On March 18, 1915, Wenseslao Moguel, a Mexican revolutionary in Pancho Villa’s army, was captured by federal troops and sentenced to death by firing squad. Moguel was shot nine times, including a mercy shot—the “coup de grace”—to the head at point-blank range to ensure death. He took the bullets but …
In the 1850s a Bavarian immigrant called Levi Strauss arrived in San Francisco hoping to sell supplies to the miners. He had with him several rolls of cotton canvas intended for tents. Instead, Strauss identified a ready market for stout canvas trousers and overalls suitable for the rugged conditions in the …
The opening of the first restaurant is credited to a certain Monsieur Boulanger, a Parisian soup-seller, who in 1765 opened an establishment offering customers a selection of wholesome soups and meals. This was something of a novelty. Eighteenth-century diners were not accustomed to being offered a choice when forced to …
On this day, the first service uniform was trademarked with the U.S. Patent Office: the Playboy bunny costume. The formfitting satin corset with the fluffy cottontail, white collar, black bow tie, and rabbit ears was the official work uniform of servers at the Playboy Clubs from 1960 to 1988. Credit …
The medieval Latin term capitate denoted ‘property, principal stock of wealth’. It was the neuter form of the Latin adjective capitalis (the source of English capital) which meant ‘chief, principal’, being derived from the noun caput,‘head’. Capitate was borrowed into Old French as chatel and from there passed into Old …
Alexandre Dumas, the French author known for his sword- dueling epics The Man in the Iron Mask and The Three Musketeers, was no great duelist himself. On this day in 1825, the 22-year-old won his first and only sword duel when his opponent tripped over a tree root, fell backward …
In 1649, Oliver Cromwell helped abolish the British monarchy and overthrow King Charles I, but by 1660 the kingdom was restored and Charles’s son was in power and was determined to avenge his father. He accused Cromwell of treason and sentenced him to death. There was only one problem: Cromwell …
Lots of people, especially rich and powerful ones, have cities, buildings, even stars named in their honor, but how many are forever known by the name of a verse form? Let’s see, there’s the Petrarchan sonnet, the Shakespearean sonnet, the Spenserian stanza—and the clerihew. E. C. Bentley, who died in …
Peas first appeared on earth, according to Norse legend, as a sign of displeasure from the god Thor. He was angry at the lack of devotion he was receiving so he sent a squadron of dragons to block the wells of his feckless worshippers with peas being held in their …
Alexander Graham Bell and his rival, Elisha Gray, invented the telephone independently of each other and filed their patents on the exact same day, March 13, 1876. The patent examiner, Zenas Wilber, had served with Bell’s lawyer in the Civil War and was heavily indebted to him for money loaned …
