5 Feb History.

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Events, deaths, births, of FEB 05
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On a February 05:
2003 World chess champion Garry Kimovich Kasparov [13 April 1963-], with White, draws against computer program Deep Junior in the fifth game of a match which will end in a draw with its 6th game on 07 February 2003 (26 Jan Game 1 — 28 Jan Game 2 — 30 Jan Game 3 — 02 Feb Game 4). The match score remains tied: Kasparov 2.5, Deep Junior 2.5. The game:
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 0~0 5. Bd3 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Nge2 Re8 8. 0~0 Bd6 9. a3 c6 10. Qc2 Bxh2+ 11. Kxh2+ Ng4+ 12. Kg3 Qg5 13. f4 Qh5 14. Bd2 Qh2+ 15. Kf3 Qh4 16. Bxh7+ [opting for a safe draw rather than risking g3] Kh8 17. Ng3 Nh2+ 18. Kf2 Ng4+ 19. Kg3 Nh2+ Draw by forced repetition of position
2003 Unanimously the 15 judges of the International Court of Justice rule [PDF] that “The United States shall take all measures necessary to ensure that” Cesar Fierro, Roberto Ramos, and Osvaldo Torres Aguilera, “are not executed pending final judgment in these proceedings”, which are to determine whether the three Mexicans, and 48 other Mexicans on death row in the US, were given access to legal help from the Mexican government, as provided for by international law.
2000 Right-wing leader Joerg Haider told a deeply divided Austria not to worry about international sanctions, saying the new governing coalition that included his Freedom Party would soon prove its democratic credentials to the world.
2000 Demonstration for Chechnya in Moscow. The sign reads: Svobodu Chechnye! (Freedom for Chechnya!) [< photo]
1999 Ecuador vive una jornada de protestas generalizadas contra el régimen del presidente Jamil Mahuad.

^ 1999 Clinton impeachment trial: preparing for tomorrow.
(1) President Bill Clinton's lawyers and the House prosecution team are making their final preparations for Feb. 6th's battle of the sound bites, when both sides will use excerpts from the videotaped witness depositions to make their summations of the evidence.
(2) The Secret Service expresses concerns to People magazine that a cover story on Chelsea Clinton could complicate security for the president's daughter. Two sources confirm that a Secret Service official contacted the magazine after being alerted by the first lady's office that a story was in the pipeline. The sources insist the Secret Service acted on its own and was not pressured by the Clintons. They decline to provide details but describe the conversation as, in the words of one, "short and informal."

1997 Investment bank, Morgan Stanley, announces a $10 billion merger with Dean Witter.
1997 3 Swiss banks create $70 million Holocaust fund.
1996 Bank of America announces that it will open a branch on America Online, allowing customers to bank on the Internet. Online banking and financial applications would become extremely successful in attracting customers.
1996 General Motors launches site On this day in 1996, General Motors launched a Web site with more than 16,000 pages and 98,000 links. GM's site would become one of the largest on the Web and eventually offered online car shopping.
1996 John C. Salvi III went on trial in Dedham, Mass., in the shooting deaths of two receptionists at abortion clinics. (Salvi was convicted and sentenced to two life terms. He was found dead in his cell in November 1996, an apparent suicide.)

^ 1994 Killer of civil rights worker is convicted 31 years later.
Byron de la Beckwith, 74, is convicted of the assassination of civil rights leader Medger Evers 31 years earlier, ending the lengthiest murder case in American history. Evers was gunned down in the driveway of his Jackson, Mississippi, home while his wife, Myrlie, and the couple's small children were inside waiting for their father. Beckwith, widely recognized as the killer, was prosecuted for murder in 1964. However, two all-white (and all-male) juries deadlocked and refused to convict Beckwith. A second trial held in the same year resulted in a hung jury. The matter was dropped when it appeared that a conviction would be impossible. Myrlie Evers became the national chairwoman of the NAACP and refused to give up, pressing authorities to re-open the case. In 1989, documents came to light showing that jurors were illegally screened. Prosecutor Bobby DeLaughter worked with Myrlie Evers to force another prosecution of Beckwith. After four years of legal maneuvering, they were finally successful. At the third trial they produced a riflescope from the murder weapon with Beckwith's fingerprints. Justice was finally achieved when Beckwith was convicted and given a life sentence by a racially diverse jury in 1994. The story was dramatized in Rob Reiner's movie, Ghosts of Mississippi. Beckwith appealed the conviction, claiming that he had not been granted a speedy trial as required by the Constitution. However, the appeals courts have rejected his argument. Beckwith died 21 January 2000 at age 80.

1993 R James Woolsey, becomes 16th director of CIA
1992 Jury selection begins in the Los Angeles cops beating Rodney King case
1991 A Michigan court bars Dr Jack Kevorkian from assisting in suicides.
1990 Manuel Fraga Iribarne jura su cargo como nuevo presidente de la Xunta de Galicia.

^ 1989 The last Soviet troops leave Kabul
In an important move signaling the close of the nearly decade-long Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan, the last Russian troops withdraw from the capital city of Kabul. Less than two weeks later, all Soviet troops departed Afghanistan entirely, ending what many observers referred to as Russia's "Vietnam." Soviet armed forces entered Afghanistan in December 1979 to support that nation's pro-Soviet communist government in its battles with Muslim rebels. Almost immediately, the Soviet Union found itself mired in a rapidly escalating conflict. Afghan rebels put up unexpectedly stiff resistance to the Russian intervention. Soon, thousands of Soviet troops were fighting a bloody, costly, and ultimately frustrating battle to end the Afghan resistance. By the time the Soviets started to withdraw in early 1989, over 13'000 Russian soldiers were dead and over 22'000 had been wounded. The Soviet Union also suffered from a very negative diplomatic response from the United States — President Jimmy Carter put a hold on arms negotiations, asked for economic sanctions, and pressed for a US boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. By 1988, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev decided that the manpower and financial drains imposed by Afghanistan were unacceptable and indicated that Soviet troops would shortly begin their withdrawal. The Soviet Union was in the midst of tremendous internal political and economic instability at the time, and Gorbachev's action in regards to Afghanistan was yet another indication that Soviet power was on the wane. In less than three years, Gorbachev had resigned and the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. For Afghanistan, the Soviet withdrawal did not mean an end to the death and destruction. The Afghan rebels, who had been armed to the teeth by US aid, simply turned their attention to political and religious rivals within the country. Civil war continued to wrack the nation.

1988 Arizona House of Representatives votes to impeach Republican Governor Evan Mecham.
1988 El Tribunal Supremo soviético reivindica la memoria de Nikolai Bujarin y Alexei Rykov, ejecutados por orden de Josif Stalin en 1938.

