According to George Lucas, this is the birthdate for his fictional character, Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr.
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In a somewhat bizarre episode of the Spanish American War/Philippine Insurrection, on this day in 1899, the Spanish soldiers at Baler, who had held out for a year in a fortified church, were recognized as friend of the Filipino people and granted safe conduct.
A film about this event was earlier reviewed by us here:
1898: Our Last Men In the Philippines
Baler had been under siege from June 26, 1898, until June 2, 1899, which exceeded the period of time during which Spain was at war with the United States. The troops under siege had not realized that Spain had departed, and when informed, they refused to believe it and kept fighting. Ultimately, the besieging Filipinos became concerned for the garrison and began to supply it with food, beverages and cigarettes. An American expedition to relieve the garrison was launched and failed.
Finally, on June 2, 1899, the garrison surrendered.
The Spanish troops were lauded by Aguinaldo, but two Franciscan Priests who had been at the church, Fr. Félix Minaya and Fr. Juan López, plus a captured Yorktown seaman, George Arthur Venville, were kept as prisoners. The priests were freed when the US occupied the town on June 3, 1900 but Venville was executed by Filipino tribesmen.
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Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (Maria Nikolaevna Romanova) born. She was the third child of Czar Nicholas II of Russia and Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna and was murdered with the rest of her family on July 17, 1918. She was 19 years old at the time. She was canonized as a Passion Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church as a result.
Of some interest, her parents were second cousins, and her mother, who was a Lutheran German, initially did not want to marry her father due to religious reasons. Her mother was ultimately persuaded to change her mind partially due to it being represented that she did not have to renounce Lutheranism in order to convert to Orthodoxy, although she ultimately became quite devout.
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Four reporters in Denver concocted a tale about American businesses that had a contract to demolish the Great Wall of China to construct a road. The reporters were Al Stevens, Jack Tournay, John Lewis, and Hal Wilshire, of the Post, the Republican, the Times, and the Rocky Mountain News. The plot was hatched due to a chance meeting while hoping to catch a legitimate news story.
The fable has proven to have been legs, and has occasionally been revived as a supposedly true story.
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The Crown and various First Nations of the Lesser Slave Lake area signed a treaty regarding 320,000 sq miles of territory in Western Canada.
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Terrible floods occured in Texas after 8.9 inches of rain fell over 66,000 square miles. The Brazos flooded, and 284 people lost their lives.
Footnotes:
The title today is taken from Texan Stevie Ray Vaughn's blues song of that name.
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The hard fought Battle of Zapote River occured this day seeing the U.S. Army prevail against much larger numbers from the First Philippine Republic, due to superior arms and training, and Naval support.
The loss in the second-biggest engagement of the Philippine Insurrection caused the Philippine forces to resort to guerilla war thereafter.
Cpt. William H. Sage won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his role in the battle.
With 9 men volunteered to hold an advanced position and held it against a terrific fire of the enemy estimated at 1,000 strong. Taking a rifle from a wounded man, and cartridges from the belts of others, Capt. Sage himself killed 5 of the enemy.
Sage would go on to serve in the Border War in Mexico and rose to the rank of major general during World War One. After the war, he commanded Ft. D. A. Russell in Wyoming, where he became fatally ill. He died in 1922 at age 63, just one month away from retirement.
Douglas MacArthur entered the U.S. Military Academy.
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Pope Leo XIII consecrated the entire human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before Thine altar. We are Thine, and Thine we wish to be; but to be more surely united with Thee, behold each one of us freely consecrates himself today to Thy most Sacred Heart.
Many indeed have never known Thee; many too, despising Thy precepts, have rejected Thee. Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to Thy sacred Heart. Be Thou King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken Thee, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned Thee; grant that they may quickly return to Thy Father’s house lest they die of wretchedness and hunger.
Be Thou King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom discord keeps aloof, and call them back to the harbor of truth and unity of faith, so that there may be but one flock and one Shepherd.
Be Thou King of all those who are still involved in the darkness of idolatry or of Islamism, and refuse not to draw them into the light and kingdom of God. Turn Thine eyes of mercy towards the children of the race, once Thy chosen people: of old they called down upon themselves the Blood of the Savior; may it now descend upon them a laver of redemption and of life.
