MOMENTS IN TIME
On Jan. 17, 1950, a team of 11 thieves steals more than $2 million from the Brink's Armored Car depot in Boston. The Great Brink's Robbery was the almost perfect crime. Just days before the six-year statute of limitations was set to expire, the culprits were finally caught.
On Jan. 18, 1882, A.A. Milne, creator of Winnie-the-Pooh, is born. When Milne's son Christopher Robin was about a year old, he received a stuffed bear as a present, which inspired Milne to begin writing a series of whimsical stories.
On Jan. 19, 1940, the Three Stooges film "You Natzy Spy" is released. The Three Stooges made a total of 190 short subjects with Columbia, at least 20 feature-length films, and hundreds of cartoons.
On Jan. 20, 1961, 87-year-old Robert Frost recites his poem "The Gift Outright" at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy. Although Frost had written a new poem for the occasion, titled "Dedication," faint ink in his typewriter made the words difficult to read, so he recited "The Gift Outright" from memory.
On Jan. 21, 1959, Carl Dean Switzer, the actor who as a child played "Alfalfa" in the Our Gang comedy film series, dies at age 31 in a fight, allegedly about money. Alfalfa, the freckle-faced boy with a warbling singing voice and a cowlick protruding from the top of his head, was Switzer's best-known role.
On Jan. 22, 1973, the Supreme Court decriminalizes abortion by handing down its decision in the case of Roe v. Wade. For most of the country's first 100 years, abortion was not a criminal offense. Abortion only became a criminal offense in the period between 1860 and 1880 when the American Medical Association decided that abortion practitioners were unwanted competition.
On Jan. 23, 1968, the U.S. intelligencegathering ship
Pueblo is seized
by North Korean naval vessels and charged with spying and violating North Korean territorial waters. Negotiations to free the 83-man crew of the U.S. ship dragged on for nearly a year. Send letters to the editor to news@florida-weekly.com, or mail them to 4300 Ford Street, Suite 106, Fort Myers, Fl. 33916 or call 333-2135
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