Birmingham Six on verge of freedom

Seventeen years after being charged for an IRA attack on two pubs in Birmingham, the six men known collectively as the Birmingham Six were released from prison after years of maintaining their innocence. A few weeks before their release, the Director of Public Prosecution stated that the charges against the Six were “no longer considered safe and satisfactory,” according to the article appearing below the headline. The case was considered a “national disgrace,” and several of the individuals later became alcoholics and/or divorcees as their private lives were impacted by the many unnecessary years they spent in jail. According to The BBC, the real bombers have not been prosecuted to this day.

(The BBC – Feb. 25, 1991)

The Kaiser’s New Yacht is Successfully Launched

While Kate Middleton and Harry are often the centre of attention as royal media darlings, North Americans were no less excited about the monarchy of any European country 111 years ago. On the German Prince Harry’s third day visiting America, his new schooner yacht, the Meteor, was launched in New York to the thrill of a large crowd, which included the Roosevelts. The reporter wrote that the yacht entered the water “gracefully” with the American flag “breaking out at the taffrail,” the railing around the stern of the ship. The statement painted a pleasant picture of the friendly international relations between the two nations, which only lasted for a few more years before the outbreak of WWI. Even Miss Roosevelt’s outfit was not left out from the description of the day’s celebrations, with the article stating that she wore “a dress of sapphire blue velvet, a large black hat, trimmed with ostrich feathers, and a fur muff.”

(The Globe – Feb. 26, 1902)

Lindbergh Baby Kidnapped From Home of Parents

On this day, celebrity pilot Charles A. Lindbergh and his aviatress wife Anne Morrow experienced a shocking crime that involved the kidnapping, and later murder, of their infant son, Charles, who was snatched from his crib while the couple was out to dinner. The intruder came in through the nursery window and left an obvious trail of muddy footprints that led the police to the edge of the forest by the Lindberghs’ home, though little came out of the discovery. The baby’s body was discovered more than a year later six miles from the house. The event was called the crime of the century, and has inspired cultural adaptations in films and T.V. shows like American Horror Story.

(The New York Times – March 1, 1932)

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