Tidbits of History, September 5

September 5 is:

Be Late for Something Day

Cheese Pizza Day

About 93% of Americans eat at least one pizza every month.
About 350 slices of pizza are consumed every second in the United States.
The most pizzas are delivered (and eaten) on New Year’s Day, New Year’s Eve, Halloween, Thanksgiving Eve, and Super Bowl Sunday.
Pepperoni is the most popular pizza topping in the United States.

1698 – Russian Tsar Peter the Great imposed a tax on beards of one hundred rubles annually. He also sought to end arranged marriages, which were the norm among the Russian nobility, because he thought such a practice was barbaric and led to domestic violence, since the partners usually resented each other.

Anniversary of the first meeting of the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1774. It was a convention of delegates from twelve colonies (Georgia was not present) that met at Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. It was called in response to the passage of the Coercive Acts (also known as Intolerable Acts by the Colonial Americans) by the British Parliament. The Intolerable Acts had punished Boston for the Boston Tea Party. The Congress ultimately agreed to impose an economic boycott on British trade, and they drew up a Petition to the King pleading for redress of their grievances and repeal of the Intolerable Acts. That appeal had no effect, so the colonies convened the Second Continental Congress the following May, shortly after the battles of Lexington and Concord, to organize the defense of the colonies at the outset of the Revolutionary War. The delegates also urged each colony to set up and train its own militia.

Sam Houston Sam Houston was elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas in 1836.

Jesse JamesBirthday of Jesse James (September 5, 1847), American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer.

1882: The first United States Labor Day parade was held in New York City.

From 2201 Fascinating Facts by David Louis, published by Greenwich House, New York, 1983
Execution by hanging of Carl Panzram (mass murderer of 23 people) (Sept 5, 1930 ). While the noose was being put around his neck, he allegedly spat in his executioner’s face and declared, “I wish the entire human race had one neck, and I had my hands around it!” When asked by the executioner if he had any last words, Panzram barked, “Yes, hurry it up, you Hoosier bastard! I could hang a dozen men while you’re screwing around!”

Jerry LewisJerry Lewis hosted his first Muscular Dystrophy telethon in 1952; it raised $15,000. In 2010 the telethon raised $61 million.

1975 – Assassination attempt on US President Gerald Ford in Sacramento by Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme. A member of the infamous “Manson family”, she was sentenced to life imprisonment and was released on parole on August 14, 2009, after serving 34 years.

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