Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for January 19: https://ko-fi.com/post/January-19-Edgar-Allan-Poe-and-Dolly-Parton-O5O319738N
Today's Observance (United States): Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
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Beatles Trivia
January 19
January 19, 1971: During Charles Manson’s murder trial, Manson’s defense attorneys introduce the Beatles’ song “Helter Skelter” into evidence. According to Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi, one of Manson’s delusion beliefs was that the song, written by Paul McCartney, referred to a coming race war.
In reality, the lyrics refer to the literal meaning of a helter skelter, an English amusement ride consisting of a tower with a slide curling around it.
Bummer January 19
January 19, 1729: Restoration-era playwright William Congreve dies of complications from internal injuries he suffered in a September 1728 carriage accident.
January 19, 1903: Newspaper publisher and political powerbroker Narciso Gener Gonzales dies of a gunshot wound inflicted by James H. Tillman, the lieutenant governor of South Carolina. Gonzales was critical of Tillman’s uncle Ben Tillman, a U.S. senator. Tillman was a strict segregationist who favored harsh repression of African-American voting rights in South Carolina. Gonzales, although himself a segregationist, was also an anti-lynching activist who abhorred Tillman’s support for violence.
January 19, 1991: 20-year-old Austrian ski racer Gernot Reinstadler, competing in a qualifying race in Wengen, Switzerland, veers slightly to the right during the course of the downhill race. This slight deviation causes one of the tips of his skis to become tangled in the side netting while Reinstadler is still moving at a high speed. Reinstadler suffers a severe injure that essentially threatens to split his body in two from the pelvis upward. Although flown by helicopter to the nearest hospital and given multiple blood transfusions, the young man dies from the injury.
