40th year - N° 79 Thursday, 20 March 2025

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
40th year - N° 79 Thursday, 20 March 2025

20 March / Today's 27 Events:

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(x) 265 years ago Thursday 20th of March 1760 A fire of unknown cause breaks out at a dwelling causing the Great Fire in Cornhill, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. 174 houses and 175 warehouses, shops and other buildings were destroyed in the blaze, leaving some two hundred and twenty families homeless.

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(+) 255 years ago Tuesday 20th of March 1770 Poet Friedrich Johann Christian Hölderlin is born in Schweizerhof, Neckarsteige 1, Lauffen-am-Neckar, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

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(+) 197 years ago Thursday 20th of March 1828 Poet and playwright Henrik Johan Ibsen is born in Skien, Grenland, Norway.

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(+) 130 years ago Wednesday 20th of March 1895 Psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, originally Friedrich Ignatz Wertheimer is born in München, Bayern, Germany.

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(-) 126 years ago Monday 20th of March 1899 Murderess Martha Place, originally Martha 'Mattie' Garretson is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 50 in Sing Sing Prison, Ossining, New York, United States. Place was the first woman to die in the electric chair.

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(+) 108 years ago Tuesday 20th of March 1917 Singer and entertainer Vera Margaret Lynn, originally Vera Margaret Welch aka the Forces' Sweetheart is born in East Ham, Essex, United Kingdom.

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(-) 102 years ago Tuesday 20th of March 1923 Wilhelm Schulze is killed and his meat sold by serial killer Fritz Haarmann aka Der Hannover Werwolf in Neue Straße 8, Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany.

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(-) 98 years ago Sunday 20th of March 1927 Albert Snyder is garrotted and has his nose stuffed full of chloroform-soaked rags by 32-year-old Murderess Ruth Brown Snyder aka The Granite Woman and her lover Judd Gray in 93-27 222nd Street, Queens, New York, New York, United States. Ruth had made at least seven attempts to kill her husband, all of which he survived.

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(-) 96 years ago Wednesday 20th of March 1929 Murderer John Clark is executed by Old Sparky in Georgia State Penitentiary, Milledgeville, Georgia, United States.

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(-) 92 years ago They Flipped the Switch Monday 20th of March 1933 Assassin Giuseppe Zangara is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 33 in Florida State Prison, 23916 NW 83rd Ave., Raiford, Florida, United States. Zangara's final statement was "Viva l'Italia! Goodbye to all poor peoples everywhere!... Push the button! Go ahead, push the button!"

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(+) 85 years ago Wednesday 20th of March 1940 Serial rapist and murderer Mike James Mitchell DeBardeleben aka The Lethal Shadow is born in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States.

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(-) 83 years ago Friday 20th of March 1942 Triple murderer John Anthony Soto is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 17 in Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem, Oregon, United States.

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(x) 79 years ago Wednesday 20th of March 1946 185 die in suburban service train derailment in Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil. The train was carrying about 1000 passengers. Grief-stricken relatives came to the scene and nearly lynched the surviving locomotive engineer who took refuge in a police station. The train conductors also fled.

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(+) 70 years ago Sunday 20th of March 1955 Rapist and murderer Thomas Martin Thompson is born in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

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(+) 67 years ago Thursday 20th of March 1958 Actress Holly Hunter is born in Conyers, Georgia, United States.

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(-) 57 years ago Wednesday 20th of March 1968 Film director Carl Theodor Dreyer dies of pneumonia at the age of 79 in Copenhagen, Hovedstaden, Denmark.

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(x) 56 years ago Thursday 20th of March 1969 Musician John Winston Lennon known from The Beatles dies of pneumonia in Gibraltar, Overseas Territory, United Kingdom.

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(x) 51 years ago She Would Not Bloody Likely Wednesday 20th of March 1974 26-year-old Psychotic Ian Ball uses his white Ford Escort to force Princess Anne and Mark Phillips' Rolls Royce to stop and kidnap the Princess for ransom in The Mall, Westminster, London, Greater London, United Kingdom. Ball shot and wounded the Princess's driver Alexander Callender and Royal protection officer Inspector James Beaton, whose gun jammed as he confronted the attacker. Ball then demanded that the Princess get out of the car but she told him: "Not bloody likely." Passing pedestrian and former boxer Ron Russell punched Ball in the back of the head and then led Anne away from the scene.

