Good morning.

Our week ends with the possibility of rain or snow in the afternoon, with a high of forty-one.

Update: David, kindly commenting below, reminds me that I missed a crucial anniversary in American history. Yes, did I ever! On April 19, 1775, Americans fight the British at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and a great revolution begins:

At about 5 a.m., 700 British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, march into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town’s common green. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment’s hesitation the Americans began to drift off the green. Suddenly, the “shot heard around the world” was fired from an undetermined gun, and a cloud of musket smoke soon covered the green. When the brief Battle of Lexington ended, eight Americans lay dead or dying and 10 others were wounded. Only one British soldier was injured, but the American Revolution had begun….

When the British troops reached Concord at about 7 a.m., they found themselves encircled by hundreds of armed Patriots. They managed to destroy the military supplies the Americans had collected but were soon advanced against by a gang of minutemen, who inflicted numerous casualties. Lieutenant Colonel Frances Smith, the overall commander of the British force, ordered his men to return to Boston without directly engaging the Americans. As the British retraced their 16-mile journey, their lines were constantly beset by Patriot marksmen firing at them Indian-style from behind trees, rocks, and stone walls. At Lexington, Captain Parker’s militia had its revenge, killing several British soldiers as the Red Coats hastily marched through his town. By the time the British finally reached the safety of Boston, nearly 300 British soldiers had been killed, wounded, or were missing in action. The Patriots suffered fewer than 100 casualties.

On this day in 1995, “a truck bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring 500. (Timothy McVeigh was later convicted of federal murder charges and executed.)”

On 4.19.1862, while fighting to preserve his country, Wisconsin’s governor dies:

1862 – Governor Harvey Drowns in the Tennessee River
On this date Governor Louis Harvey died while leading an expedition to relieve Wisconsin troops after the battle of Shiloh. The expedition was bringing doctors, nurses, and much-needed medical supplies to soldiers when Harvey, crossing from one steamboat to another, slipped, fell into the swift currents of the Tennessee River, and never re-surfaced. His body was recovered ten days later, nearly sixty miles downstream. When news reached Madison, Lieutenant Governor Edward Salomon was sworn in as Wisconsin’s first German-American governor. [Source: Wisconsin in the Civil War, by Frank L. Klement]

Google-a-Day asks a question about animals in Chicago: “As a testament to its adaptability in urban areas, what kind of animal strolled into a popular sandwich shop in the Chicago Loop area in the spring of 2007?” Follow up: What kind of sandwich did it order? I’d guess pastrami on rye, but that’s just speculation.

Good morning.

Rain – we’ve had much of it, and we’ll have more today in Whitewater. The high will be about fifty-seven, with southeast winds at 5 to 10 mph. Total rainfall today may amount to between a half and three quarters of an inch. It’s a gift: rainy days are often among the most soothing.

Fishermen aren’t the only ones who’d like to catch a fish:

On 4.18.1818, we become part of another territory:

1818 – Wisconsin Becomes Part of Michigan Territory
On this date, the land encompassing current-day Wisconsin was made part of the Michigan Territory, representing one step in Wisconsin’s path to statehood. Wisconsin was a part of the Northwest Territory from July 13, 1787-May 11, 1800; the Indiana Territory from May 1800-February 3, 1809; and the Illinois Territory from February 3, 1809-April 18, 1818. The Territory of Wisconsin was formed July 4, 1836.

From Google-a-Day, a science question: “If you want to find the energy quantum of light, you multiply the frequency of the radiation (v) by ‘h.’ What is ‘h’?”   Odd, but this doesn’t even seem like a serious question.  The clever men and women of Google must know that h is the eight letter of the English alphabet…

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will bring a day of showers and a high of forty-five.

On 4.17.1936, a single horsehair uncovers a murderer:

After a week of tracking down every conceivable lead, police finally find the evidence they need in order to break the case of Nancy Titterton’s rape-murder in New York City. Titterton, a novelist and the wife of NBC executive Lewis Titterton, was raped and strangled in her upscale home on Beekman Place on the morning of April 10, 1936. The only clues left behind were a foot-long piece of cord that had been used to tie Titterton’s hands and a single horsehair found on her bedspread.

These small traces of evidence proved to be enough to find the killer. The detective in charge of the investigation had ordered his team to trace the source of the cord. After a full week of combing every rope and twine manufacturer in the Northeast, the cord was finally found to have come from Hanover Cordage Company in York, Pennsylvania. Company records showed that some of the distinctive cord had been sold to Theodore Kruger’s upholstery shop in New York City.

