Today in history—May 5

1789: In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time since 1614. Members have managed to save up quite a few grievances in that time.

1818: Future law student, philosopher, and socio-economist Karl Marx is born at Trier, in Germany.

1864: Elizabeth Jane Cochran, who will earn fame as a journalist under the name Nellie Bly, is born at Cochran’s Mills, Pennsylvania.  She may be the only person in history to get hired as a reporter as a result of writing a nasty letter Letter to the Editor.

1865: At North Bend, Ohio, a dozen men tear up the tracks of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, derail the train, blow the express car safe, and then rob 100 passengers at gunpoint in the first train robbery in U.S. history. None are caught.

1886: Banker T.C. Sherwood visits a farm owned by Hiram Walker & Sons Distillery, and sees a cow named Rose.

1891: Guest conductor Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky officially opens the new Carnegie Hall in New York City.  Andrew Carnegie not only pays for the hall, he owns it.

1893: A stock market crash on Wall Street triggers the Panic of 1893, the worst financial crisis in U.S. history that date. About 15,000 companies and 500 banks will fail, unemployment will hit 18 percent, but the economy will be back on track by 1896.

1922: Work begins in the Bronx on a new stadium for the New York Yankees.  It’s a fixed-price, $2.5 million contract, and the White Construction Co. will bring it in on budget and on schedule for Opening Day, 1923.

1986: The Love Boat, a kind of Full Employment Act for over-the-hill TV and film personalities, makes its last voyage.

1994: Sixteen-year-old Michael Fay, who had spray-painted and egged several expensive cars in Singapore, is publicly caned, causing several American pundits to explode.

2000: The Sun, Moon, Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn all align in what is called the “Convergence.” Nothing in particular happens.