Octavius: The legendary 18th-century ghost ship

The Octavius was a legendary 18th-century ghost ship. The story goes that it was discovered off the coast of Greenland in 1775.

Initially assumed to be empty upon being sighted, when boarded, a spine-shivering sight awaited. Below the deck, they came across the entire crew, completely frozen.

The captain sat rooted, almost stoically, at the table in front of him with a pen still in hand and his log laid out before him.

Written there was the log’s last entry, dated November 11, 1762, and its last recorded position marked their location about 250 miles north of Alaska’s arctic coast.

The ghost ship had been adrift for thirteen years before its discovery, meandering aimlessly for hundreds of miles. Though it is a great story, there is no proof of whether the ship existed or not.

Pontiac: Ottawa Chief in about 1720

Pontiac was an Ottawa chief, born on the Ottawa River, in Canada, about 1720. While yet a young man he became the principal chief of the allied Ottawas, Ojibways, and Pottawatomies. He was always a firm ally of the French, to whose interests he was devotedly attached, defending them at Detroit against an attack by the Northern tribes, and (it is generally believed) leading the Ottawas in the defeat of Braddock.

He reluctantly acquiesced in the issue of the French and Indian War, although at first strongly disposed to dispute the progress of Major Rogers, the British officer sent to take possession of the western forts. In 1762, he dispatched emissaries to many tribes in order to unite them in an alliance to exterminate the English. His proposals were favorably received, and thus organized what is commonly spoken of as the “Conspiracy of Pontiac.” He himself undertook to lead an assault upon Detroit.

His intention was, however, informed to the garrison and they prepared accordingly. Pontiac thereupon laid siege to the fort but was unable to prevent the ingress of provisions. The Canadian settlers furnished supplies to both the besieged and besiegers with absolute impartiality. Finally, a boatload of ammunition and supplies landed at Detroit from Lake Erie, and the English made an unsuccessful sortie on July 31, 1763.

After a desultory warfare, lasting for nearly three months, the Indians withdrew into Indiana, where Pontiac tried in vain to organize another movement. The Indians did not capture Detroit, but they captured Fort Sandusky, St. Joseph, Miami, Ouiatanon, LeBoeuf, and Venango, along with Mackinaw and Presque Isle. Throughout the country, garrisons were massacred at all of these locations and countless other atrocities occurred.

Additional British troops were sent west, and the Indians were finally brought under control. Pontiac was present at Oswego when a treaty was signed with Sir William Johnson, but remained implacable. His end was tragic. Broken in heart, but still proud in spirit and relentless in purpose, he applied to the former (and last) French Governor of Illinois, the younger St. Ange, who was then at St. Louis, for cooperation and support in another raid against the British.

Being refused aid or countenance, according to a story long popularly received, he returned to the vicinity of Cahokia, where, in 1769, he was murdered by a Kaskaskia Indian in consideration of a barrel of liquor. Col. Joseph N. Bourassa, a Kansas-educated half-breed, is cited as authority for this statement by Matson, author of several volumes pertaining to early history in Illinois. It has been claimed that the Indians killed at Cahokia were imposters and that Kineboo, the Head Chief of Illinois, assassinated the true Pontiac in a council held near Joliet on the Des Plaines River.

So well convinced, it is said, was Pierre Chouteau, the St. Louis Indian trader, of the truth of this last story, that he caused a monument, which he had erected over the grave of the false Pontiac, to be removed. A majority of historians agree that Pontiac's murder, whether it occurred at Cahokia or Joliet, resulted in the extermination of Illinois and the tragedy of the Starved Rock.

 

Karachi Airport In 1940s

 

Henry Dangerfield Was kinsman of Gov. Holmes

Henry Dangerfield, was a kinsman of Gov. Holmes, came to the Mississippi territory after the latter's appointment, and was appointed secretary of the territory, to succeed Thomas H. Williams, June 30, 1810. He was re-appointed, in 1814, and served until his death Feb. 19, 1815. He was also register of the land office west of Pearl river. On April 2, 1811, he was commissioned as attorney-at-law. Secretary Dangerfield was acting governor in April, 1811, on account of the governor's absence, and again from Oct. , 1811, to June 15, 1812. Henry Dangerfield was obliged to veto an act for the incorporation of the town of St. Stephens, because it attempted to deprive the wives of the proprietors of the right of dower ; also a bill to extend the jurisdiction of justices beyond the constitutional limit.