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(-) 45 years ago Thursday 20th of March 1980 Harry Todd Turner is sodomised, beaten and strangled by serial killer William Bonin aka The Freeway Killer in Hollywood, California, United States. Bonin was assisted by 17-year-old William Ray Pugh who bludgeoned and beat Turner about the head and body for several minutes.

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(-) 41 years ago Tuesday 20th of March 1984 Linda Grover is abducted, raped and tortured by serial killer Christopher Wilder aka The Beauty Queen Killer in Governor's Square Mall, Tallahassee, Florida, United States. Wilder tied Grover's hands, wrapped her in a blanket and put her in the trunk of his car. Grover was taken to Glen Oaks Motel in Bainbridge, Georgia and raped. Wilder blinded her with a blow dryer and super glue. He applied copper wires to her feet and passed an electric current through them. She escaped and locked herself in the bathroom where she began pounding on the walls. Wilder fled in his car and took all of her belongings with him.

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(-) 37 years ago Sunday 20th of March 1988 Daniël Pándy is shot dead by serial killer András Pándy aka Father Bluebeard in Nijverheidskaai, Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, Brussel, Brabant, Belgium. Daniël was shot by Ágnes then dismembered and dissolved in acid by András.

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(x) 30 years ago Monday 20th of March 1995 12 people die in five coordinated attacks with perpetrators led by 40-year-old Doomsday cult leader Shoko Asahara, originally Chizuo Matsumoto known for the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway released sarin poison on three lines in Tokyo Metro, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Kantō, Japan.

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(x) 29 years ago Wednesday 20th of March 1996 40-year-old Kidnapper, serial killer and child molester Marc Paul Alain Dutroux is released from prison in Prison de Jamioulx, Rue Vandamme 120, Ham-sur-Heure-Nalinnes, Hainaut, Belgium. While Dutroux was in prison 8-year-old Julie Lejeune and Mélissa Russo starved to death in a dungeon in his basement in Marcinelle. His wife Michelle Martin allegedly fed her Dutroux's German shepherd dogs but did not follow his orders to feed the girls claiming she was too afraid to go into the dungeon.

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(-) 27 years ago Friday 20th of March 1998 Enzo Gorni is shot dead by serial killer Donato Bilancia aka Il Mostro della Liguria in Ventimiglia, Liguria, Italy.

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(-) 22 years ago Thursday 20th of March 2003 Murderer Keith Bernard Clay is executed by lethal injection at the age of 35 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States. Clay's last meal request was for four pieces of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, two pints of ice cream, bacon cheeseburger and two vanilla cokes.

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20 years ago The Eyes had it Sunday 20th of March 2005 Mountain walks and oddities in Sierre, Valais, Switzerland.

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5 years ago The Eyes had it Friday 20th of March 2020 Making sets for COVID masks with the laser cutter as sole working employee in the University building in Mekano, Mutsaardstraat 31, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

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40th year - N° 78 Wednesday, 19 March 2025

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
40th year - N° 78 Wednesday, 19 March 2025

19 March / Today's 26 Events:

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(-) 739 years ago He Was Desperate to Return to His Queen Tuesday 19th of March 1286 King of Scots Alexander III aka Alaxandair mac Alaxandair dies of a broken neck at the age of 45 in Kinghorn Castle, Kinghorn, Scotland, United Kingdom. After a long council, albeit with plenty of alcohol Alexander was desperate to return to his queen. Although everyone advised him not to make the 8-mile journey at nightfall with a storm approaching he rode off into the night. The next morning he was found with a broken neck having been thrown off his horse.

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(-) 304 years ago Wednesday 19th of March 1721 243rd Pope Clemens XI, originally Giovanni Francesco Albani dies of unknown causes at the age of 72 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

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(+) 287 years ago Wednesday 19th of March 1738 Revolutionary leader Túpac Amaru II, originally José Gabriel Condorcanqui Noguera is born in Surimana-Canas, Cusco, Peru.

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(+) 212 years ago Friday 19th of March 1813 Explorer and pioneer medical missionary David Livingstone is born in 165 Station Road, Blantyre, Scotland, United States.

