May 10

On the 10th in 1872, the Equal Rights Party nominated Victoria Woodhull to be its candidate for the Presidency of the United States of America, making her the first woman to be nominated for that exalted position. Interestly, Woodhull’s name never appeared on the ballot.
Victoria Claffin Woodhull managed to make two fortunes. The first one she made touring as a magnetic healer, a venture that was highly successful. Her second fortune came with the help of her benefactor, Cornelius Vanderbilt. With Vanderbilt’s assistance, she opened the firm of Woodhull, Claffin & Company and became one of the first female brokers on the New York Stock Exchange. The brokerage was a family affair. She collaborated with her younger sister Tennessee Claffin. Do not even think about asking me about her first name. What do I know? I didn’t name her. On May 14, 1870, she took the money that she made in the stock exchange, and Victoria and her sister would start a newspaper, Woodhull & Claffin’s Weekly. The paper had a six-year run but is now notable primarily for the fact that in its December 30, 1871 issue it published the first English language version of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto.
Frederick Douglass was her running mate. Born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, it was as Frederick Douglass that he would achieve fame. Douglass was born into to slavery in 1818 in Talbot County, Maryland. In 1838, using documents borrowed from a sailor, a free black man, he made his way to New York City. Once there abolitionist sympathizers bought Douglass his freedom by paying off the man in Maryland who owned him.
The first time a women’s name appeared on a ballot was in the 1968 United States presidential elections when Charlene Mitchell’s name appeared on the ballot as the Communist party’s candidate for President. Mitchell was also the first black person nominated for the post. She didn’t win.

May 9

Even by the somewhat casual standards of the late 17th century, Thomas Blood was a brazen sort of guy. After having fought in the service of Oliver Cromwell, he had been awarded some very lucrative land grants in his native Ireland. When the monarchy was restored in 1660, Blood was stripped of these land grants. A boy has to do something to earn his daily bread and Blood decided to kidnap and hold for ransom James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, a minor noble. Blood wasn’t particularly good at that however, so he and a couple of friends attempted to steal the British Crown Jewels on the 9th in 1671. Well actually, to be accurate, he and his associates did steal the British Crown Jewels. However, he and his confederates were captured before they could successfully make their way out of the Tower of London, where the jewels were being stored.
In the eighteenth century, the Tower also contained a menagerie, which was open to visitors. The price of admission was the sum of three halfpence or the supply of a cat or dog for feeding to the lions.

May 8

Why didn’t somebody just give this Mahatma guy a freaking sandwich? On the 8th in 1933, Gandhi began a 21-day fast as a protest of the rather tacky behavior of a certain empire on whom the sun used to never set, in India. Gandhi not only survived the hunger strike but also was also able to get the British out of India. Certainly, Irishman Bobby Sands must have wished that he had Gandhi’s luck. Sands not only did not survive his hunger strike but he wasn’t even able to get the British out of Ireland.

May 7

Have you ever noticed how incredibly bright the Sun is? Has anyone ever told you that it is never a good idea to stare directly at the Sun? I know that it was certainly mentioned to me. Apparently, no one ever told David Fabricus about that being a bad idea. Born in Germany, David died on the 7th in 1617. He dabbled in astronomy. The telescope was not in wide use at the time and the observations that David made were with the naked eye. His son, Johannes, was sent to school in the Netherlands and on one of his visits home, he brought with him a telescope. It is rarely recommended, but among the first things David and his son did with this new-fangled telescope was direct it at the sun so they could both get a better look at it. Aside from a headache and blurred vision resulting from staring directly at the sun, the two men discovered Sunspots. Their observations would also lead to their discovery that the sun rotated much as the earth does.

May 6

At 7:25 in the evening on the 6th in 1937, the German zeppelin Hindenburg burst into flames as it attempted to land in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Of the 36 passengers and 61 crewmembers onboard the Hindenburg, only 13 passengers and 22 members of the crew died. Considering how quickly, completely, and violently the fire engulfed the craft, it seems to me to be a surprisingly low death rate. Part of the charm of rock and roll is its tendency to go more than a little bit overboard. Maybe I’m getting old but I think it is going just a bit too far over the top to stage this fire and kill 45 people merely to come up with an incredibly good album cover for Led Zeppelin’s first album release.
The Led Zeppelin album cover was actually a drawing of the original UPI photograph done by artist George Hardie.

May 5

The United States’ Patent Act of 1790 allowed women, for the first time, to be granted patents. Sensing an opportunity to finally get in on a good thing, Mary Dixon Kies applied for a patent for a technique for weaving straw with silk and thread, though just why someone would want to do that is unclear. Apparently, in the early 19th century, straw weaving was a big deal and provided a pretty good living to people. On the 5th in 1809, Mary was the first woman to be granted a patent.
Fellow American Betsy Metcalf invented a method of braiding straw in 1798. She chose to not patent her process because she didn't want her name being sent to Congress. Kies was unable to successfully to defend her patent and she died penniless in Brooklyn, New York in 1837.

May 4

On the 4th in 1865, Abraham Lincoln was buried in Springfield, Missouri. Taking into consideration the fact that Honest Abe was assassinated on the 15th of April, in an era that pre-dates reliable refrigeration, my guess is that unless they had a very chilly Spring he was probably just a little bit ripe at the time of the service.
What has come to be viewed as Lincoln’s life work, the abolition of slavery , would become the law of the land when the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States constitution, which abolished slavery, was ratified and become law on December 31, 1865.