^ 1988 Panamanian dictator indicted on US drug charges.
      Two federal grand juries in Florida announce indictments of Panama military strongman General Manuel Antonio Noriega and 16 associates on drug smuggling and money laundering charges. Noriega, the de facto dictator of Panama since 1983, was charged with smuggling marijuana into the United States, laundering millions of US dollars, and assisting Colombia's Medellin drug cartel in trafficking cocaine to America. The Panamanian leader denied the charges and threatened expulsion of the 10,000 US service personnel and their families stationed around the Panama Canal. In 1968, Noriega, then a first lieutenant in the Panamanian National Guard, played an important part in a coup that ousted President Arnulfo Arias and brought General Omar Torrijos to power. Early the next year, Torrijos rewarded Noriega for his loyalty by promoting him to lieutenant colonel and appointing him chief of military intelligence. In 1970, Noriega, who had first been approached by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) while a promising military student in the early 1960s, went on the payroll of the CIA. The United States used Noriega as a check against the left-leaning Torrijos and as an informer on Central American revolutionaries, the Colombian drug cartels, and communist Cuba, which Torrijos, though not a Marxist himself, admired and visited. Noriega, meanwhile, developed his G-2 intelligence agency into a feared secret police force and became involved in the drug trade. The US government was aware of his drug trafficking, and in 1977 he was removed from the CIA payroll.
      However, in 1981, the United States organized and financed the anti-Sandinista Contras in Nicaragua, and Noriega was brought back into the CIA fold. For a salary of close to $200'000 a year, Noriega provided intelligence about the Sandinistas and Cubans to the Americans and aided the Contras in their drug-trafficking efforts. In July 1981, Omar Torrijos was killed in a plane crash, and Colonel Noriega became chief of staff to General Rubén Darío Paredes, head of the National Guard. For two years, military and civilian leader struggled to gain the upper hand. In 1983, Paredes resigned and control of the military and the country passed to Noriega. Noriega unified the armed forces into the Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF), promoted himself to the rank of general, and consolidated his rule. Under his regime, political repression and corruption became widespread. In 1984, he held a presidential election, but when Arnulfo Arias won another apparent victory, Noriega tampered with the returns and gave the election to Nicolás Ardito Barletta, who became a puppet president. Still, Noriega enjoyed the continued support of the Reagan administration, which valued his aid in its efforts to overthrow Nicaragua's Sandinista government.
      In 1986, just months before the outbreak of the Iran-Contra affair, allegations arose concerning Noriega's history as a drug trafficker, money launderer, and CIA employee. Most shocking, however, were reports that Noriega had acted as a double agent for Cuba's intelligence agency and the Sandinistas. The US government disowned Noriega, and his supporters staged protests against the American presence in Panama. Meanwhile, the dictator cracked down on growing political opposition in Panama. In February 1988, Noriega was indicted by federal grand juries in Tampa and Miami, and Panamanian President Eric Arturo Delvalle attempted to dismiss Noriega. Delvalle was himself dismissed by the Noriega-led National Assembly. In March 1988, the United States froze all Panamanian assets in US banks and imposed sanctions, and the same month an attempted coup by a handful of anti-Noriega PDF officers was crushed by loyal PDF soldiers. During the next year, tensions between Americans and Noriega supporters in Panama continued to grow, and the United States increased its economic sanctions. In May 1989, Noriega annulled a presidential election that would have made Guillermo Endara president, and demonstrators protesting the fraud were attacked by the Noriega-subsidized Dignity Battalions. In response, US President George Bush ordered additional US troops to the Panama Canal Zone and urged US civilians to return to the United States. In October, another coup attempt by anti-Noriega PDF soldiers failed, and on December 15 the Noriega-led assembly declared the dictator the official chief executive while recognizing that a state of war existed with the United States.
      The next day, an off-duty US Marine officer was shot to death at a PDF roadblock. US forces in Panama were put on high alert, and on December 17 President Bush authorized Operation Just Cause — the US invasion of Panama to overthrow Noriega. On December 20, 9,000 US troops joined the 12,000 US military personnel already in Panama and were met with scattered resistance from the PDF. By December 24, the PDF was crushed, the United States held most of the country, and Noriega sought asylum with the Vatican nuncio in Panama City. Meanwhile, Endara had been made president by US forces, and he ordered the PDF dissolved. On January 3, Noriega surrendered and was taken to Howard Air Force Base, where he was arrested by US Drug Enforcement Agency officials for his grand jury indictments. On January 4, he arrived in Florida to await his trial. The US invasion of Panama cost the lives of only 23 US soldiers and three US civilians. Some 150 PDF soldiers were killed along with an estimated 500 Panamanian civilians. The Organization of American States and the European Parliament both formally protested the invasion, which they condemned as a flagrant violation of international law. Noriega's criminal trial began in 1991, and he pleaded innocent. On April 9, 1992, he was found guilty on eight counts of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering, marking the first time in history that a US jury had convicted a foreign leader of criminal charges. He was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison.

General Manuel Antonio Noriega, the de facto dictator of Panama, is indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami, Florida, on drug trafficking charges. The American court charges him with assisting various drug cartels in their trafficking of illegal drugs to the United by offering them the use of airstrips in exchange for millions of dollars in payment. During the 1960s, Noriega, a rising figure in the Panamanian military, was recruited by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to assist in the American struggle against the spread of communism in Central America. During the 1970s, General Noriega became involved in drug trafficking and the US government distanced itself from the general. However, in 1981, Omar Torrijos, the dictatorial president of Panama, was killed in a plane crash and Noriega became the effective ruler of Panama. As Panamanian dictator, Noriega supported American initiatives in the Panama Canal Zone and Central America, and in turn was praised by White House officials, although a special Senate committee concluded in 1983 that Panama was a major center for drug trafficking and the laundering of drug funds. In 1984, Noriega employed violence and fraud to force the election of Nicolas Ardito Barletta as president, defeating the popular candidate Arnulfo Arias, who opposed the domination of Noriega and the US government in Panama. In the late 1980s, the spread of communism became less of a threat in Central America, and Noriega began to fall out of favor with US government. In February of 1988, Noriega was indicted on drug trafficking charges, and in May of 1989, he defrauded another presidential election, defeating Guillermo Endara, a candidate from the business opposition. Endara, more likely than Noriega to respect American economics interests, immediately replaced Noriega as the Panamanian leader favored by the US government. Noriega’s long history of drug trafficking and human rights abuse were made public and economic sanctions were imposed against Panama. On December 20, 1989, US President George Bush ordered an invasion of Panama and Noriega’s Panamanian Defense Forces were promptly crushed. The dictator himself sought asylum in the Vatican annunciate in Panama City, but after ten days he surrendered and was extradited to the US to stand trial on drug trafficking charges and Guillermo Endara was declared Panamanian president. In 1992, Noriega was found guilty and sentenced to forty years in a federal prison.

1987 Dow Jones average closes at 2201.49, above 2200 for first time.
1985 El gobernador civil de Cádiz abre la verja de Gibraltar para el tránsito de personas, vehículos y mercancías, en aplicación del acuerdo firmado por España y Reino Unido en noviembre de 1984.
1983 Former Nazi Gestapo official Klaus Barbie, "the butcher of Lyon," after long negotiations, is extradited to France by the Bolivian government.
1982 Suriname President Chin A Sen resigns and flees to Netherlands
1981 A military jury in North Carolina convicted Pfc. Robert Garwood of collaborating with the enemy while a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
1980 Egyptian parliament votes to end boycott of Israel.
1980 El físico alemán Klaus von Klitzing descubre, en Grenoble, el llamado Efecto Hall.
1979 Regresa a Teherán el estadista y jefe de la comunidad chiíta iraní Ruhollah Jomeini.
1978 Rodrigo Carazo Odio, candidato de una coalición derechista, vence en las elecciones presidenciales de Costa Rica.

^ 1975 North Vietnamese begin preparations for offensive
North Vietnamese Gen. Van Tien Dung departs for South Vietnam to take command of communist forces in preparation for a new offensive. In December 1974, the North Vietnamese 7th Division and the newly formed 3rd Division attacked Phuoc Long Province, north of Saigon. This attack represented an escalation in the "cease-fire war" that started shortly after the Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973. The North Vietnamese wanted to see how Saigon and Washington would react to a major attack so close to Saigon. President Richard Nixon and his successor, Gerald Ford, had promised to come to the aid of South Vietnam if the North Vietnamese launched a major new offensive. With Nixon's Watergate resignation and Ford facing an increasingly hostile Congress, Hanoi was essentially conducting a "test" attack to see if the United States would honor its commitment to Saigon. The attack was much more successful than the North Vietnamese anticipated: the South Vietnamese soldiers fought poorly and the United States did nothing. Emboldened by their success, the North Vietnamese decided to launch a major offensive against the South Vietnamese. "Campaign 275" began on March 1, 1975. The North Vietnamese forces quickly overran the South Vietnamese and the United States failed to provide the promised support. Saigon fell on April 30 and the South Vietnamese government officially surrendered.

1974 Maximum speed on Autobahn reduced to 100 kph
1973 Comic strip "Hagar The Horrible" debuts
1973 Funeral for LC William Nolde, last US soldier killed in Vietnam War
1972 US airlines begin mandatory inspection of passengers and baggage.
1971 Los astronautas estadounidenses Alan Bartlett Shepard y Edgar D. Mitchell se posan en la Luna con el módulo Antares y recorren andando el cráter Fra Mauro.
1969 US population reaches 200 million.
1969 Se aplica un nuevo sistema protector de las pinturas de la Cueva de Altamira, que estaban degradándose a causa de la luz artificial.

^ 1968 First US person in space is 5th to walk on Moon
Alan B. Shepard, Jr., who in 1961 was the first American in space aboard the Freedom 7 spacecraft, becomes the fifth astronaut to walk on the moon when he steps out of the Apollo 14 landing module onto the lunar surface. Apollo 14, piloted by Shepard and astronauts Edgar D. Mitchell and Stuart A. Roosa, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 31 January. Five days later, after suffering some initial problems in docking the lunar and command modules, Shepard and Mitchell descended to the lunar surface on the third US moon landing. The two astronauts remained on the moon’s surface for nearly thirty-four hours, conducted simple scientific experiments such as hitting golf balls into space with Shepard’s golf club, and collected ninety-six pounds of lunar samples. On 09 February, Apollo 14 safely returned to earth.

1967 Anastasio Somoza elected President of Nicaragua.
1965 En Estados Unidos es liberado Martín Luther King, cuatro días después de su arresto en Selma (Alabama) junto con quinientos manifestantes antisegregacionistas.
1964 Fidel Castro Ruz corta el suministro de agua potable de la base de Guantánamo; la víspera, cuatro barcos de pesca cubanos habían sido apresados por Estados Unidos.
1963 Maarten Schmidt discovers enormous red shifts in quasars.
1962 French President Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria's independence.

