The Rock Springs massacre occurred on September 2, 1885, in the present-day United States (U.S.) city of Rock Springs, Wyoming, in Sweetwater County. The riot, between Chinese immigrant miners and white, mostly immigrant, miners, was the result of racial tensions and an ongoing labor dispute over the Union Pacific Coal Department's policy of paying Chinese miners lower wages than white miners. When the rioting ended, at least 28 Chinese miners were dead and 15 were wounded. Rioters burned 75 Chinese homes resulting in approximately US$150,000 in property damage. Tension between whites and Chinese immigrants in the late 19th century American West was particularly high, especially in the decade preceding the violence. The massacre in Rock Springs was the violent outburst of years of anti-"coolie" sentiment in the United States. In the immediate aftermath of the riot, federal troops were deployed in Rock Springs. They escorted the surviving Chinese miners, most of whom had fled to Evanston, Wyoming, back to Rock Springs a week after the riot. Reaction came swiftly from the era's publications. In Rock Springs, the local newspaper endorsed the outcome of the riot, while in other Wyoming newspapers, support for the riot was limited to sympathy for the causes of the white miners. The massacre in Rock Springs touched off a wave of anti-Chinese violence, especially in the Puget Sound area of Washington Territory.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Springs_massacre

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

31 BC:

Final War of the Roman Republic: Troops supporting Octavian defeated the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra in the naval Battle of Actium on the Ionian Sea near Actium in Greece. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Actium

1666:

A large fire began on London's Pudding Lane and burned the city for three days , destroying St Paul's Cathedral and the homes of 70,000 of the city's 80,000 inhabitants. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_London

1901:

U.S. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt first uttered the famous phrase "speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair, describing his philosophy of negotiating peacefully while simultaneously threatening to use military force. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Stick_ideology

1990:

Transnistria unilaterally declared its independence from what was then the Moldavian SSR of the Soviet Union, but no country or international organization has yet ever recognized it to this day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria

1998:

Swissair Flight 111, en route from New York City to Geneva, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 229 on board. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swissair_Flight_111

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

front (v): 1. To lead or be the spokesperson of a group. 2. To provide money or financial assistance in advance. 3. To assume a haughty manner, especially as a pretense http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/front

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The first casualty when war comes is truth. --Hiram Johnson http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hiram_Johnson