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Crime History 1994 - Susan Smith of Union, SC, claimed that a black carjacker had driven off with her two sons. Smith was later convicted of drowning her children in a nearby lake. 1999 - Golfer Payne Stewart and five others were killed when their Learjet crashed in South Dakota. The plane flew uncontrolled for four hours before the crash. Disaster History 1918 - The Canadian steamship Princess Sophia hit the reef off the coast of Alaska. Nearly 400 people died. 1976 - In El Yopal, Colombia, 36 people were killed when a Taxi Aereo el Vanado flight crashed after the left wing dropped and touched the runway. 1985 - Hurricane Juan hit the U.S. Gulf states. Forty-nine people were killed. 2010 - In Indonesia, an earthquake and consequent tsunami killed more than 400 people and left hundreds missing. Death History 2137 - B.C. - Chinese Royal astronomers, Ho and Hsi, were executed after not predicting a solar eclipse caused panic in the streets of China. 1400 - Geoffrey Chaucer died at the age of 57. He was the first poet to be buried in Westminster Abbey. 1760 - George III took the British throne after the death of King George II, his grandfather. 1920 - King Alexander of Greece died from blood poisoning that resulted from a bite from his pet monkey. Tomorrow in Disaster History. |