Paracultural Calendar for April 14

[Mark Thibodeau]

On this day in *1846*, the *Donner Party* loads up its wagons in
Springfield, Illinois, and begins the long trek west, for California. In
Colorado, they get caught in a box canyon during a freak early winter
storm. Cannibalism ensues.

*****

On this day in *1865*, at roughly 10 PM, President *Abraham Lincoln* is
shot once in the back of the head by popular stage actor, ardent
secessionist and Confederate Secret Service agent *John Wilkes Booth*.
Booth was part of a conspiracy of Confederate sympathizers who plotted the
simultaneous assassinations of President Lincoln, Secretary of State *William
Seward* and Vice President *Andrew Johnson*. Booth was the sole
co-conspirator to succeed in carrying out his part in the plot. Although
Seward was brutally slashed by *Lewis Powell*, he survived. *George
Atzerodt*, VP Johnson's would-be assassin, lost his nerve and didn't even
try. After shooting Lincoln, Booth beat a hasty retreat, but authorities
caught up with him just before dawn on April 26. After a brief stand-off,
the barn in which Booth was hiding was set on fire, then he was shot in the
neck by Sergeant *Boston Corbett*, contrary to explicit orders that Booth
be taken alive. Rumors persist to this day that the man Corbett shot was
not Booth. Some believe Lincoln's assassin lived to a ripe old age under an
assumed identity in Mexico. By mid-summer of *1865*, eight of Booth's
co-conspirators were found guilty of taking part in the assassination plot,
and 4 were hanged by the neck until dead.

*****

On this day in *1912*, at 11:40 PM, the *RMS Titanic* hits an iceberg in
the North Atlantic. The ship sinks the following morning, killing 1,517. It
is the sinking that launched a great many *conspiracy theories* involving
everything from an *insurance scam switcheroo
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic_alternative_theories>* to the
forced passage of the *Federal Reserve Act
<http://www.titanicuniverse.com/the-titanic-conspiracy>*... and one
phenomenally successful (if somewhat sappy) Hollywood movies.

*****

On this day in *2002*, two days after a CIA-backed businessman's coup is
overturned by an outraged citizenry, Venezuelan President *Hugo Chavez* makes
a triumphant and bloodless return to office. It would take another decade
before the CIA would succeed in their attempts to remove Chavez from office
again - this time, doing so in such a manner that precluded any
odds-defying return to power.

*****

On this day in *2003*, ten years ago to the day, the *Human Genome
Project* announces
that it has completed sequencing 99% of the human genome to an accuracy of
99.99%. Let the custom-built *New World Order* genocide pandemics begin!
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