Since the investigation of the horsehair had already led police to suspect John Fiorenza, an assistant at Kruger’s shop, this new evidence only solidified their suspicion. Fiorenza and Kruger were the first to discover Titterton’s body, when they arrived to return a repaired couch (which had been stuffed with horsehair that matched the one found at the crime scene) on the afternoon of April 10. However, they both denied entering the bedroom that day.

When investigators learned that Fiorenza had been at the Titterton house on April 9 and had been late for work the morning of the murder, they looked deeper into his background. Fiorenza had four prior arrests for theft and had been diagnosed as delusional by a prison psychiatrist. Detectives first gained Fiorenza’s trust by pretending to need his help in solving the crime and then sprang the cord evidence on him.

Caught by surprise, Fiorenza confessed to the brutal crime but claimed that he was temporarily insane. This defense didn’t hold up too well at trial, and Fiorenza was executed on January 22, 1937.

On 4.17.1897, a famous Madisonian playwright in born:

1897 – Thornton Wilder Born
On this date Thornton Wilder was born in Madison. A renowned author and playwright, he taught at the University of Chicago from 1930 to 1937. His plays Our Town (1938) and The Skin of our Teeth (1942) won Pulitzer Prizes and have been performed countless times by school and amateur theatrical companies in the decades since.You can read a 1928 article about his Wisconsin roots in our Wisconsin Local History & Biographies collection. [Source: Thornton Wilder Society]

Google-a-Day poses an entertainment question: “What actress, best known for her role on “Guiding Light,” has a sister-in-law that’s been nominated for an Academy Award seventeen times?”

Good morning.

We’ve a slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms with a high of fifty-three, and northwest winds at 5 to 10 MPH. There will be 13h 26m of sunlight, 14h 25m of daylight, and a waxing crescent moon.

Whitewater’s Alcohol Licensing Committee meets at 6:10 PM, and Common Council at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1789, Washington heads north for his inauguration:

…newly elected President George Washington leaves his Mount Vernon, Virginia, home and heads for New York, where he is sworn in as the first American president.

Before leaving, Washington addressed a group of citizens in nearby Alexandria, Virginia, to whom he expressed his inner conflict at assuming the role of president. He admitted that he would have preferred to stay in retirement and wondered aloud, “at my age what possible advantages [could I gain] from public life?” However, disturbed by growing antagonism between the fledgling nation s political factions, Washington felt duty-bound to help resolve what he feared was an impending crisis. He recounted the day in his diary: “I bade adieu to Mount Vernon, to private life, and to domestic felicity; and with a mind oppressed with more anxious and painful sensations than I have words to express.”

Washington was 57 years old when he took leave of his family, friends and staff at the Mount Vernon estate, to which he had retired after leading the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War.

On this day in 1944, the USS Wisconsin is commissioned:

1944 – USS Wisconsin Commissioned
On this date the USS Wisconsin battleship was put into active duty for service during World War II. The ship, decommissioned in 1948, was recommissioned in 1951 for service in the Korean War. [Source: United States Navy]

Google-a-Day presents a sports question: “What CBS sportscaster was banned from covering the Masters golf tournament after calling a patron gallery at a famous men’s golf club ‘a mob?'”

Good morning.

Monday brings a rainy day with a high of sixty-one.

Whitewater’s Library Board meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1783, Congress approves a peace treaty:

…the Continental Congress of the United States officially ratifies the preliminary peace treaty with Great Britain that was signed in November 1782. The congressional move brings the nascent nation one step closer to the conclusion of the Revolutionary War.

Five months later, on September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed by representatives of the United States, Great Britain, Spain and France, officially bringing an end to the Revolutionary War. It also formalized Great Britain’s recognition of America’s independence.

On this day in 1876, speedy communication comes to northern Wisconsin:

1876 – First Northern Wisconsin Telegraph Line Completed
On this date the first telegraph line in northern Wisconsin was completed near Ashland. A few months later, this same telegraph line was used to convey General Custer’s defeat. [Source: “B” Book I, Beer Bottles, Brawls, Boards, Brothels, Bibles, Battles & Brownstone by Tony Woiak]

Google-a-Day asks about a big reptile: “What does the name given to the Aldabra giant tortoise, considered one of the longest-living animals on record at the time of his death, mean in English?”