41st year - N° 38 Saturday, 7 February 2026

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-) 41st year - N° 38 Saturday, 7 February 2026

7 February / Today's 18 Events: (+) 548 years ago  Thursday 7th of February 1478 Social philosopher, statesman and humanist Thomas More is born in Milk Street, London, Greater London, United Kingdom. (+) 214 years ago  Friday 7th of February 1812 Writer and social critic Charles John Huffam Dickens aka Boz is born in 393 Old Commercial Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire, United Kingdom. (x) 163 years ago  Saturday 7th of February 1863 189 die in HMS Orpheus Australian Royal Navy corvetteshipwreck in Whatipu Beach, Auckland, North Island, New Zealand. (-) 148 years ago  Thursday 7th of February 1878 255th Pope Pius IX, originally Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferrettidies of epilepsy at the age of 86 in Palazzo Apostolico, Vatican City, Rome, Lazio, Italy. Pius IX was the longest reigning pope (over 31 years) ever. (-) 122 years ago  Sunday 7th of February 1904 Sharecropper and murderer Luther Holbert and his wife are tortured and lynched   in Vardaman, Mississippi, United States. Suspected of killing a white plantation owner, black Luther Holbertattempted to escape with his wife before a lynch mob could dispense its own form of 'justice'. Catching up with the Holberts, the mob bound the couple to convenient trees. While the mob's ringleaders forced the Holberts to hold out their hands in order that their fingers could be chopped off one by one – the audience of 600 spectators enjoyed treats like deviled eggs, lemonade, and whiskey in a festive atmosphere. Next, the Holberts' ears were amputated and those severed appendages, along with the disconnected digits, became much-prized souvenirs. Mr. Holbert was beaten severely enough so that his skull was fractured and one eye was left dangling from its socket. When someone in the crowd produced a large corkscrew, that instrument was used to alternately bore into husband and wife, each time gouging out "spirals of raw, quivering flesh" when withdrawn. Finally the tortured man and woman were burned alive like Christian martyrs. (+) 120 years ago  Wednesday 7th of February 1906 Last Emperor of China Aisin-Gioro Henry Puyi is born in Beijing, Hebei, China. (+) 113 years ago  Friday 7th of February 1913 Catalan communist and assassin Ramón Mercader, originally Jaime Ramón Mercader del Río aka Jacques Mornard aka Frank Jacson is born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. (-) 90 years ago  Friday 7th of February 1936 Murderer John Daugherty is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 44 in Virginia State Penitentiary, Richmond, Virginia, United States. (+) 86 years ago  Wednesday 7th of February 1940 Victim of Albert Desalvo aka The Boston Strangler Patricia Jane Bissette is born in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. (x) 64 years ago  Wednesday 7th of February 1962 298 die in coal mine explosion in Luisenthal Mine, Völklingen, Saarland, Germany. (-) 47 years ago  Wednesday 7th of February 1979 Nazi doctor and anthropologist Josef Mengele aka Der Todesengelsuffers a stroke while swimming and drowns at the age of 68 in Bertioga, Região Sudeste, Brazil. Mengele was buried in Embu das Artes under the name Wolfgang Gerhard, whose identification card he had been using since 1971. The remains were exhumed on 6 June 1985 and extensive forensic examination confirmed with a high degree of probability that the body was Mengele's. (-) 45 years ago  Saturday 7th of February 1981 Fatima Sonnenberg is raped and stabbed to death by serial killerMichael Wolpert aka Der Neu-Isenburger Frauenmörder in Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany. (-) 39 years ago  Saturday 7th of February 1987 Sandra Lindsay is tortured to death by serial killer Gary Heidnik aka The Cellar of Horror Murderer in 3520 North Marshall Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Heidnik caught Lindsay trying to move the plywood that covered the pit where she was locked up. Lindsay was forced to hang from a roof beam by a single handcuff attached to her wrist for several days. During this time her condition deteriorated and she refused to eat. Heidniktried to force feed her pieces of bread, often jamming food into her mouth and holding her mouth shut until she swallowed. Towards the end of the week she was vomiting and running a high fever. The next day Lindsay lost consciousness. When Heidnik couldn't rouse her he became angry and unlocked the handcuffs, dropping her to the ground. Lindsay was dead. (-) 32 years ago  Monday 7th of February 1994 Composer Witold Roman Lutosławski dies of cancer at the age of 81 in Warszawa, Województwo Mazowieckie, Poland. (-) 31 years ago  Tuesday 7th of February 1995 Murderer Jeffrey Motley is executed by lethal injection at the age of 30 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States. 19 years ago  Wednesday 7th of February 2007 Nothing but a shadow on the wall in Borgerhout, Antwerpen, Belgium. (-) 6 years ago  Friday 7th of February 2020 Ophthalmologist Li Wenliang dies of COVID-19 at the age of 34 in Houhu Hospital, Wuhan, Hebei, China. On 12 January Li was admitted to intensive care and tested positive for the infection on 30 January. 5 years ago  Sunday 7th of February 2021 Snow covered branches in Rivierenhof, Deurne, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

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