February 13th What Happened on the day you were born on This day in History
1955 Israel Dead Sea Scrolls
13th February, 1955 : Israel has bought four Dead Sea scrolls written at various times between the middle of the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD. from the Syrians for $250,000. The scrolls together with many others discovered in 11 caves in and around the Wadi Qumran are now housed with many others at the Shrine of the Book, a wing of the Israel Museum near Givat Ram in western Jerusalem,
13th February, 1955 : Israel has bought four Dead Sea scrolls written at various times between the middle of the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD. from the Syrians for $250,000. The scrolls together with many others discovered in 11 caves in and around the Wadi Qumran are now housed with many others at the Shrine of the Book, a wing of the Israel Museum near Givat Ram in western Jerusalem,
1920 Switzerland Neutrality
13th February, 1920 : Switzerland who had asked for international confirmation of it's neutrality in 1920 before becoming a member of the League of Nations. The countries belonging to the League of Nations (the predecessor to the United Nations) agreed and recognized the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.
1931 U.S.A. Train Crash
13th February, 1931 : An attempt was made today to derail train no. 18, a train southbound between Dallas and Houston. This incident took place around midnight near the old Chambers Creek. As soon as the train engineer suspected trouble on this line, that engineer signaled a porter for help. The porter had notices two rails missing from the track, and two more that were loose. The removal of the train rails had taken about 40 minutes. Personnel from the Navarro county sheriff’s department railroad detectives arrived on the scene as soon as possible. The tools used for this act of vandalism were believed to be stolen from a nearby Cotton Belt tool house.
1933 U.S.A. Kidnapping
13th February, 1933 : A descendent of a millionaire pioneer Colorado family, Charles Boettcher II, was held on ransom. Kidnappers demanded a $60,000 ransom (payment for return of Boettcher II, the hostage). Two men with masks had taken not held Boettcher hostage, but those men had also taken his wife in captivity as well. They were abducted at the garage of their home as they returned from a party at midnight. The couple was directed forcibly to an upper room of their home, where Mrs. Boettcher was given a ransom note. The kidnappers then took off with Boettcher in a motorcar.
1935 U.S.A. Lindbergh Baby
13th February, 1935 : Bruno Hauptmann was convicted of the Lindbergh baby murder after the jury reached a guilty verdict
1937 U.S.A. Alabama 2% Sales Tax
13th February, 1937 : Two percent sales tax was passed by the Alabama Senate on this day. It had received a 17 to 15 vote by the Senate, and was expected to be reviewed a second time by the House, which had passed the bill last week. Changes were made by the Senate before the bill was passed, which is the main reason why the House is expected to review it again. One of the changes made by the Senate was the levy of one half of one percent of a tax on new automobiles, and another was on mail order purchases outside the state.
1940 U.S.A. Boogie Woogie on St. Louis Blues
13th February, 1940 : "Boogie Woogie on St. Louis Blues" is recorded by Earl "Fatha" Hines and his orchestra. The song eventually becomes a classic and is still popular among big band fans today.
1945 Germany Dresden
13th February, 1945 : A massive air raid with hundreds of British bombers loaded with incendiaries and high-explosive bombs drop 1,478 tons of high-explosive bombs and 1,182 tons of incendiaries completely destroying the city of Dresden, in eastern Germany leaving between 35,000 and 135,000 civilian casualties.
1958 U.S.A. T-Bird
13th February, 1958 : A four-passenger Thunderbird was made by the Ford Company, and it was introduced on this day in 1958. This new version was called the “Square Bird”, and was considered to be a model of car that turned the Thunderbird from a sports car into a luxury car. This version of the Thunderbird is often even today referred to as the T-Bird. It is known as the epitome of 1950s culture, and has appeared in movies such as Grease and in music videos (i.e. Beach Boys “I get Around”).
1960 Algeria Fourth Atomic Power
13th February, 1960 : France becomes the fourth atomic power after exploding an atomic bomb in the Sahara Desert
1967 UK Beatle's Release Double A Side Single
17th February, 1967 : The Beatles release the double A-sided single in the United Kingdom with Penny Lane ( Paul McCartney ) ** written about Penny Lane where Lennon and McCartney would meet to go into Liverpool *** on one side and "Strawberry Fields Forever" ( John Lennon ) *** named after a Salvation Army house where Lennon would play as a kid *** on the other side.