^ 1960 South Vietnam requests more support from US
The South Vietnamese government requests that Washington double US Military Assistance and Advisory Group (MAAG-Vietnam) strength from 342 to 685. The advisory group was formed on 01 November 1955 to provide military assistance to South Vietnam. It had replaced US Military Assistance Advisory Group Indochina (MAAG-Indochina), which had been providing military assistance to "the forces of France and the Associated States in Indochina" (Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam) in accordance with President Harry S. Truman's order of 27 June 1950. MAAG-Vietnam had US Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps elements that provided advice and assistance to the South Vietnamese Ministry of Defense, Joint General Staff and corps and division commanders, as well as to training centers and province and district headquarters. In May 1964, MAAG-Vietnam was disbanded and its personnel and responsibilities absorbed by the US Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV), which had been established in Saigon two years earlier.

1958 Gamel Abdel Nasser nominated to become the first President of the new United Arab Republic.
1955 Cae el Gobierno francés de Pierre Mendès-France debido a la situación en el norte de África.
1953 It is announced that 117'500'000 short tons of steel have been produced in the US in 1952.
1949 US President Harry Truman [portrait >] uses his State of the Union address to recommend measures including national health insurance, raising the minimum wage, strengthening the position of organized labor, and guarantying the civil rights of all Americans. Referencing the popular "New Deal" programs of his predecessor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Truman calls his reform package the "Fair Deal."
1947 Bolewet Beirut becomes President of Poland. — El Parlamento polaco elige presidente de la República a Boleslaw Bierut que, hasta entonces, había desempeñado el cargo de forma provisional.
1945 US troops under General Douglas MacArthur enter Manilla.
1945 British premier Churchill arrives in Yalta, Crimea
1945 Big Racket becomes fastest race horse at 69.6 k/h (440 yards / 20.8 seconds)
1944 358 RAF-bombers attack Stettin.

^ 1941 Hitler to Mussolini: Fight harder!
Adolf Hitler scolds his Axis partner, Benito Mussolini, for his troops' retreat in the face of British advances in Libya, demanding that the Duce command his forces to resist. Since 1912, Italy had occupied Libya because of purely economic "expansion" motives. In 1935, Mussolini began sending tens of thousands of Italians to Libya, mostly farmers and other rural workers, in part to relieve overpopulation concerns in Italy. So by the time of the outbreak of the Second World War, Italy had enjoyed a long-term presence in North Africa, and Mussolini began dreaming of expanding that presence — always with an eye toward the same territories that the old "Roman Empire" had counted among its conquests. Also sitting in North Africa were British troops, which, under a 1936 treaty, were garrisoned in Egypt to protect the Suez Canal and Royal Navy bases at Alexandria and Port Said. Hitler had offered to aid Mussolini early on in his North African expansion, to send German troops to help fend off a British counterattack. But Mussolini had been rebuffed when he had offered Italian assistance during the Battle of Britain. He now insisted that as a matter of national pride, Italy would have to create a Mediterranean sphere of influence on its own — or risk becoming a "junior" partner of Germany's. But despite expansion into parts of East Africa and Egypt, Mussolini's forces proved no match for the Brits in the long run. British troops pushed the Italians westward, inflicting extraordinary losses on the Axis forces in an attack at Beda Fomm. As Britain threatened to push the Italians out of Libya altogether and break through to Tunisia, Mussolini swallowed his pride and asked Hitler for assistance. Hitler reluctantly agreed (it would mean the first direct German-British encounter in the Mediterranean) — but only if Mussolini stopped the Italians' retreat and kept the British out of Tripoli, the Libyan capital. But the Italians continued to be overwhelmed; in three months, 20'000 men were wounded or killed and 130'000 were taken prisoner. Only with the arrival of German Gen. Erwin Rommel would the Italian resistance be strengthened against further British advances. Even with Germany's help, Italy was able to defend its North African territory only until early 1943.

1937 US President Franklin Roosevelt proposes enlarging Supreme Court, "court packing" plan would fail.
1931 El británico Malcolm Campbell establece en la ciudad estadounidense de Daytona un nuevo récord de velocidad en automóvil, con un promedio de 396,038 km/h.
1931 Se concede el Premio Nacional Español de Literatura a Mauricio Bacarisse.
1923 Mass arrests of socialists and communists in Italy — El Gobierno de Benito Mussolini ordena la detención de centenares de militantes socialistas.
1919 Se inicia la famosa huelga de la Canadiense en Barcelona, que acabaría causando la declaración del estado de guerra.
1918 Separation of church and state begins in USSR
1918 first US pilot to down an enemy airplane, Stephen W Thompson
1917 Congress overrides Wilson's veto, curtailing Asian immigration
1917 Mexico's constitution is adopted.

^ 1917 Restrictive US immigration act passed over Wilson's veto
With over a two-third majority, Congress overrides President Woodrow Wilson’s veto of the previous week and passes the Immigration Act. The law requires a literacy test for immigrants and bars Asiatic laborers, except for those from countries with special treaties or agreements with the U.S, such as the Philippines. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the United States received the majority of the world’s immigrants, with a record 1.3 million immigrants passing through New York’s Ellis Island in 1907 alone. Various restrictions had been applied against immigrants since the 1890s, but the majority of those seeking entrance into the US were accepted. However, in 1894, the Immigration Restriction League was founded in Boston and subsequently petitioned the US government to legislate that immigrants be required to demonstrate literacy in some language before being accepted. The organization hoped to quell the recent surge of lower class immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. A literacy bill was passed by Congress in 1897, but President Grover Cleveland vetoed it. However, in early 1917, with America’s entrance into World War I three months away, xenophobia was at a new high and a bill restricting immigration was passed over President Wilson’s veto. Subsequent immigration to the US sharply declined, and, in 1924, a law was passed requiring immigrant inspection in countries of origin, leading to the closure of Ellis Island and other major immigrant processing centers. However, between 1892 and 1924 some sixteen million people successfully immigrated to the United States to seek a better life.

1904 American occupation of Cuba ends.
1904 Japón rompe las relaciones diplomáticas con Rusia.
1900 British troops under General Buller occupy Vaal Krantz, Natal.
1900 The US and Britain sign the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, which gave the US the right to build a canal in Nicaragua, but not the right fortify it.
1897 Marcel Proust meets Jean Lorrain in a pistol duel.
1885 News of fall of Khartoum reaches London.

^ 1883 Southern Pacific Railroad completes "Sunset Route"
The Southern Pacific Railroad completes its transcontinental "Sunset Route" from New Orleans to California, consolidating its dominance over rail traffic to the Pacific. One of the most powerful railroad companies of the 19th century, the "Espee" (as the railroad was often called) originated in an ambitious plan conceived in 1870 by the "Big Four" western railroad barons: Collis P. Huntington, Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford, and Mark Hopkins. A year earlier, the Big Four's western-based Central Pacific had linked up with the eastern-based Union Pacific in Utah, creating the first transcontinental American railway. With that finished, the "Big Four" began to look for ways to increase their control over West Coast shipping, and decided to focus their efforts on extending the California-based Southern Pacific southward. By 1877, the Southern Pacific controlled 85 percent of California's railroad mileage. Huntington, who now dominated the company, saw an excellent opportunity to create a transcontinental line through the southern United States. Huntington had to act fast if was to beat the competition. The Texas and Pacific Railroad was already pushing westward toward the Pacific at a fast pace. Marshalling his awesome energy and financial resources, Huntington began driving his Southern Pacific line eastward. He won the race in 1881, when he linked the Southern Pacific to the Santa Fe Railroad at Deming, New Mexico, creating the second American transcontinental railway. Two years later, on February 5, 1883, Huntington gained full control of a number of smaller railroads, creating the Southern Pacific's "Sunset Route" from New Orleans to California. With the "Sunset Route," Huntington confirmed his domination over California rails. He had taken considerable financial risks to build the Southern Pacific system, and he collected very considerable financial rewards. The Southern Pacific had a near monopoly over rail service to California, and Huntington and his associates took advantage of the situation by charging high shipping rates. Termed "the Octopus" for its tentacled stranglehold on much of the California economy, the Southern Pacific inspired Californians to create some of the first strong public regulations over railroads in American history. But despite the anger and outrage Huntington's exploitation inspired, few would deny that the mighty Southern Pacific Railroad played an essential role in fostering the growth of a vibrant California economy for decades to come.

