March the Tenth

This day in history:

March 10th, 1862 - US issues 1st paper money ($5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 & $1000)

This surprised me. I assumed we'd been using it long before that. I do recall reading a Supreme Court decision around about this time involving a dispute over whether a seller could force a buyer to accept paper money rather than gold. The SC ruled that the paper must be accepted.

March 10th, 1876 - 1st telephone call made (Alexander Graham Bell to Thomas Watson)

The second phone call, of course, was a telemarketer wanting to know if Dr. Bell wanted his carpets cleaned.

March 10th, 1893 - New Mexico State University cancels its 1st graduation ceremony, its only graduate Sam Steele was robbed & killed the night before.

Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket...

March 10th, 1910 - China “ends” slavery

I put “ends” in quotes, because they didn't really end it, they just renamed it. Now they arrest people for crimes like going to church, then force them to work in factories making cheap crap to sell to Americans. Sounds like slavery to me.

March 10th, 1962 - Due to it's no black policy, Phillies leave Jack Tar Harrison Hotel & move to Rocky Point Motel, 20 miles outside Clearwater FL

Hurray for them.

March 10th, 1969 - James Earl Ray pleads guilty in murder of Martin Luther King Jr

This was also his 41st birthday. He later recanted the confession, and claimed it had been coerced. The King family eventually join his appeal to re-open the investigation, but Ray died before it could be completed.

March 10th, 1982 - All 9 planets aligned on same side of Sun

Remember, that was the year the alignment caused the earth to explode and they put us all on this giant space ark and told us not to tell the stupid people because they wouldn’t underst...oh...wait...never mind.

Births:
March 10th, 1928 - James Earl Ray
March 10th, 1940 - Chuck Norris
March 10th, 1958 - Sharon Stone
March 10th, 1963 - Jasmine Guy

Deaths:
March 10th, 1913 - Harriet Tubman
March 10th, 1988 - Andy Gibb

Posted by Jack Lewis at March 10, 2005 11:04 AM