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<a target=new href="http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/crime.html"><b>1714 A pirate to be reckoned with makes her mark</b></a> -
When a young man makes a crude pass at 14-year-old Anne Brennan on the streets of Charleston, South Carolina, Brennan beats him so badly that his jaw is broken and he must be hospitalized for months. The strong, quick-tempered girl would later become a notorious pirate who terrorized the Caribbean for several years.
At the age of 16, Brennan married James Bonny, and the two settled in the Bahamas. While Bonny tried to make his living informing on the local pirates, Anne decided she would rather join the bad guys. She left Bonny and took up with Albert Backhouse, killing his mistress and taking her place in the business of laundering stolen goods for the pirates.
Brennan then became
friendly with pirates such as Blackbeard and Calico Jack. She followed Jack on a voyage aboard Pierre Bousquet's pirate ship and quickly convinced the crew to dump Bousquet for Calico Jack. Around this time, Anne met Mary Read, a woman who was trying to pass as a male pirate, and the two became fast friends.
Stopping in the Bahamas again,
Anne found that James Bonny had filed adultery charges against her. In an act of revenge, she set fire to Bonny's new home on the island.
In 1720, a bounty was placed on Calico Jack's ship, and armed troops were sent out to capture the pirates. They caught up with Jack, Anne, and Mary Read in October of that year. Jack stayed below in his cabin drinking rum while most of the other men meekly surrendered. However, Anne and Mary fought valiantly
until their eventual capture, and they were sentenced to walk the plank to their deaths. Fortunately for them, English law did not allow for the execution of pregnant women-as both Anne and Mary were.
Despite her brief good fortune, Mary Read didn't last much longer. She came down with a fatal disease and died in December. Brennan, on the other hand, escaped before her execution, after giving birth the following year. Purportedly, she returned to America and joined the pioneers settling the West.
Also today...
<a target=new href="http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/today/0610.html"><b>1692 First Salem witch hanging</b></a> - The first to be tried was Bridget Bishop of Salem, who was accused of witchcraft by more individuals than any other defendant. Bishop, known around town for her dubious moral character, frequented taverns, dressed flamboyantly (by Puritan standards), and was married three times. She professed her innocence but was found guilty and executed by hanging on June 10. Thirteen more women and five men from all stations of life followed her to the gallows, and one man, Giles Corey, was
executed by crushing….The Salem witch trials, which
resulted in the executions of 19 innocent women and men, had effectively ended….
<a target=new href="http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/"><b>1935 Alcoholics Anonymous founded</b></a> - In New York City, two recovering alcoholics, one a New York broker and the other an Ohio physician, found Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), a 12-step rehabilitation program that eventually helps countless people cope with alcoholism.
Based on psychological techniques that have long been used in suppressing dangerous personality traits, members of the strictly anonymous organization control their addictions through guided group discussion and confession, reliance on a "higher power," and a gradual return to sobriety. The organization functions through local groups that have no formal rules besides anonymity, no officers, and no dues.
Anyone with a drinking problem qualifies for membership. Today, there are more than 80,000 local groups in the United States, with an estimated membership of almost two million people. Other addiction support groups patterned on A.A. include Narcotics Anonymous and Gamblers Anonymous.
<a target=new href="http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/coldwar.html"><b>1953 Eisenhower rejects calls for U.S. "isolationism"</b></a> - In a forceful speech, President Dwight D. Eisenhower strikes back at critics of his Cold War foreign policy. He insisted that the United States was committed to the worldwide battle against communism and that he would maintain a strong U.S. defense…