Grant, O Lord, to Thy Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give peace and order to all nations, and make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry: ‘Praise be to the divine Heart that wrought our salvation; to it be glory and honor forever.
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Johann Baptist Strauss II, popular Austrian composer, died at age 73.
Pel & Ploma commenced publication.
I know nothing about it whatsoever, but the illustration is really cool.
You would have thought the Wild Bunch heist north of Rock River would have been front page news, but nope.
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Today In Wyoming's History: June 2: 1899 The Wild Bunch robbed the Union Pacific Overland Flyer No. 1 near Wilcox, taking between $30,000 and $60,000. This robbery is famous in part for the large amount taken, but also for the destruction of a rail car by explosives which were used to open a safe. This is depicted in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Attribution: On This Day.
Longtime Wyoming residents may wonder where on earth Wilcox is. That's because, it isn't. It's a named spot on the railroad just north of Rock River. If this same crime occured today, people would report it as having occured north of Rock River. It occured very near the junction with the Fetterman Road.
I've driven past this spot thousands of time and never realized where it was. This was a bold action, as Rock Rover was more substantial than it now is (the explosion clearly could have been heard from there) and Medicine Bow not all that far to the north.
The scientific Harriman Alaska Expedition left Seattle for the coast of Alaska.
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The Republic of Republic of Zamboanga was established in the Philippines. It quickly devolved into being an American protectorate. General Vicente Álvarez, who lead its establishment, fell due to intrigue with the American forces followed by the fall of the remaining Spanish fort.
On the same day, the US took control of Jolo.
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Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska as Frederick Austerlitz
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Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy, President of the Philippine First Republic which was at war, or from the American prospective, an agent in insurrection against the successor to Spain, the United States, moved his Seat of Government from San Isidro, Nueva Ecija to Angeles, Pampanga as Philippine battefield fortunes were fading.
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I enclose a photo I took at the station at Khilkovo-- you will recognize all but Miss Morphew and Mrs. Hansen and you can distinguish them by Mrs. Hansen's fur cape.
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I think you will be interested in the photo of our premises here even if it does have to be curved to make the thing come together. Fred took it from the roof of the new P[ost] O[ffice] and the building half completed in front of us belongs also to the P.O."
Little known in the US, Pray's heavily photographed letters have made her well known in Russia, as her long residence there, 1894 to 1930, meant that she's chronicled, and preserved, an entire epic in Russia's history which would otherwise have seen much lost. She apparently liked the region, as she stayed on after the death of her husband in 1923 and only left in 1930 when her employer closed its facility in the area, which was also experiencing hardening Stalinist repression.
From Vladivostok she moved to China and was interned in World War Two by the Japanese, becoming part of a 1943 prisoner exchange which resulted in her return to the US. She smuggled her papers out in the process. She died in 1954 at age 85.
Manuel won the Kentucky Derby.
Admiral George Dewey reported that ten officers and crewmen of the USS Yorktown were taken prisoner by the Philippine Republic, exactly one year after the U.S. Navy's defeat of the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay.
The Battle of Calumpit (Filipino: Labanan sa Quingua), alternately known as the Battles of Bagbag and Pampanga Rivers) concluded with U.S. forces under Arthur MacArthur Jr. combating Filipino forces under General Antonio Luna. U.S. forces were comprised completely of state militia units, essentially the equivalent of today's National Guard, somewhat, those being the 20th Kansas Volunteers, the Utah Volunteer Light Artillery, the1st Montana Volunteers, the1st Nebraska Volunteers and the 51st Iowa Volunteers. All were probably mustered to fight against the Spanish in Cuba, and not the Filipino's in their native land.
U.S. forces prevailed with Medals of Honor, under the original standards, going to Colonel Frederick Funston, Private (later First Lieutenant) William B. Trembley, and Private Edward White.
The Filipinos, interestingly enough, grossly over reported American losses.
A terrible tornado struck:
A statute of Grant was unveiled in Philadelphia.
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