1878 Turquía y Rusia firman un armisticio.
1876 El capitán general José Malcampo Monge sale con la flota de Manila (Filipinas) hacia la isla de Joló, para acabar con su independencia y con su foco de piratería.
1870 first motion picture shown to a theater audience, Philadelphia.
1865 Battle of Hatcher's Run, VA (Armstrong's Mill, Dabney's Mill) 1865 Battle of Hatcher's Run (Armstrong's Mill), Virginia begins.
1864 Federals occupy Jackson MS.
1864 Dinamarca se rinde en la guerra contra Prusia y Austria.
1861 Louisiana delegation except Mr Bouligny withdraws from Congress.
1855 British government of Palmerston forms.
1817 En France, La loi Laîné réforme les dispositions électorales en faveur d'une bourgeoisie urbaine. Pour être électeurs, il faut être hommes de trente ans minimum et payent 300 francs d'impôts et les hommes plus de quarante ans qui payent 1000 francs d'impôts.
1810 Napoléon rétablit la censure en France et déclare : "Le droit d'imprimer n'est pas du nombre des droits naturels." Il crée les prisons d'Etat pour, selon ses propres mots, "les personnes détenues sans qu'il soit convenable ni de les faire traduire devant les tribunaux ni de les mettre en liberté".
1795 Zealand Netherlands surrenders to French General Michaud.
1783 Sweden recognizes US independence.
1782 Spanish take Minorca (western Mediterranean) from the English.
1778 Articles of Confederation ratified by first state, South Carolina.
1777 Georgia becomes first US state to abolish both entail and primogeniture.

^ 1725 Béring part à la découverte.
L’exploration des côtes du Détroit de Béring, une région des plus froides. Ce détroit sépare l'Asie de l'Amérique. Il relie la mer de Béring (partie septentrionale de l'océan Pacifique) à l'océan Arctique. La partie la plus étroite du détroit (64 km) se situe entre le cap Dejnev, en Russie, et le cap du Prince-de-Galles, en Alaska. Les îles Diomède se situent environ à mi-chemin entre les deux caps. Lors de la dernière glaciation (glaciation de Würm), il a été franchi à pied sur la banquise (et peut-être un peu en canot) probablement par des chasseurs d’ours qui pistaient leur gibier. Il y a près de 40'000 ans, la mer de Béring a été exondée de 60 à 150 m. et pouvait donc être franchie " à pieds secs " ou presque. Le détroit de Béring et la mer de Béring furent probablement explorés pour la première fois en 1648 par des bateaux russes placés sous le commandement de Semyon Dezhnev. Le détroit et la mer doivent leur nom à Vitus Béring (1681-1741), capitaine danois qui fut enrôlé dans la marine russe par Pierre le Grand en 1704. Le 5 février 1725, Béring appareillait pour sa première expédition. Il s’engagea dans le détroit en 1728 et découvrit les îles Saint-Laurent et Diomède. En 1730, fut établie la première carte du détroit. En 1733, Béring conduisit une nouvelle expédition le long de la côte nord de la Sibérie, à partir de Saint-Pétersbourg, et il atteignit le golfe de l’Alaska pendant l’été de 1741. Il partit en reconnaissance le long de la côte sud-ouest de l’Alaska, de la péninsule de l’Alaska et des Aléoutiennes mais, la malchance le poursuivant (le mauvais temps, l’imprécision des cartes, puis le scorbut), il dut hiverner sur une île inhabitée – l’île qui porte désormais son nom, Béring – où il mourut avec plusieurs hommes.

1679 German emperor Leopold I signs peace with France.
1649 Prince of Wales becomes king Charles II.

^ 1631 Roger Williams arrives in America
Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island and an important American religious leader, arrives at Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony from England. Williams, a Puritan, works as a teacher before serving briefly as a colorful pastor at Plymouth and then at Salem. However, within a few years of his arrival, he alarms the Puritan oligarchy of Massachusetts by speaking out against the right of civil authorities to hand out punishment for religious offenses and opposing the practice of doling out land that belongs to Indians. In October of 1635, he is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony by the General Court. After leaving Massachusetts, Williams, with the assistance of the Narragansett Native-American tribe, establishes a settlement at the junction of two rivers near Narragansett Bay, located within present-day Rhode Island. Williams declares the settlement open to those seeking freedom of conscience and the removal of the church from civil matters. Taking the success of the venture as a sign from God, Williams names the first community in history boasting complete religious freedom Providence. Among those who find a haven in the religious and political refuge of the Rhode Island Colony are Anne Hutchinson, exiled from Massachusetts for theological reasons, some of the first Jews to settle in North America, and the Quakers. Roger Williams also founds the first Baptist church in America and edits the first dictionary of Native-American languages.

1626 Paix de La Rochelle, qui garantit celle de Montpellier. La Rochelle fait partie des places fortes qu'Henri IV a concédé aux protestants pour leur sécurité. Si Richelieu peut tolérer que les protestants tiennent tête à son pouvoir. Il ne pourra plus, un an plus tard, admettre le pacte qui lie La Rochelle à l'Angleterre qui déclare la guerre à la France.
1576 Henry of Navarre abjures Catholicism at Tours.
1572 Beggars assault Oisterwijk Netherlands, drive nuns out.
1556 Kings Henri I and Philip II sign peace Treaty of Vaucelles.
1518 El marino Sebastián Caboto es nombrado piloto mayor de la Casa de Contratación de Sevilla, después de haber servido a la Corona inglesa. [Il devait faire plus que du cabotage]
1512 French troops under Gaston de Foix rescues Bologna.
1488 Roman catholic German emperor Maximilian I caught in Belgium.
1428 King Alfonso V, orders Sicily's Jews to attend conversion sermons.
0816 Frankish emperor Louis grants archbishop Salzburg immunity

^ 0789 Idriss 1er, roi des Berbères
Les disciples du prophète Mahomet se sont emparés de l'Afrique du nord en quelques années. Mais les tribus berbères des montagnes n'ont de cesse de se révolter contre les envahisseurs. Fuyant les combats entre factions musulmanes, un prince arabe se réfugie dans le Moyen Atlas. Il s'appelle Idriss et n'est autre qu'un petit-fils d'Ali et de Fatima, la fille de Mahomet. Idriss est accueilli par la tribu berbère des Aouraba, qui vit autour de Volubilis, une ville créée par les Romains au coeur de leur province de Maurétanie Tingitane. Le 5 février 789, le nouveau-venu se fait reconnaître comme roi par les Berbères. Il rejette l'autorité du calife de Bagdad et prend le nom d'Idriss 1er. Après trois ans de règne, il est assassiné par un agent du calife Haroun al-Rachid. Mais il laisse une femme enceinte. Celle-ci donne le jour à un fils qui règnera plus tard sous le nom d'Idriss II. Le nouveau roi fera l'unité du Maroc autour de sa dynastie, les Idrissides. Il transfèrera sa capitale à Fès, dans une magnifique vallée du Moyen Atlas. La ville deviendra le premier foyer de la culture marocaine. Le royaume va vivre dans une farouche indépendance, non sans développer des relations étroites et parfois violentes avec l'émirat arabe de Cordoue, en Espagne, et, plus tard, avec les monarchies catholiques de la péninsule. Le souvenir d'Idriss 1er plane toujours sur Volubilis. Les ruines émouvantes de la cité romaine sont encore visibles dans la plaine fertile de Meknès. A quelques kilomètres de Volubilis, adossé au massif du Zehroun, le village de Moulay Idriss entoure de ses maisons blanches la tombe du premier roi du Maroc.

TO THE TOP

^ Deaths which occurred on a February 05:
2004:: 19 Asian immigrant workers (17 men and 2 women) among a group of 35 gathering cockle shellfish on the beach in Morecambe Bay, Lancashire, England, who are cut off from shore late in the day by the tide, rising fast on the dangerously flat beach, which also has quicksand.
2004 Four opponents of President Aristide, in gunbattles with police in Les Gonaïves, Haiti, where the Gonaïves Resistance Front “liberates the city” by setting fire to the mayor's home and to the police station, and free more than 100 prisoners from the jail. Some 20 persons are injured. The resignation of authoritatian Jean-Bertrand Aristide has been demanded in increasingly violent protests ever since the “victory” of Aristide's party in rigged 2000 legislative elections.
2004:: 37 persons in a stampede at a Lantern Festival celebration , at 19:45 (11:45 UT), in the mountainous Miyun District in far northeast Beijing, China. The stampede was started by a reveler falling down on a bridge.
2004 Some 150 persons drown after 02:00 collision of double-deck river ferries M.V. Sattar Khan and M.V. Asha Jawa, which together had some 800 persons on board, near village Kaisma in the Barisal district of Bangladesh.
Suzin