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(x) 194 years ago Saturday 19th of March 1831 Edward Smith aka Edward Jones aka James Honeyman and James Murray commit what is regarded as one of the first bank thefts in the United States in City Bank of New York, Wall Street, New York City, New York, United States. The thieves made off with $245.000 using a set of copied keys.

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(+) 154 years ago Sunday 19th of March 1871 Baroness and mistress of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria Mary Vetsera, originally Marie Alexandrine von Vetsera is born in Wien, Wien, Austria.

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(+) 152 years ago Wednesday 19th of March 1873 Pianist and composer Max Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger is born in Brand, Bayern, Germany.

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(+) 137 years ago Monday 19th of March 1888 Artist Josef Albers is born in Bottrop, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

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(+) 120 years ago Sunday 19th of March 1905 Nazi architect Albert Berthold Konrad Hermann Speer is born in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

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(+) 119 years ago Monday 19th of March 1906 SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Otto Eichmann known for organising the Holocaust is born in Solingen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.

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(+) 111 years ago Thursday 19th of March 1914 Actress and wife of Mao Zedong Jiang Qing, originally Lǐ Shūméng aka Lan Ping aka Madame Mao is born in Zhucheng, Shandong, China.

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(+) 104 years ago Saturday 19th of March 1921 Actor and comedian Tommy Thomas Frederick Cooper is born in 19 Llwyn Onn Street, Trecenydd, Caerphilly, South Wales, United Kingdom.

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(+) 92 years ago Sunday 19th of March 1933 Writer Philip Milton Roth is born in Newark, New Jersey, United States.

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(+) 89 years ago Thursday 19th of March 1936 Actress Ursula Andress is born in Ostermundigen, Mittelland, Switzerland.

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(+) 86 years ago Sunday 19th of March 1939 Mass murderer Dale Merle Nelson is born in Creston, British Columbia, Canada.

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(+) 81 years ago Sunday 19th of March 1944 Assassin Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, originally Sirḥān Bishārah Sirḥān known for the assassination of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy is born in Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine, Israel.

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(+) 80 years ago Monday 19th of March 1945 Serial killer Randy Steven Kraft aka The Scorecard Killer is born in Long Beach, California, United States.

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(-) 80 years ago Monday 19th of March 1945 Murderer John Henry George Lee aka Babbacombe Lee aka The Man They Couldn't Hang dies of natural causes at the age of 81 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.

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(-) 75 years ago Sunday 19th of March 1950 Writer Edgar Rice Burroughs known for Tarzan dies of a heart attack at the age of 75 in Encino, California, United States.

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(-) 54 years ago Friday 19th of March 1971 Lutgarde Van Der Wilt is raped, strangled and mutilated by serial killer Gustaaf Van Eyken aka De Vampier van Muizen in Wielewaalreservaat Zellaar, Bonheiden, Antwerpen, Belgium.

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(-) 28 years ago Wednesday 19th of March 1997 Abstract expressionist painter Willem de Kooning dies of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 93 in East Hampton, New York, United States.

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(-) 28 years ago Wednesday 19th of March 1997 Barbara Bourgeois is stabbed to death by serial killer Daniel Blank aka The Parish River Killer in Paulina, Louisiana, United States.

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(x) 24 years ago Monday 19th of March 2001 Start of the trial against 39-year-old Serial killer Guy Georges, originally Guy Rampillon aka Le Tueur de la Bastille in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

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(-) 21 years ago Friday 19th of March 2004 Drug trafficker Yen May Woen aka Joelle Yen is executed by hanging at the age of 38 in Changi Prison, Singapore, Singapore. Woen was arrested in May 2002 carrying 120 sachets, each containing 30.16g of heroin.

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(x) 18 years ago the Proceedings Were Televised Monday 19th of March 2007 Start of the trial against 67-year-old Record producer and songwriter Phil Harvey Phillip Spector known for the ‘Wall of Sound’ production method for the murder of 40-year-old nightclub hostess and actress Lana Clarkson in Los Angeles Superior Court, Alhambra, California, United States. Presiding Judge Larry Paul Fidler allowed the proceedings in court to be televised.

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(-) 17 years ago Wednesday 19th of March 2008 Science fiction writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer and television series host Arthur C. Charles Clarke known for 2001: A Space Odyssey dies of respiratory failure at the age of 91 in Colombo, Basnahira Palata, Sri Lanka.

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