1974 U.S.A. Patricia Hearst
13th February, 1974 : The Symbionese Liberation Army demanded $70 of food be given to every needy Californian which could cost as much as $400 million in exchange for the release of 19-year-old Patricia Hearst.
1975 UK Coal Miners 35% Pay Rise
13th February, 1975 : British mineworkers' leaders have agreed to accept the National Coal Board latest pay offer of up to 35% in pay increases. To put this in context the basic rate for workers at the coal face increased from £45 to £61 per week.
1978 U.S.A. Snowstorms
13th February, 1978 : Major snowstorms hit the North Dakota area creating problems for local farmers and ranchers because they could not supply their livestock with hay and a state of emergency was declared
1983 Italy Movie Theatre Fire
13th February, 1983 : 74 people lost their lives in a movie theatre fire. This cinema was located in Turin, Italy. The fire took place on the ground floor and abruptly set several seats on fire. These seats were covered with plastic, which had produced toxic smoke when caught on fire. Some of the people that died during this incident did not lose their lives directly because of the fire. Rather, they had suffocated to death when a crowd of panicking people headed for exits, causing a stampede. The other problem was that the rear emergency exits were locked. In the vicinity of the locked exits, several people had died while trying to escape. A total of 37 people on the first floor had died from one or more of the following: bums, smoke inhalation, or stamped injuries. Fortunately, the firefighters were able to put out the fire before it reached the second floor and balcony. However, 37 people had died up there as well-many of them in the bathroom, as a result of smoke inhalation. Possible causes of the fire included one or more of the following: lighted cigarette, faulty electrical wiring, or a firecracker (a firearm used during the celebration of Shrove Tuesday at the time). Of course, the use of the plastic seat covers and the locking of the emergency doors was also a concern.
1991 U.S.A. Huckleberry Finn
13th February, 1991 : This was the day that the original manuscript of Huckleberry Finn by Mark was recovered. It was a handwritten script of the first half of the original draft of this book, which included Twains own handwritten corrections. This manuscript had been missing for over a hundred years. It was found by a 62-year old librarian from Los Angeles, who finally sorted through old papers sent to her from upstate New York. Mark Twain had sent the second half of the manuscript to this librarian’s grandfather, James Gluck. Gluck had solicited this manuscript in Buffalo, New York where Mark Twain had lived at one time. Mark Twain could not find the first half of his manuscript, even while he was alive. However, he did find it and sent it to Gluck. Court proceedings had taken place to decide who owned the rights to the lost Huckleberry Finn manuscript (the first half). The sisters, the library, and the Mark Twain Papers Projects in Berkeley, California all fought for rights of this book. After a fairly lengthy battle, the three different groups mentioned above came to a consensus, and made a deal. The library would be awarded the rights to the physical papers, and all three parties would share in publication rights. Then, in 1995, Random House won the rights to publish the book. They were said to have paid a high price for these rights, however, and the amount they were said to have paid was not disclosed to the public.
1991 Iraq Bombing
13th February, 1991: Local reports from Baghdad, Iraq say two laser-guided precision bombs from American bombers hit an air-raid shelter in the middle class district of Amiriya, five miles from the centre of the Iraqi capital. So far 235 bodies have been recovered, 12 hours after the attacks
1997 U.S.A. Dow Jones
13th February, 1997 : The Dow Jones industrial average broke through the 7,000 barrier for the first time, closing at 7,022.44.
2000 U.S.A. Peanuts
13th February, 2000 : On the day after Charles M. Schultz died the comic strip “Peanuts” appeared in newspapers for the last time. The characters of “Peanuts” included Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Snoopy, Woodstock, and others.
2001 El Salvador Earthquake
13th February, 2001 : In El Salvador, a 6.6-magnitude earthquake had hit in El Salvador. It had killed 402 people after another earthquake had killed more than 800 people.