2003 Israeli Staff Sergeant Idan Suzin, 21[< photo], from Kiryat Tivon, and 2nd Lieutenant Amir ben Aryeh, 21 [photo >], from Maccabim-Re'ut; and Nablus Palestinians Anan Hanani and Ahmed Hamed,
one of them of Fatah, and the other of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who, at 23:30 fire on the “Discotheque” base of Israeli paratroopers, which had taken over the discotheque of the Grand Forest restaurant on Mount Gerizim just west of Nablus, West Bank, on the outskirts of the Shomronim neighborhood, which is home to Samaritans, an ancient biblical sect with about 650 members. The post protects the Jewish enclove settlement Bracha, 400 m away. Suzin is shot as he goes out front door. Ben-Aryed is shot in the head after he climbs on the roof with others, to try and locate the attackers. These are then killed. Two Israeli soldiers are wounded. The attack is in revenge for the killing of Zorba [next]
2003 Samar Zorba, 18, Palestinian, by Israeli gunfire in Nablus, at 19:30.
2003 Rada Ghanem, 22, Palestinian policeman shot at 03:15 by Israeli soldiers surrounding the building of the Palestinian special forces building in Qalqilyah, West Bank, as he tries to flee.
2003 Miguel Angel Gutierrez Bolaños “el Loco”, 44, murdered on the soccer field of the Mamatoco neigborhood of Santa Marta (Magdalena) Colombia, by six gunmen who go to the eastern neighborhood Villavetel of Santa Marta, where they murder three more persons and gravely wound two children, aged 8 and 10.
2003 Kamla Sha'id, 65, partly deaf, crushed as her home is blown up by Israeli army sappers, in the al-Maghazi refugee camp (or Mussawi neighborhood), in the center of Gaza City. She was the stepmother of Baha Sha'id, Palestinian militant killed during an attack which killed two Israelis soldiers of the Golani unit in the enclave settlement Kfar Darom, in November 2000. The al-Aqsa intifada's body count is now “at least” 1816 Palestinians and 700 Israelis according to Reuters.
2002 Chris Ferguson III, 37, and Kasim Dale, 24, shot by a teenager who believes that, shortly before, they have witnessed him shooting Torrance Lomax, 18 (who survives), in Winslow Township NJ. The teenager killed four persons the previous day and is arrested on 22 February 2002..
2002 Three Palestinian murderers, murdered by some 15 Palestinian gunmen, shortly after two of the three were sentenced to death and the third to 15 years hard laborby a Palestinian military court for killing on 01 February 2002 Osama Qmeil, a Palestinian security officer who had killed some collaborators with Israel during the late 1980s and early 1990s intifada. The gunmen enter the Jenin, West Bank, Chamber of Commerce, one dressed in a policeman's uniform and the others pretending to be plainclothes officers. The Chamber of Commerce was serving as courthouse, since all the Palestinian security installations in Jenin had been bombed in Israeli air strikes. The gunmen took custody of the prisoners on the pretext they were taking them back to their prison cells. Instead they took the three to a bathroom where they shot them dead before fleeing, At the time, real policemen were fending off hundreds of friends and relatives of Qmeil, who mistakenly believed that no death sentences had been imposed and were trying to storm the courthouse.

^ 2001 Rujia Salame, 23, Israeli sergeant, shot by a sniper.
     Staff Sergeant Rujia Salame was a Catholic Arab from the village of Tur'an in the Galilee. Salame served in the Bedouin reconnaissance battalion. A patrol of soldiers from his battalion was safeguarding engineering activities for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) along the border fence with Egypt. Salame was driving an armored personnel carrier (APC) when a bullet fired by a sniper hit him in the head. The bullet appears to have passed through a slit in the APC. Salame died soon after being shot.
      In response to the shooting, IDF troops fired anti-tank missiles against the buildings where they suspected the sniper was hiding. In his village there are Muslims who say that he deserved this for serving in the IDF.
      The village of Tur'an has about 10'000 residents, 20 percent of whom are Christian. The rest are Muslims. About 15 men from the village are serving in the IDF, most of them Christian. Prime Minister Ehud Barak ordered the closing of the Palestinian Authority airport near Rafah and the international crossing in the area in response to Salame's murder.

^ 2001 William D. Baker, 66, Daniel Dorsch, 52, Robert Wehrheim, 47, Michael Brus, 48, William Garcia, 44, in Navistar diesel engine plant 10400 W. North Ave., Melrose Park, suburb of Chicago. Baker kills himself after shooting the others, who were working in the plant, and wounding four more.
Dorsch was a supervisor of an engine laboratory who had 26 years with Navistar.
Wehrheim was a Navistar employee for the past two years. Garcia was a 22-year employee.
Murderer suicide Baker

     Baker [photo >] was a forklift operator at the plant from 1955 until June of 1995 but was fired by Navistar after being implicated in an internal theft scheme involving four other Navistar employees. It was not until 8 January 8 2001 that Baker, having pled guilty was convicted in federal court of conspiracy to commit interstate theft. He was ordered to pay $195'000 restitution and was to begin a five-month prison term on 6 February 2001, which was to be followed by five months of home confinement. Baker had been convicted in May 1998 of criminal sexual assault of a family member in 1997. Two other charges were dropped in exchange for a guilty plea. He was sentence to 90 days of "periodic imprisonment" followed by probation and was required to register as a sex offender.
The wounded:
      Carl Swanson, 45, was in critical condition with a gunshot wound to his abdomen.
      Mujtaba Aidros, 24, was in critical condition with a gunshot wound to his chest.
      Matt Kusch, 22, was released from the hospital after being treated for a gunshot wound to his foot.
      Brian Snyder, 25, was treated for a gunshot wound to his left arm and released from the hospital.

1994: 69 civiles en un ataque serbio contra el mercado central de Sarajevo. Otros ciento noventa y siete resultan heridos
1991 Pedro Arrupe Gondra, eclesiástico español.
1971 Mátyás Rákosi, 78, Hungarian premier (1952-56)
1962 Jacques Ibert, 71, French composer (Escales)
1961 Anthony G de Rothschild, 73, British philanthropist.
1956 Savilly Tartakower, 74, Austrian/Polish/French chess player.
1943 Nazi General Seyffardt shot by Amsterdam resistance group CS-6.
1940 Eliseo Meifrén y Roig, pintor español.

^ 1940 Day 68 of Winter War: USSR aggression against Finland.
More deaths due to Stalin's desire to grab Finnish territory.
Finnish bombers hit enemy at night
Stockholm: Finnish Foreign Minister Väinö Tanner confers with his Swedish counterpart, Christian Günther, before proceeding to Hella Wuolijoki's room in the Grand Hotel to hold a meeting at 11 a.m. with the Soviet Ambassador in Stockholm, Madame Alexandra Kollontai.
Tanner is told the Soviet Union cannot accept Finland's terms for opening talks, and Tanner then suggests one of the islands in the Gulf of Finland as an alternative site for a Soviet base instead of Hanko. Ambassador Kollontai promises to pass the proposal on to her government for consideration.
Disabled Russian tank

      Karelian Isthmus: following a preliminary artillery bombardment, the enemy launches heavy assaults in the morning in the areas of Summa, Marjapellonmäki and Lake Hatjalahti with the support of over one hundred assault tanks. Despite overwhelming numerical superiority the attack becomes bogged down and ends in the destruction of 22 assault tanks. [one of them in photo]
      Ladoga Karelia: the Finnish counterattack in the Pitkäranta area is unsuccessful.
      Northern Finland: the enemy drops a number of parachutists, but the Finnish defences are able to locate where they land.
      In the early hours of the morning Finnish aircraft bomb the enemy troops bivouaced around their campfires.
      Ladoga Karelia: the Russians begin to take Karelians from the border villages in the municipality of Suojärvi over the border into Soviet Karelia. Over 1500 are transferred to two transit camps. Those moved are mainly from Suojärvi but a few are from border villages in the municipality of Salmi. Old people, women and children are trucked to forest labor centres almost 200 km away in Interposolka and Kaimaoja. A number of children die on the cold journey. Over 50 children and old people die in the camps due to a lack of proper food.
      Northern Finland: a battalion of the enemy's Dolin ski brigade tries to get behind the Finnish troops at Haukkajärvi, but is pushed back across the border by Detachment Kekkonen.
      Abroad: Supreme Allied Command in Paris decides to help Finland. An allied unit of at least two brigades in strength is to be sent to Finland in the middle of March.
      The Finnish Red Cross receives a donation from the Belgian Red Cross.
      The great Finnish runners Paavo Nurmi and Taisto Mäki travel to Washington, where they are received by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

