Did Lincoln’s assassin escape? Science may finally lay debate to rest: Pop! A shot was fired and, 143 years ago today, John Wilkes Booth - assassin of Abraham Lincoln - collapsed to the ground, mortally wounded in the neck. That’s what history says. But two local Booth family descendants - Joanne Hulme of Philadelphia’s Kensington section, and her sister, Virginia Kline of Warminster - aren’t convinced. They think that another man was killed and that Booth, who they believe was the president’s assassin, lived to a ripe old age. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
How the Black Death Changed the World: Seven thousand people died per day in Cairo. Three-quarters of Florence’s residents were buried in makeshift graves in just one macabre year. One third of China evaporated before the rest of the world knew what was coming. By the time the tornado-like destruction of the 14th-century bubonic plague finally dissipated, nearly half the people in each of the regions it touched had succumbed to a gruesome, painful death. [LiveScience]
Leave a Comment