Monroe Edwards (1808–1847) was an American slave trader who was
convicted of forgery after a well-publicized trial in 1842. Originally
from Kentucky, Edwards moved to New Orleans, then settled in Texas. He
smuggled slaves into Brazil in 1832 and into Texas in 1836. After a
swindle, he was forced to flee the Republic of Texas to the United
States. He tried to scam money out of various abolitionists in the
United States and the United Kingdom, partly with forged letters of
introduction. He then forged letters from cotton brokers in New Orleans,
which he used to secure bank drafts for large sums. His fabrications
caught up with him and he was arrested and tried. Convicted partly
because his distinctive good looks made him memorable and easily
recognizable, and partly from repetitive spelling errors in his
forgeries, Edwards was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and died while
incarcerated. He is mentioned in Herman Melville's 1853 short story
"Bartleby, the Scrivener".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_Edwards>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
678:
Pope Agatho, later venerated as a saint in both the Roman
Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, began his pontificate.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Agatho>
1899:
A. E. J. Collins scored 628 runs not out, the highest-ever
recorded score in cricket until 2016.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._J._Collins>
1954:
The Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant was connected to the electrical
grid, becoming the world's first nuclear power plant to produce
electricity industrially.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obninsk_Nuclear_Power_Plant>
1994:
Members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult released sarin gas in
Matsumoto, Japan, killing 8 and injuring over 500 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsumoto_sarin_attack>
2008:
Robert Mugabe was re-elected as President of Zimbabwe with an
overwhelming majority after his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew a
week earlier, citing violence against his party's supporters.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwean_general_election,_2008>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
latter-day:
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/latter-day>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
There is no greater fallacy than the belief that aims and
purposes are one thing, while methods and tactics are another, This
conception is a potent menace to social regeneration. All human
experience teaches that methods and means cannot be separated from the
ultimate aim. The means employed become, through individual habit and
social practice, part and parcel of the final purpose; they influence
it, modify it, and presently the aims and means become identical.
--Emma Goldman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emma_Goldman>