Today in history
Today is Friday, August 25, the 237th day of 2017 and the 67th day of summer.
On this date in the SCV: In 1939, The Signal reported that as the result of what is believed to have been a boyish prank, little Sidney Hammond, age 11, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Hammond, of 622 Pine Street, was at death’s door in the Community hospital where he was taken after his father found him, strangled and unconscious, dangling in a noose in the back yard of the Hammond home. Nearby was a five gallon bucket overturned on the ground. When found the lad’s toes were barely touching the ground, and both hands were inside the noose in the rope, as if trying to release the pressure that was choking him. By Thursday the boy had sufficiently improved to be pronounced out of danger. The boy’s father has been sick. The mother went to a grocery store, leaving Sidney with their other two children on the front porch of the home. When she returned she saw the boy hanging from the rope, but thought it a joke on the boy’s part. She went into the house, looked out the back door, realized something was wrong, called the boy’s father, who ran out and released him from the noose. Dr. E. C. Innis was called, and worked over the boy for an hour, after which he was taken to the hospital where he was still unconscious.
Today’s Highlights in History:
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation establishing the National Park Service.
In 1944, Allied troops liberated Paris after four years of German occupation.
In 1950, President Harry Truman ordered the Army to take control of U.S. railroads in order to prevent strikes.
In 1967, American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell was shot dead by a former aide in Arlington, Virginia.
Today’s fact: The Voyager 2 spacecraft, which made its closest approaches to Saturn and Neptune on this day in 1981 and 1989, respectively, continues to receive and transmit data -- 38 years since its launch in August 1977.
Today’s sports: In 1985, 20-year-old pitching phenom Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets became the youngest 20-game winner in major league history.
Today’s number: 39 – miles swum (on a zigzagging course) by Capt. Matthew Webb as he became the first person in recorded history to cross the English Channel unassisted, on this day in 1875.
Today’s moon: Between new moon (Aug. 21) and first quarter moon (Aug. 29).