October 13

On the evening of the 13th in 1892, Edward Emerson Barnard discovered comet D/1892 T1 (Barnard 3). By itself that is not a particularly interesting event, particularly for Barnard, who had already discovered thirteen other comets, the first in 1881. So, what’s the big deal about him finding another one? What makes Barnard 3 a little different is that it is the first comet to be discovered using photographic evidence. In 1916, Barnard would discover Barnard’s Star, which is a low mass star in the Ophiuchus constellation. In the 1970s, this star was the ambitious target of the British Interplanetary Society’s Project Daedalus.

October 12

On the 12th in 1654, an abandoned convent of the Order of the Poor Clares, in the Doelenkwartier District of Delft, a city in the Netherlands, was being used as a storehouse for 40 tons of gunpowder. Cornelis Soetens, the keeper of the storehouse, wanted to check on the condition of the gunpowder, which was kept in barrels, to make certain that all was in order. When he opened the door to the magazine to get samples, all 40 tons of the gunpowder exploded, leveling most of the city.

October 11

On the 11th in 1811, John Stevens’ steam-powered boat, the Juliana, went into service between New York, New York and Hoboken, New Jersey. This was the first steam-powered ferry service available to and from Manhattan.

Stevens was the owner of the land that is today occupied by Hoboken, New Jersey. He had bought it at public auction after it had been confiscated from a British loyalist during the Revolutionary War. In 1815, Stevens was granted the first railroad charter in the United States for the establishment of the New Jersey Railroad.

October 10

In 1968 Robert McCullough, founder of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, bought the London Bridge. It would be more accurate to say that he bought a bridge that happened to be in London, England. It was not the structure that is generally featured in brochures and post cards, that one is named Tower Bridge, but one that was located conveniently nearby. This bridge had been built in 1831 but by the late 1960s, it was no longer capable of handling the flow of traffic that crossed over it. McCullough had the bridge dismantled, carefully numbering each piece as it came down; he then had all this stuff shipped to Lake Havasu to be the centerpiece of a development he was building. An artificial lake was built and the bridge reassembled. On October 10, 1971, the mandatory ribbon cutting ceremony was held and the London Bridge Resort and Convention Center was officially opened to the public.

In the early 19th century, engineer John Rennie had begun construction of London Bridge. When he died in 1821, his son, who was also named John Rennie, completed the construction. The younger Rennie, was also involved in the construction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which was the first inter-city railway line (see September 2007 issue of the Review)

October 9

King Alexander I of Yugoslavia was the first king of the new nation of Yugoslavia. He assumed the crown on December 1, 1918. Three members of his family had been killed on a Tuesday, and, as a result, he was in the habit of not conducting any business on Tuesdays. While on a state visit to France, to strengthen the ties between Yugoslavia and France, however Alexander had no choice but to work on Tuesday the 9th of October in 1934. As he was being driven in an open car through the streets of Marseille, Macedonian revolutionary Vlado Chernozemski stepped into the crowded street and shot the King and the chauffeur. This was one of the first assassinations caught on film.

Chernozemski broke into the assassination business in 1924 when he killed a Bulgarian Member of Parliament; he was sentenced to death for that murder but received a pardon in 1932. This time around, however, he would not leave the streets of Marseille alive.

October 8

San Marino, one of the smallest nations on the planet, (Lichtenstein is enormous by comparison) adopted its first written constitution on the 8th in 1600. San Marino was founded on September 3, 301.
The nations that are smaller than San Marino are, in ascending order: Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru and Tuvalu.