Add Your Piece of History… 26th May

• On this day in 1907.  American film actor John Wayne, who become popular for his roles in Western movies was born today.  He died of stomach cancer on the 11th of June 1979.  Born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa.

• On this day in 1828.  A mysterious boy, Kaspar Hauser, first appears on the streets of Nurnberg, Germany.  He was wearing peasant clothing and barely able to talk.  The only identification he carried was a letter addressed to the captain of the 4th squadron of the 6th cavalry regiment, the author of the letter asked the captain to take the boy in or hang him.  He could only walk in toddler’s steps, could barely use his finger and was able to eat only water and bread.  As he learned to communicate, the boy said that he had lived in a dark 2 x 1 x 1.5 meter cell with only a straw bed and a horse carved out of wood for a toy.  He never saw his caretaker, who only taught him to say “I want to be a rider like my father”, and to write Kaspar Hauser, which was assumed to be his name.  In 1833, Hauser was lured to Ansbacher Hofgarten with the promise that he would hear something about his ancestry.  Instead a stranger stabbed him fatally to the chest, puncturing his lung.  He died three days later.  His headstone reads “Here lies Kasper Hauser, riddle of his time.  His birth was unknown, his death mysterious”.

Please feel free to add your piece of history (something personal or just general history).

Kaspar Hauser (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Screenshot of John Wayne from the trailer for the film Wake of the Red Witch. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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