^ Ilmavoimat pommittaa yöllä vihollisjoukkoja Talvisodan 68. päivä, 05.helmikuuta.1940
      Ulkoministeri Tanner tapaa Tukholmassa ensin Ruotsin ulkoministerin Güntherin sekä sen jälkeen Grand-hotellissa Hella Wuolijoen huoneessa Neuvostoliiton Tukholman suurlähettilään rouva Aleksandra Kollontain klo 11.
      Tanner kuulee Neuvostoliiton hylänneen Suomen esityksen neuvottelujen lähtökohdaksi ja Tanner ehdottaa yhtä Suomenlahden saarta Neuvostoliiton tukikohdaksi Hangon sijasta. Suurlähettiläs, rouva Aleksandra Kollontai lupaa tiedustella asiaa hallitukseltaan.
      Aamulla vihollinen aloittaa Kannaksella tykistövalmistelun jälkeen voimakkaat hyökkäykset Summassa, Marjapellonmäessä ja Hatjalahdenjärvellä. Vihollisen hyökkäystä tukee toista sataa hyökkäysvaunua. Suomi torjuu hyökkäykset, vihollinen ei pysty ylivoimastaan huolimatta etenemään. 22 hyökkäysvaunua tuhotaan.
      Pitkärannan alueella suomalaisten vastahyökkäys epäonnistuu.
      Vihollinen pudottaa Pohjois-Suomeen muutamia laskuvarjohyppääjiä, joiden alastulopaikat tunnetaan.
      Ilmavoimat pommittaa helmikuun 5. päivän vastaisena yönä nuotiotulille leiriytyneitä vihollisjoukkoja.
      Venäläiset ryhtyvät kuljettamaan Suojärven rajakyliin jääneitä karjalaisia siirtoleireille Neuvosto-Karjalaan. Kahdelle siirtoleirille siirretään yli 1500 ihmistä, jotka ovat kotoisin Suojärveltä ja pieni osa Salmin rajakylistä. Vanhukset, naiset ja lapset kuljetetaan kuorma-autoilla lähes 200 kilometrin päähän Interposolkan ja Kaimaojan metsätyökeskuksiin. Kylmän matkan aikana kuolee muutama lapsi. Heikon ravinnon takia leireillä kuolee yli 50 lasta ja vanhusta.
      Osasto Kekkonen karkottaa Haukkajärven kautta suomalaisten selustaan pyrkivän Dolinin hiihtoprikaatiin kuuluvan vihollisen pataljoonan rajan taakse.
      Ulkomailta: Länsiliitoutuneiden ylin sotaneuvosto tekee Pariisissa periaatteellisen päätöksen Suomen auttamisesta.
      Suomeen päätetään lähettää maaliskuun puolivälissä vähintäin kahden prikaatin kokoinen liittoutuneiden yksikkö. Suomen Punainen Risti saa lahjoituksen Belgian Punaiselta Ristiltä.
      Suomalaiset suurjuoksijat Paavo Nurmi ja Taisto Mäki matkustavat Washingtoniin, jossa Yhdysvaltain presidentti Franklin Delano Roosevelt ottaa heidät vastaan.

^ Luftvärnet bombar fiendens läger på natten Vinterkrigets 68 dag, den 05 februari 1940
     I Stockholm träffar utrikesminister Tanner först Sveriges utrikesminister Günther och därefter kl. 11 den ryska ambassadören i Stockholm Alexandra Kollontaj i Hella Wuolijokis rum på Hotell Grand.
      Tanner erfar att Sovjetunionen har avvisat Finlands utkast till utgångspunkt för förhandlingarna varefter han föreslår att en ö i Finska viken ska bli Sovjetunionens bas i stället för Hangö. Ambassadören, fru Alexandra Kollontaj lovar framföra förslaget till sin regering.
      På morgonen går fienden lös på Näset efter artilleriförberedelser. Attackerna riktas mot Summa, Marjapellonmäki och Hatjalahdenjärvi och stöds av över hundra stridsvagnar. Finland slår tillbaka anfallen, och fienden lyckas trots sin övermakt inte avancera. 22 stridsvagnar förintas.
      Vid Pitkärantaområdet misslyckas finnarnas motattack.
      Fienden flyger några fallskärmsjägare till norra Finland. Landningsplatserna är bekanta. Luftvärnet bombar natten mot den 5 februari fientliga trupper som slagit sig ner vid brasor.
      Ryssarna börjar transportera de karelare som blivit kvar i gränsbyarna kring Suojärvi till fångläger i Sovjet-Karelen. Över 1500 personer hemma från Suojärvi och en del av gränsbyarna i Salmi flyttas till två läger. Åldringar, kvinnor och barn körs med lastbilar till skogsarbetscentralerna i Interposolka och Kaimaoja, nästan 200 km bort. Några barn omkommer under den kalla färden. Till följd av näringsbrist dör över 50 barn och åldringar.
      En bataljon som hör till den Dolinska skidlöparbrigaden försöker överraska finnarna bakifrån via Haukkajärvi men Avdelning Kekkonen fördriver dem bortom gränsen.
      Utrikes: De västallierades högsta krigsråd fattar i Paris ett principiellt beslut om att hjälpa Finland. Man beslutar att sända ett förband på åtminstone två alliansbrigader till Finland i mitten av mars.
      Finlands Röda Kors får en donation av Belgiens Röda Kors.
      De finska löparstjärnorna Paavo Nurmi och Taisto Mäki reser till Washington där de tas emot av Förenta Staternas president Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

1937 Lou Andreas-Salomé, escritora alemana.
1923 Alejo Vera y Estaca, pintor español.

^ 1894 Auguste Vaillant, 32 ans, anarchiste, guillotiné.
      Né en 1861, dans les Ardennes, Vaillant connaît une enfance misérable. À l’âge de douze ans, il vit seul à Paris où il est condamné pour mendicité et vol. Successivement apprenti pâtissier, frappeur, cordonnier, laboureur, il est attiré par les doctrines socialistes et milite aux Indépendants de Montmartre. En 1890, il émigre en Argentine, mais il y échoue et rentre en France. La misère dans laquelle il se trouve avec sa famille le pousse alors à préparer l’attentat contre la Chambre des députés. Le 09 decembre 1893, il jette en pleine Assemblée une bombe qui blesse un grand nombre de personnes et lui-même. Son procès est expédié en une seule audience: il est condamné à mort. C’est la première fois depuis le début du siècle qu’on condamne à la peine capitale un homme qui n’a pas tué.
      Bien qu’une pétition demandant l’indulgence ait recueilli à la Chambre soixante signatures, Vaillant est exécuté le 5 février 1894. Avant de mourir, il s’écrie : "Mort à la société bourgeoise et vive l’anarchie." Contrairement aux actes de Ravachol, qui furent très controversés, le geste de Vaillant ne recueillit que des approbations dans les milieux anarchistes. Il est vrai que la Chambre des députés venait d’être éclaboussée par le scandale de Panama. Les socialistes, quant à eux, condamnèrent vigoureusement l’"acte d’un fou". La question d’une provocation reste posée: c’est, en effet, à la suite de l’attentat qu’est votée la série de lois dites "scélérates", destinées à réprimer toute propagande révolutionnaire, anarchiste ou non.
      La poussée anarchiste correspondit, chronologiquement, à la période 1890-1895. Elle renvoie, d'une part, à la tradition anti parlementaire française, d'autre part, à la diffusion dans certains milieux d'un activisme inspiré à la fois de Proudhon et des nihilistes russes. Elle renvoie enfin à la tradition, ancrée dans l'histoire du XIXème siècle, des sociétés secrètes de résistance au pouvoir établi. Les attentats anarchistes se multiplièrent à partir de 1892. En décembre 1893, Auguste Vaillant jeta une bombe dans la Chambre des députés (voir ci-dessus). Il fut décapité après que le président Carnot eut refusé sa grâce. Santo Jeronimo Caserio assassina Carnot à Lyon en juin 1894. Ces manifestations anarchiques entraînèrent des mesures de répression contre lesquelles la gauche s'éleva, les jugeant "scélérates". Mais l'anarchisme terroriste fut, rapidement, démantelé. Cette poussée anarchiste avait révélé un trouble profond dans la société française.

^ 1881 Thomas Carlyle, 85, in London, mathematician, but mostly essayist and historian. He was born on 04 December 1795. CARLYLE ONLINE:
Characteristics Early Kings of Norway Essay on Scott The Life of John Sterling Sartor Resartus	The French Revolution: A History History of Friedrich II of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great Inaugural Address at Edinburgh, April 2nd, 1866 On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History co-editor of Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle	translator of Goethe's: The Sorrows of Werther The Sorrows of Young Werther Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship editor of Latter-Day Pamphlets

^ 1865 Rebs and Yanks as Battle of Dabney's Mill starts.
Union and Confederate forces around Petersburg, Virginia, begin a three-day battle that produces 3000 casualties but ends with no significant advantage for either side. The Battle of Dabney's Mill (Hatcher's Run) was another attempt by Union General Ulysses S. Grant to break the siege of Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia. In 1864, Grant and Confederate General Robert E. Lee pounded each other as they wheeled south around the cities. After a month of heavy battling that produced the highest casualty rates of the war, Grant and Lee settled into trenches around Petersburg. These lines eventually stretched 40 kilometers to Richmond, and the stalemate continued for 10 months. Periodically, Grant mounted offensives either to break through Lee's lines or envelope the ends. In June, August, and October, these moves failed to extricate the Confederates from their trenches.
Now, Grant sent cavalry under General David Gregg to capture a road that carried supplies from Hicksford, Virginia, into Petersburg. On 05 February, Gregg moves and captures a few wagons along his objective, the Boydton Plank Road. He finds little else, so he pulls back toward the rest of the Union army. Yankee infantry under General Gouverneur K. Warren also moves forward and probes the area at the end of the Confederate's Petersburg line. The Rebels respond by moving troops into the area. Skirmishes erupts that evening and the fighting continues for two more days as each side maneuvered for an advantage. The fighting surged back and forth around Dabney's Mill, but the Yankees were never able to penetrate the Confederate lines. The Union suffered 2000 men killed, wounded, or captured, while the Confederates lost about 1000. The battle did extend the Petersburg line a few kilometers to further stretch Lee's thin lines, but the stalemate continued for six more weeks before Grant's forces finally sent Lee racing west with the remnants of his army. The chase ended in April when Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House.

