Today in history—May 24

1487: Ten-year-old imposter Lambert Simnel is crowned as “Edward VI” at Dublin.  It doesn’t work, and he will find himself with a job as a turnspit in King Henry VII’s kitchen.

1543: Canon lawyer Nicolaus Copernicus dies, willing his papers, including his De revolutionibus, to his close friend, the Bishop of Warmia, who has them published.

1626: In one of the largest private real estate transactions to date, Peter Minuit buys Manhattan Island for the Dutch West India Company for 60 guilders in trade goods.

1689: The English parliament passes the Act of Toleration, which disenfranchises Catholics.

1787: A convention to discuss drafting a new constitution to replace the Articles of Confederation meets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1839: Mary Josepha Hale publishes a new poem, Mary Had a Little Lamb, which apparently is based on a real incident at a schoolhouse in Sterling, Massachusetts.

1844: Samuel F.B. Morse sends the first electric telegraph message between Baltimore and Washington, D.C.  He asks “What has God wrought?”   Many people still wonder that about Washington.

1870: Benjamin Nathan Cardozo is born in New York City.

1883: After fourteen years of construction, the Brooklyn Bridge opens in New York City.

1899: The first multi-story parking garage opens in Boston, Massachusetts.

1929: The film The Cocoanuts, “Paramount’s All Talking-Singing Musical Comedy Hit!,” opens.  It’s the first screen appearance of the Marx Brothers.

1958: United Press and the International News Service merge to form United Press International.

1980: The International Court of Justice calls on Iran to release American hostages taken from the U.S. Embassy.  Impressed, the Iranians release them just seven months later.