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May 28, ‘Circus elephant crushes man’

May 28, 2014 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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Good morning.  Today is the 148th day of the year.

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LAURA SILVER, author of “Knish: In Search of the Jewish Soul Food,” is holding an Author Talk to debut her book at the Brooklyn Public Library today at 7 p.m.  The event starts with a wine and knish reception at 6:30 p.m. before the lecture at 7 p.m.

THE WEDNESDAY NIGHT TOURS SERIES is hosting a Bring the Park to Life tour at 6:30 p.m. today at the Pier 1 entrance.  The tour will be led by Regina Myer, Brooklyn Bridge Park president, and will focus on the park’s “creation and innovation approach to revitalizing urban space.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include Toronto mayor Rob Ford, singer Gladys Knight, the Dionne Quintuplets (Marie, Cecile, Yvonne, Emilie and Annette), the first quintuplets to have survived their infancy, who were born in 1934; the world’s most recorded classical singer, German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, who was born in 1925; French Constituent Assembly member Joseph Ignance Guillotin, who was born in 1783; former British prime minister from 1783 to 1801 and the man whom Pittsburgh is named after, William Pitt, who was born in 1759; and famous Olympic gold medal track athlete and Native American James Francis Thorpe, who was born in 1888.

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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL was founded today in 1961.
The founder, London lawyer Peter Benenson, started Amnesty after reading about two Portuguese students who were arrested for toasting to freedom.  Benenson, at the time, expressed that he had a realization that people in the world were at risk daily for peacefully expressing their views.  Amnesty now has more than 3 million members around the world.  

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DAY OF THE REPUBLIC is a public holiday celebrated on this day every year in Azerbaijan to celebrate the declaration of their republic in 1918.

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THE END OF THE PARIS COMMUNE occurred on this day in 1871.  The revolt began two months earlier and was between Parisian workers and the policies of the national government.  The uprising resulted in 147 members of the Commune being murdered.  Their bodies were dumped in a trench along a wall by Pere Lachaise Cemetery.  

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ETHIOPA’S NATIONAL DAY is celebrated today to commemorate the downfall of the military government that ruled Ethiopa from 1974 to 1991, the Dergue.

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NATIONAL SENIOR HEALTH AND FITNESS DAY is a celebration that is part of Older Americans Month in May.  The recognized day is meant to promote the value of fitness and exercise for older adults.  

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REPUBLIC DAY is celebrated today in Nepal to celebrate the anniversary of Nepal switching from a monarchy to a democratic republic in 2008.

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SIERRA CLUB was founded today in 1892.  The club was founded by naturalist John Muir and promotes conservation of the natural environment by influencing public policy.  It supports founding and protecting national parks.

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IAN FLEMING, the creator of the “James Bond” series, was born on this day in 1908.  He was an English journalist and novelist who also wrote children’s book “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” He passed away Aug. 12, 1964.

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ON THIS DAY IN 1902 the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article about a circus elephant that crushed a man.  The elephant, named “Tops” by the Forepaugh & Sells Brothers’ circus, seized circus-goer Fielding Blount by the waist and threw him to the ground.  
“Blount was one of the hangers-on of the circus who had been following it for several weeks,” the Eagle published that day.”  Blount was reportedly intoxicated.
Tops was the second largest elephant in the circus at the time.

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