• On July 4, 1826, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the second and third presidents of the United States, respectively, die on the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Both men had been central in drafting the historic document. • On June 30, 1859, Frenchman Emile Blondin becomes the first daredevil to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. Wearing pink tights and a yellow tunic, Blondin crossed a cable about 2 inches in diameter and 1,100-feet long using only a balancing pole. • On July 5, 1865, in London, revivalist preacher William Booth and his wife Catherine establish the Christian Mission, modeled after the British army, with women given ranks equal with men. In 1878, the organization was renamed the Salvation Army, and two years later the first U.S. branch opened in Pennsylvania. • On July 2, 1881, President James A. Garfield is shot as he walks through a railroad waiting room in Washington, D.C. His assailant, Charles J. Guiteau, was a disgruntled and perhaps insane office seeker. Garfield died 80 days later of blood poisoning. • On July 1, 1951, Cleveland Indians ace Bob Feller pitches the third no-hit game of his career, making him the first modern pitcher ever to throw three no-hitters. Feller made his first start in 1936, when he was just 17.
• On July 3, 1985, the blockbuster action-comedy "Back to the Future," in which the iconic DeLorean concept car is transformed into a timetravel device, premieres. • On June 29, 1995, the American space shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian space station Mir to form the largest man-made satellite ever to orbit the Earth. It was the 100th human space mission in U.S. history. © 2015 King Features Synd., Inc.
• It was U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey who made the following sage observation: "Compassion is not weakness and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism." • Chop suey is not actually a Chinese dish; it was invented in California. • Dick Simon, one of the founders of the Simon and Schuster publishing company, was struggling in his business when he visited his aunt in 1924. She had been looking for a book of crossword puzzles to give to her daughter, but the puzzles being relatively new (first appearing in newspapers in 1913), there was no compilation available. Seeing an opportunity for his fledgling business, Simon and his partner, Lincoln Schuster, published a book of puzzles right away. The puzzle book was an instant best seller, and its revenues supported Simon and Schuster while the publishing company was establishing itself. • You might be surprised to learn that in 1967, the Monkees chose Jimi Hendrix to be the opening act for their summer tour of the U.S. The pairing didn't last long, though; Hendrix discreetly left the tour after he was banned by the Daughters of the American Revolution for being too sexually suggestive. • If you have a particularly quiet friend, he or she might suffer from laliophobia, a fear of speaking. • Those who study such things say that if you're playing a game of Monopoly, you're most likely to land on B&O Railroad and Illinois Avenue. *** Thought for the Day: "The great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up. That is possible for him who never argues and strives with men and facts, but in all experience retires upon himself, and looks for the ultimate cause of things in himself." -- Albert Schweitzer © 2015 King Features Synd., Inc.