1888 Anton Mauve, Dutch painter specialized in landscapes, born on 13 September 1838. — MORE ON MAUVE AT ART “4” FEBRUARY with links to images.
1822 Ali Pasha of Janina, 77, (Napoleon, Lord Byron)
1807 Pasquale Paoli, 80, Corsican freedom fighter

^ 1794 (17 pluviôse an II) Jean Joseph Payen loses his head over crop rotation. ^top^
PAYEN Jean Joseph, âgé de 49 ans, cultivateur et commerçant, homme de confiance de la femme Marbeuf, natif d’Avignon (Vaucluse), domicilié à Paris, est condamné à mort le 17 pluviôse an 2, par le tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris, comme conspirateur ayant fait mettre en luzerne, en sainfoin et trèfle prés de 300 arpents de terre, qui auparavant produisaient du blé et d’avoir laissé en friche plusieurs pièces de terre qui devaient être en valeur. [Those sentenced to death by the Revolution were usually guillotined the very same day or, if not, within the next few days]
Qui était cette “femme Marbeuf“? En tout cas Payen n'a pas été le seul a perdre la tête pour son compte, car on trouve:
PREDICANT Louis Dominique Augustin, notaire, âgé de 39 ans, domicilié à Paris département de la Seine, condamné à mort le 4 ventôse an 2 [22 février 1794], par le tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris, comme complice de la femme Marbeuf, en comptant lui-même, chez lui, à l’un des secrétaires du comité de sûreté générale, que l’on voulait séduire, une somme de 60'000 livres.

1687 Jean-Baptiste de la Rose, French artist born in 1612.
1685 Charles II, 54, king of England (1660-85) / Nell Gwynns lover.
1679 Justo van den Vondel, poeta y dramaturgo holandés
1635 Joos Momper Jr., Flemish painter born in 1564. — MORE ON MOMPER AT ART “4” FEBRUARY with links to images.
1597 Saint Peter Baptist, martyred by crucifixion Nagasaki, Japan. Canonized 8 June 1862 by Pope Pius IX. Franciscan missionary to Mexico, Philippines, and Japan. Wonder worker. One of the Nagasaki Martyrs, and considered the leader fo the group. . Born 1545, Avila, Spain.
0865 Saint Anschar, 63, Hamburg archbishop, Denmark/Sweden, "Apostle of the North"
0045 -BC- Cato Roman patriot and philosopher, commits suicide

Births which occurred on a February 05:

^ 1952 The first “Don’t Walk” sign is installed in New York City on this day. The city erected the signs in response to the growing awareness of pedestrian fatalities in the increasingly crowded Manhattan streets. Pedestrian fatalities are essentially an urban problem, so city dwellers, next time you see a Don’t Walk sign, please don't run. In 1997, 5,307 pedestrians died as a result of automobile accidents. Fatal collisions between pedestrians and motor vehicles occur most often between six and nine p.m., a period that roughly coincides with rush hour. In 1998, in hopes of minimizing gridlock, New York City began strictly enforcing its J-walking laws during rush hour. Pedestrians are subject to a fifty dollar fine if they walk, or run, when faced with a Don't Walk sign.

1939 Miguel Boyer Salvador, economista español y ministro de Economía.
1931 Willem Frederik Van Eekelen, político y abogado holandés.
1929 Fred Sinowatz, canciller austriaco.

^ 1928 Andrew Greeley, Catholic priest and author, in Oak Park, Illinois.
      Greeley was raised in an Irish Catholic community in Chicago and became a priest in 1954, at age 26. He took a doctorate at the University of Chicago, where he later taught sociology. A relatively liberal priest, he came into conflict with the increasingly conservative church hierarchy and was outspoken in his support of women's roles in the church and of birth control. He engaged in a 17-year-long feud with a cardinal in the Chicago archdiocese.
      Meanwhile, he wrote nonfiction books on religion and sociology, and in the mid-1970s he turned to fiction. A short story he wrote entitled Ms. Carpenter, about Mary, mother of Jesus, took first place in the Catholic Press Association's short story contest in 1978, and a year later he published a book, The Magic Cup, an Irish Legend. Greeley's breakthrough novel was The Cardinal Sins (1981), about two young men from Chicago's West Side who become priests at the same time. The book became a bestseller, and Greeley followed it up with at least one novel a year for the next 15 years.
      Among his many works are Thy Brother's Wife (1982), Angels of September (1986), Wages of Sin (1992), and Irish Gold (1994). Sometimes criticized for the relatively high sexual content in his books, Greeley told critics that he attempted to portray real life, while subtly demonstrating the influence and power of religion. He donated much of the wealth brought by his books to charity. Among his donations were a $1.5 million endowment to the University of Chicago for a chair in the sociology of religion, and a $1 million grant to inner-city Chicago schools. Greeley is also an active nonfiction writer, who has published more than 100 nonfiction books.

1922 Reader's Digest magazine first published
1919 Andrea George Papandreou Greek premier (1981-89, 93- )
1917 Mexican constitution adopted.
1914 William Seward Burroughs, US writer of experimental novels that evoke, in deliberately erratic prose, a nightmarish, sometimes wildly humorous world. A homosexual, he was sexually explicit; that and his frankness about his drug addiction, won him a following among writers of the Beat movement. — He is not to be confused with his grandfather William Seward Burroughs [28 Jan 1855 – 15 Sep 1898], inventor of the first recording adding machine and co-founder of the American Arithmometer Company in 1886, which, in 1905, became the Burroughs Adding Machine Company. — Writer Burroughs would be the author of Junkie: Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict (1953, under pen name William Lee), Naked Lunch (1959), The Soft Machine (1961), The Ticket That Exploded (1962), Nova Express (1964), The Wild Boys (1971), Exterminator! (1973), The Last Words of Dutch Schultz (1975), Cities of Red Night (1981), The Place of Dead Roads (1983), Queer (1985), The Western Lands (1987).
1914 Alan Hodgkin British physicist (Nobel 1963)
1907 Norton Simon business executive (Simon and Schuster)
1907 Magnus, mathematician.
1901 US Steel Corporation is founded by Pierpont Morgan.
1887 The Chicago Evangelization Society was organized by evangelist Dwight L. Moody, 50. Two years later, the Society established the Bible Institute for Home and Foreign Missions. Moody died in 1899, and in 1900 the school was renamed Moody Bible Institute.
1886 Ernest Martin Hennings, US artist who died in 1956.
1881 Phoenix AZ is incorporated.
1879 Light bulb using carbon glow demonstrated by Joseph Swan.
1878 André Gustave Citroën, he would become one of France’s leading carmakers.
1871 Birger Sven Sandzen, Swedish US artist who died in 1954. — more with links to two images.
1864 Arthur Wardle, British artist who died on 16 July 1949. — MORE ON WARDLE AT ART “4” FEBRUARY with links to images.
1861 Peep show machine patented by Samuel Goodale of Cincinnati
1861 Kinematoscope patented by Coleman Sellers, Philadelphia PA

^ 1850 First adding machine with depressible keys patented
Du Bois Parmelee of New Paltz, New York, patents an adding machine that he calles a calculator. This adding machine, the first to use depressible keys, would proved impractical. The first practical adding machine, invented by William Burroughs, would not be patented until more than forty years later. Burroughs' machine became a commercial success, as did his company, the American Arithmometer Company of St. Louis, later called the Burroughs Adding Machine Company.

1848 Joris-Karl Huysmans France, writer (Against the Grain)
1846 The Oregon Spectator, the North American Pacific coast's first newspaper, goes to press. It would be published until 1855. Other newspapers would follow and even be published in the same building. Some of them were The Spectator, The Oregon City Argus, and The Oregon City Enterprise whose first issue appeared on 27 October 1866 as a weekly Saturday morning newspaper. It still had just four pages but had now increased in length to seven columns.