SHERMAN’S ARMY WAGONS GOING THROUGH ZANESVILLE

 SHERMAN’S ARMY WAGONS GOING THROUGH ZANESVILLE IN 1865

George Hendrick Houghton

George Hendrick Houghton was American Protestant Episcopal clergyman: b. Deerfield, Mass., 1820; d. 1897. He was graduated at New York University in 1842 and at the General Theological Seminary in 1845. He organized and was rector of the church of the Transfiguration in New York city, which bears the sobriquet "The Little Church Around the Corner." The origin of the name is narrated as follows : A certain actor died and was refused burial services by a prominent city pastor. The clergyman referred him to the "little church around the corner" where Dr. Houghton performed the services. Throughout his long pastorate, Dr. Houghton was distinguished for his charitable work.

When was Grenada Collegiate Institute Established

Grenada Collegiate Institute. This institution is located in the city of Grenada and is a private secondary school for girls, owned by the M. E. Church. It is not endowed and is supported by its own earnings. The college property is valued at about $5,000 and the attendance is in the neighborhood of 100. It was established as Grenada College in 1882.
The history of the college dates back much earlier. It was originally established by the Yalobusha Baptist Association in 1851 at a cost of $30,000, and was known as the "Yalobusha Baptist Female Institute." The Baptists lost control of it after the War of 1861-5 and it passed into private hands, being known for a number of years as the "Emma Mercer Institute." From 1875-1882 it was owned by a joint stock company and called the "Grenada Female College," and was finally purchased by the North Miss. Conference of the Methodist church South in 1882, under whose control it has since remained. It received its present name in 1884, when it was incorporated.

1950s :: Bright Sunny Day In Delhi , No Smog and Clean Air as Well

 

1991 :: Clean Air to Breathe In Bangalore

 

Indian Capital New Delhi in 1950

 

Robert Wilson Patterson

Robert Wilson Patterson .D., LL.D., clergyman, was born in Blount County, Tenn., Jan. 21, 1814; came to Bond County, Ill., with his parents in 1822, his father dying two years later; at 18 had had only nine months’ schooling, but graduated at Illinois College in 1837; spent a year at Lane Theological Seminary, another as tutor in Illinois College, and then, after two years more at Lane Seminary and preaching in Chicago and at Monroe, Mich., in 1842 established the Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago, of which he remained the pastor over thirty years. 

In 1850 he received a call to the chair of Didactic Theology at Lane Seminary, as successor to Dr. Lyman Beecher, but it was declined, as was a similar call ten years later. Resigning his pastor¬ ship in 1873, he was, for several years, Professor of Christian Evidences and Ethics in the Theological Seminary of the Northwest; in 1876-78 served as President of Lake Forest University (of which he was one of the founders), and, in 1880-83, as lecturer in Lane Theological Seminary. 

He received the degree of D.D. from Hamilton College, N. Y., in 1854, that of LL.D. from Lake Forest University, and was Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly (N. S.) at Wilmington, Del., in 1859. Died, at Evanston, Ill., Feb. 24, 1894.

Pierre Petit 1839

 

Bard of Tower Hall

BARD OF TOWER HALL”—Pen-name of Lewis Dela, who was a clothing salesman in the store of Colonel Joseph M. Bennett at 518 Market Street, which, owing to its massive granite front, which pyramided into a Gothic tower, was named “Tower Hall.” In 1857, Dela wrote, in a pleasing doggerel, an advertisement, which through its novelty and human interest, attracted attention. He had a lively, entertaining style of versifying, and for nearly thirty years “turned out” daily, except Sundays, a Tower Hall advertisement in verse. They all were signed “By the Bard of Tower Hall,” and gained a sort of celebrity for the clothing house, which had the reputation of “keeping a poet.” The advertisements, in those days, appeared on the front page of the Public Ledger. A good many persons were of the opinion that Colonel Bennett was the poet, but he denied the “soft impeachment.”

The White Death, the deadliest sniper who ever lived, 1939-1940

 Simo Häyhä was a Finnish farmer who took part in hunting and target practice from a young age. In 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Finland. It began the Winter War or the Russo-Finnish War, and a young Simo Häyhä answered the patriotic call by joining the Finnish army to defend his homeland. Häyhä's home was also close to the border with Russia, which further fuelled his drive to defend his country.

Albert Einstein met Charlie Chaplin in 1931

When Albert Einstein met Charlie Chaplin in 1931, Einstein said, "What I admire most about your art is its universality. You do not say a word, and yet the world understands you." "It's true." Replied Chaplin, "But your fame is even greater. The world admires you, when no one understands you."