Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 June 27

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From today's featured article

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". (Full article...)

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Did you know...

City of New York icebound, 1930

... that the barque City of New York (pictured) was Richard E. Byrd's flagship on his first Antarctic expedition?
... that the patchwork leafcutter bee makes use of the leaves of roses, lilac, and honeysuckle?
... that after Petronius Maximus angered their king, the Vandals sacked Rome so thoroughly that their name is still a synonym for wanton destruction?
... that the Quincy Smelter was part of a Superfund site when it was incorporated into a National Historic Landmark District?
... that Li Zaiping and his research group were the first to sequence a viral genome in China?
... that in his 2002 book Secret City: The Hidden Jews of Warsaw 1940–1945, Gunnar S. Paulsson estimated that nearly a tenth of Warsaw's population were helping Jews during the Holocaust?
... that W. Barklie Henry, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt's stepfather, won many yachting races held off the coast of Long Island?
... that Three Dancing Maidens can be found in Germany, Belgium, and the United States?

In the news

Lake Toba

Saudi Arabia lifts its ban on women driving.
Canada legalizes the recreational use of cannabis with effect from October 2018, making it the second country to do so.
An overloaded tourist ferry capsizes in Lake Toba (pictured), Indonesia, killing at least 3 people and leaving 193 others missing.
In golf, Brooks Koepka wins the U.S. Open at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.

On this day

June 27

A. E. J. Collins

678 – Pope Agatho, later venerated as a saint in both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, began his pontificate.
1899 – A. E. J. Collins (pictured) scored 628 runs not out, the highest-ever recorded score in cricket until 2016.
1954 – The Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant was connected to the electrical grid, becoming the world's first nuclear power plant to produce electricity industrially.
1994 – Members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult released sarin gas in Matsumoto, Japan, killing 8 and injuring over 500 others.
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.

Ranjit Singh (d. 1839) · Rosalie Allen (b. 1924) · Svetlana Kuznetsova (b. 1985)

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Today's featured picture

The Lion of Al-lāt is an ancient statue which adorned the temple of pre-Islamic goddess al-Lāt in Palmyra, Syria. On 27 June 2015, it was severely damaged by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant after they captured Palmyra. The statue was eventually removed to the National Museum of Damascus, underwent reconstruction works, and now stands again. This photograph, taken in 2010, shows the statue before the damage and subsequent restoration.

Photograph: Mappo

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