Almanac for March 24th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for March 24th: https://ko-fi.com/post/March-24-Houdini-P5P21CM9DN

Artist Birthday: Steve McQueen

French Republican Calendar Day Name (4 Germinal): Tulip

From the March 21, 1926 Washington, D.C. Evening Star

Bummer March 24th

March 24, 1918: Scottish-American stage magician William Ellsworth Robinson, who pretended to be Chinese and performed under the stage name Chung Ling Soo, dies of a bullet wound to his lung, the result of a failed bullet catch trick he’d performed the night before. Ellsworth pretended not to speak English as part of his act, but when the bullet struck him, the audience heard him say, "Oh my God. Something's happened. Lower the curtain."

March 24, 1999: A transport truck carrying margarine and flour enters the Mont Blanc tunnel between France and Italy. The truck driver notices white smoke coming from the cabin of his truck and exits the vehicle to extinguish the fire. The fire explodes out of control, and he exits the tunnel. Two minutes later, authorities are called to fight the fire.

Drivers who had entered on the French side of the tunnel weren’t able to turn around their vehicles to exit the tunnel and were forced to wait in their vehicles for rescue. By the time firefighting vehicles arrived, the wiring for the lighting inside the tunnel had melted, so the tunnel was not only completely dark but also filling with toxic smoke. The margarine inside the truck acted as fuel for the fire. Nine people died while attempting to escape on foot; 29 people died inside their vehicles. 

March 24, 2015: Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashes Germanwings Flight 9525 into the French Alps, killing himself, five other crew members, and all 144 passengers aboard the flight. Lubitz had locked the other pilot out of the cockpit when the other pilot got up to use the restroom. 

March 24, 2019: The Dar-ul-Arqam mosque in Escondido, California, is set on fire in an Islamophobic arson attack. Although seven people are inside the mosque when it’s set on fire, no one is injured.

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