^ 1840 Hiram Stevens Maxim, US-born naturalized British inventor of automatic single-barrel rifle, cordite smokeless powder, steam-engine airplane, a mousetrap, an automatic sprinkling system, an automatic steam-powered water pump, vacuum pumps, engine governors, and gas motors. He died on 24 November 1916. (not to be confused with his nephew Hiram Percy Maxim [02 Sep 1869 – 17 Feb 1936], inventor of a gun silencer, or with his brother Hudson Maxim [03 February 1853 – 06 May 1927], inventor of explosives.)
The Maxim machine gun was the first fully automatic machine gun, which Maxim developed about 1884, while he was residing in England. It was manufactured by Vickers and was sometimes known as the Vickers-Maxim and sometimes just Vickers. These guns were used by every major power. The Maxim gun was recoil-operated and was cooled by a water jacket surrounding the barrel. The Maxim was in large part responsible for the epithet "the machine gun war" for World War I.
— Cet ingénieur étatsunien, établi en Angleterre, a inventé en 1884 la mitrailleuse à chargement automatique qui porte son nom et qui allait ouvrir la voie à une nouvelle génération d'arme à feu. L'armée britannique adopta, en 1889, une nouvelle version améliorée de la mitrailleuse Maxim.

1837 Dwight Lyman Moody US, evangelist (Student Volunteer Movement)
1817 first US gas company incorporated, Baltimore (coal gas for street lights)
1808 Karl Spitzweg, deutscher Maler gestorben am 23 September 1885. — MORE ON SPITZWEG AT ART “4” FEBRUARY with links to images.
1797 Jean-Marie Duhamel, mathematician.
1788 Sir Robert "Bobbie" Peel, British PM (1834-1846), founded Tories.

^ 1626 Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné.
      Petite-fille de Jeanne de Chantal, qui fonda l'ordre de la Visitation avec François de Sales, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, perdit son père en 1627, puis sa mère en 1633. Elle fut donc élevée par ses deux oncles maternels, Philippe et Christophe de Coulanges. Elle reçut auprès d'eux une éducation riche et variée, fondée essentiellement, comme souvent à l'époque pour les filles, sur les belles-lettres et l'étude des langues. [portrait par Claude Lefebvre >]
      À dix-huit ans, réputée tant par son esprit que par sa beauté, elle épousa Henri de Sévigné, de trois ans son aîné. Entre la Bretagne, où le marquis de Sévigné possédait plusieurs domaines, et Paris, le jeune couple passe pour avoir mené joyeuse vie, à en croire les témoignages de deux contemporains, Tallemant des Réaux et Bussy-Rabutin, cousin de la marquise. Mme de Sévigné fréquenta à Paris une société choisie, en particulier celle de l'hôtel de Rambouillet, où elle se lia d'amitié avec La Rochefoucauld, le cardinal de Retz ou encore Fouquet. En 1646, elle mit au monde une fille, Françoise-Marguerite, puis, en 1648, un garçon, peu avant de perdre son mari, tué en duel en 1651.
      Dès lors, libérée de toute obligation de résider en Bretagne, Mme de Sévigné s'installa à Paris, où le pouvoir de séduction de son esprit lui attira de nombreuses et durables amitiés, comme celles de Mme de La Fayette, Jean Chapelain ou de Gilles Ménage. Malgré les diverses occasions qu'elle eut de se remarier, elle décida de se consacrer exclusivement à sa vie mondaine, d'une part, mais plus encore à l'éducation de ses enfants.
      C'est en 1669 que se produisit l'événement qui devait, d'une certaine façon, décider de la carrière littéraire de Mme de Sévigné : sa fille Françoise-Marguerite, qu'elle chérissait par-dessus tout, épousa le 26 janvier, le comte de Grignan. Son mari étant Fermier Général, elle partit rejoindre son époux en Provence. La séparation d'avec sa fille fut pour la marquise un véritable déchirement, mais lui donna l'occasion de rédiger cette célèbre correspondance, ininterrompue de 1671 à 1696, qui forme la quasi-totalité de ses écrits.
      Les quelques 764 lettres adressées à Mme de Grignan qui nous sont parvenues — souvent remaniées et édulcorées par des éditeurs trop zélés — représentent un témoignage savoureux et varié, une observation alerte de son époque. Véritable chroniqueuse, Mme de Sévigné relate pour sa fille tous les événements marquants qui se sont produits à Paris : le mariage de la Grande Mademoiselle, l'arrestation de Fouquet, l'exécution de la Brinvilliers lors de l'affaire des Poisons, la mort d'Henriette d'Angleterre, etc. Elle lui adresse aussi des conseils pratiques et mondains, ainsi que des réflexions plus générales sur le temps, l'absence, la destinée humaine.
      Mais là n'est pas la finalité première des lettres, qui se proposent avant tout de réduire la distance avec l'être aimé par l'évocation des souvenirs communs et par l'expression spontanée du sentiment d'amour maternel. Le style de ces lettres, enfin, adopte le ton enjoué de la conversation mondaine : naturel autant qu'on pouvait l'être dans la fréquentation des salons, il ne doit que très peu aux ressources de la rhétorique, discipline que la marquise, en tant que femme, n'avait jamais apprise. Par leur inventivité, leur liberté de ton et leur originalité, les Lettres de la marquise de Sévigné constituent, sans que ce fût le moins du monde prémédité, l'une des œuvres les plus marquantes du XVIIème siècle français.

MADAME DE SEVIGNE ONLINE:
Lettres de madame de Sévigné, de sa famille et de ses amis:
Tome 1 — Tome 2 — Tome 3 — Tome 4 — Tome 5 — Tome 6 — Tome 7 — Tome 8 — Tome 9 — Tome 10 — Tome 11 — Tome 12
Lettres inédites de Madame de Sévigné : à Madame de Grignan, sa fille: Tome premier — Tome second
Lexique de la langue de madame de Sévigné: Tome premier — Tome second

     Very young when her parents died, Marie de Rabutin grew up with her uncle, Philippe II de Coulanges, and lived in his house until she married. She received a rather liberal education, based on family unity, which would nurture her joyful nature and sense of duty, the most remarkable of her personality traits. The presence of the Coulanges seems predominant, but it was not exclusive. Marie de Rabutin got along particularly well with her paternal cousin, Roger de Rabutin, Count de Bussy. Cheerful and communicative, he cultivated the art of "la rabutinade," or of finding the right word, a providing a pasttime the Marquise quite enjoyed.
      On 04 August 1644, Marie de Rabutin was married to Henri de Sévigné, who came from one of the oldest families of the Breton nobility. His strong presence made him a fine match for the heiress of the Rabutin name. While many points in common brought them together, and might have made for a long and happy union, fate would have the last word rather quickly. Henri quickly revealed himself a fickle husband, and, quick to draw his sword, he would never recover from injuries sustained from a duel when he was only 28 years old. He left two children: Françoise-Marguerite, born on 10 October 1646 and Charles, born on 12 March 1648.
      Alongside family ties, friendships were created, influenced by circumstances in the Marquise's life. She often visited the Conde mansion, and gradually established significant links with the Grand Conde, his sister, the Duchess de Longueville, and with the Duchess de Montpensier (la Grande Mademoiselle). La Fronde was an occasional source of passionate disputes. The Marquise developed a very close friendship with Fouquet to whom she was faithful to the end. She also cultivated relations which contributed to her intellectual development, such as Ménage, Chapelain, Madame de La Fayette, Mademoiselle de Scudéry, etc. A special mention should also be accorded to the Arnauld d'Andilly family who played a major role in her spiritual development, orientating her sensibilities in the direction of Port Royal

1607 Cornelis Baellieur, Flemish artist who died on 26 July 1671. — more

Holidays Finland : Runeberg Day (1804) / Japan : Japanese Martyrs Day (26 martyrs-1597) / México : Constitution Day (1857 and 1917) / Roman calendar : Nonae Februarius / San Marino : Liberation Day / Tanzania : Birth of the Afro Shirazi Party

Religious Observances Roman Catholic : St Agatha, virgin/martyr / St Jeanne de Valois, French foundress / Anglican, Lutheran : 26 martyrs of Japan killed by Tagosama / old Roman Catholic : St Philip of Jesus, first Christian martyr in Japan / Santos Águeda, Isidoro, Avito y Albuino / Sainte Agathe fut martyrisée en Sicile, au IIIe siècle, sur ordre d'un juge qu'elle avait éconduit. D'après la légende, elle eût les deux seins coupés. Elle est vénérée à Catane, qu'elle protégea d'une éruption de l'Etna. Elle est la patronne de l'île de Malte et... des nourrices.

DICTIONNAIRE TICRANIEN: maladroite: ce qu'a celui qui souffre d'une appendicite.

Thoughts for the day: “Men do not desire to be rich, but to be richer than other men.”— John Stuart Mill, English philosopher and economist (1806-1873)
“Women do not desire to be rich, but to have everything that money can buy, and everything else besides.”
“Poverty is easy to bear when you have plenty of money.”
“Money can't buy happiness, but much less can lack of it.”
“Money can't buy happiness, but it's something to count when you're unhappy.”
“It is not enough merely to succeed; one's friends must also fail.”

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