty but recommended commutation of the sentence. Nevertheless, the state hanged him on May 10, 1821. Clark's case fueled the movement in Massachusetts to reduce the number of capital crimes, if not abolish the death penalty altogether. By 1852 only murder remained on the books as a capital offense. The Supreme Judicial Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in 1984. no 0:01:00 Newburyport Fire Leads to Execution for Arson: May 18, 1820 http://www.massmoments.org/index.cfm?mid=146 On this day in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the doctrine of separate but equal. "Segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race . . . deprives the children of a minority group of equal educational opportunities," the justices ruled in Brown v. Board of Education. In 1848 Boston's black community had turned to the courts to integrate the city's public schools. In ruling against them, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court asserted that separate was equal. The cause was won only when the fight moved from the courts to the state legislature, which voted to outlaw segregated public schools in 1855. A century later, attorneys in Brown v. Board used some of the same arguments lawyers had made in the Boston case. Fri, 17 May 2013 04:00:00 EST http://www.massmoments.org/index.cfm?mid=146 On this day in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the doctrine of separate but equal. "Segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race . . . deprives the children of a minority group of equal educational opportunities," the justices ruled in Brown v. Board of Education. In 1848 Boston's black community had turned to the courts to integrate the city's public schools. In ruling against them, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court asserted that separate was equal. The cause was won only when the fight moved from the courts to the state legislature, which voted to outlaw segregated public schools in 1855. A century later, attorneys in Brown v. Board used some of the same arguments lawyers had made in the Boston case. no 0:01:00 Supreme Court Strikes Down "Separate but Equal": May 17, 1954 http://www.massmoments.org/index.cfm?mid=145 On this day in 1874, on the Mill River in western Massachusetts, an earthenwork dam gave way. A wall of water between 20- and 40-feet high and 300-feet wide rushed downstream. The flood destroyed almost everything in its path. Factories were crushed and houses swept off their foundations; cows, horses, and people were sucked into the roiling water. Within an hour, the flood leveled four villages. Finally, it reached a broad plain just north of Northampton. There, the river spread out over acres of freshly ploughed fields, depositing its awful contents -- machinery, furniture, bridges, rocks, trees, livestock, and bodies -- in a layer ten-feet deep. It took days to recover the bodies of the 139 people who lost their lives to the Mill River flood. Thu, 16 May 2013 04:00:00 EST http://www.massmoments.org/index.cfm?mid=145 On this day in 1874, on the Mill River in western Massachusetts, an earthenwork dam gave way. A wall of water between 20- and 40-feet high and 300-feet wide rushed downstream. The flood destroyed almost everything in its path. Factories were crushed and houses swept off their foundations; cows, horses, and people were sucked into the roiling water. Within an hour, the flood leveled four villages. Finally, it reached a broad plain just north of Northampton. There, the river spread out over acres of freshly ploughed fields, depositing its awful contents -- machinery, furniture, bridges, rocks, trees, livestock, and bodies -- in a layer ten-feet deep. It took days to recover the bodies of the 139 people who lost their lives to the Mill River flood. no 0:01:00 Dam Breaks, Causing Catastrophic Flood: May 16, 1874 http://www.massmoments.org/index.cfm?mid=144 On this day in 1602, the English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold dropped anchor off the Massachusetts coast. While he and four others went ashore, the rest of the crew pulled in so many cod that they "threw numbers of them overboard again." When Gosnold returned to the ship and saw the abundance of fish, he decided to name the place "Cape Cod." Although half of the 40 men who accompanied Gosnold had planned to stay and establish a trading post, in the end, they all returned to England. The cargo they brought home -- sassafras, cedar logs, and furs -- and their descriptions of a rich land populated by friendly natives inspired the next English effort at a permanent settlement in the New World -- Jamestown. Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 EST http://www.massmoments.org/index.cfm?mid=144 On this day in 1602, the English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold dropped anchor off the Massachusetts coast. While he and four others went ashore, the rest of the crew pulled in so many cod that they "threw numbers of them overboard again." When Gosnold returned to the ship and saw the abundance of fish, he decided to name the place "Cape Cod." Although half of the 40 men who accompanied Gosnold had planned to stay and establish a trading post, in the end, they all returned to England. The cargo they brought home -- sassafras, cedar logs, and furs -- and their descriptions of a rich land populated by friendly natives inspired the next English effort at a permanent settlement in the New World -- Jamestown. no 0:01:00 Explorer Gosnold Names "Cape Cod": May 15, 1602 http://www.massmoments.org/index.cfm?mid=143 On this day in 1984, lawyer Jan Schlichtmann filed the first motion in the case made famous by the book and film "A Civil Action." For over a decade, children in Woburn had been falling ill and dying of leukemia in unusually high numbers. The victims' families became convinced that the town's polluted drinking water was to blame. It took years for them to find a lawyer, but finally Jan Schlichtmann agreed to represent them. He was out-spent and out-maneuvered by the high-powered defense attorneys hired by corporate giants W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods. After two frustrating years of litigation, Schlictmann settled out of court. But the Environmental Protection Agency forced Grace and Beatrice to pay for the nation's most expensive toxic cleanup. Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 EST http://www.massmoments.org/index.cfm?mid=143 On this day in 1984, lawyer Jan Schlichtmann filed the first motion in the case made famous by the book and film "A Civil Action." For over a decade, children in Woburn had been falling ill and dying of leukemia in unusually high numbers. The victims' families became convinced that the town's polluted drinking water was to blame. It took years for them to find a lawyer, but finally Jan Schlichtmann agreed to represent them. He was out-spent and out-maneuvered by the high-powered defense attorneys hired by corporate giants W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods. After two frustrating years of litigation, Schlictmann settled out of court. But the Environmental Protection Agency forced Grace and Beatrice to pay for the nation's most expensive toxic cleanup. no 0:01:00 Complaint Filed on Toxic Pollution in Woburn: May 14, 1984 http://www.massmoments.org/index.cfm?mid=142 On this day in 1675, a Boston jury reached a verdict in the case of Mary Bliss Parsons of Northampton: they found her not guilty of witchcraft. In seventeenth-century New England, virtually everyone believed in witches. Hundreds of individuals faced charges of practicing witchcraft. They were women, or sometimes men, who had "signed the Devil's Book" and were working on his behalf. Their wickedness was blamed for calamities ranging from ailing animals to the death of infant children. While most of the accused never went to trial or were, like Mary Parsons, acquitted, not everyone was so lucky. Six Massachusetts women were hanged as witches in the years before the infamous Salem witch trials, which claimed 24 innocent lives. Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 EST http://www.massmoments.org/index.cfm?mid=142 On this day in 1675, a Boston jury reached a verdict in the case of Mary Bliss Parsons of Northampton: they found her not guilty of witchcraft. In seventeenth-century New England, virtually everyone believed in witches. Hundreds of individuals faced charges of practicing witchcraft. They were women, or sometimes men, who had "signed the Devil's Book" and were working on his behalf. Their wickedness was blamed for calamities ranging from ailing animals to the death of infant children. While most of the accused never went to trial or were, like Mary Parsons, acquitted, not everyone was so lucky. Six Massachusetts women were hanged as witches in the years before the infamous Salem witch trials, which claimed 24 innocent lives. no 0:01:00 Jury Finds Mary Parsons Not Guilty of Witchcraft: May 13, 1675