In Lynn County, trouble between free-state and pro-slavery settlers began in about 1856. This was when a large group of pro-slavery Southerners came through the area destroying property and capturing free-state settlers. One of those who escaped the Southerners was James Montgomery. He became the leader of the free-state settlers in the area called Jayhawkers. Various encounters between the two groups went on until 1857 when James H, Lane assembled a company of free-state men to harass the pro-slavery forces in Kansas and Western Missouri. When Lane's company disbanded, James Montgomery took over. He ordered the pro-slavery leaders out of the county. Many did leave and returned to Missouri. Charles A. Hamilton was one who left Kansas, but with bitter feelings. Hamilton called a meeting together at Papinville, Missouri to get men for an invasion of Kansas. It was decided they would eliminate the free-state settlers living in Lynn County.
Hamilton's group of exiles plus about 17 Missourians rode back into Kansas. They stopped at the village store and with guns drawn they disarmed the customers and tied their hands. Hamilton took a list from his pocket and read out the names. One by one the men on the list were taken from their cabins or fields. The village blacksmith had resisted the ruffians with a shotgun and was not taken. The eleven they did capture were led to a gulch that drained into the Marais des Cygnes River. They were lined up in the gulch as if before a firing squad. One Missourian lowered his gun saying he would "have nothing to do with such a piece of business as this". Hamilton then gave the order to fire. The eleven men fell to the ground. Then Hamilton dismounted and turned the bodies over with his boot. Any he found alive he shot in the head with his pistol. Five of the men were killed and five were seriously wounded. One escaped unharmed by pretending to be dead. Other Missourians went through the pockets of the men presumed to all be dead. Finally, they all rode out in different directions so as to make it harder to trail them.
Sarah Read, the wife of Reverend Samuel Read, one of those captured, quickly followed Hamilton's men on foot. She found the victims and gave aid to those who were still alive. Word of the massacre spread quickly and free-staters rushed to the village to help the wounded and bury the dead. Quickly Montgomery's Jayhawkers began trailing the gang but could not find them. Meanwhile Sarah Read searched all night for her husband. He had crawled off after being shot. She discovered him the next morning, still alive. Called "Preacher Read" he survived the massacre.
The atrocity got widespread attention in the North. The murders were shown as an example of organized extermination by Missourians and Southerners. The details of the murders were in every newspaper and were read in nearly every home.
John Brown came to the village near the end of June. In 1856, Brown had led a massacre of his own, the Pottawatomie massacre, against five pro-slavery men and boys. He built a log blockhouse two stories high with a spring inside for water. The blacksmith, Eli Snider, owned the land. He later sold it to Charles C. Hadsall, a friend of Brown's. Brown and his men stayed in the fort until the end of summer. Then they left it to Hadsall to keep manned.
Hamilton was never captured. During the Civil war he served as a Colonel in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. One, a Charles Matlock, was arrested for the crime but he later escaped. Only one was brought to justice. William Griffith was arrested in 1863, tried for murder and on October 30, 1863 was hung.
The poet and abolitionist, John Greenleaf Whittier, wrote a poem about the massacre several months later and published it in the "Atlantic Monthly":
2003 European heat wave
The 2003 European heat wave was a natural disaster in Europe in the summer of 2003. The heat led to the hottest summer on record since at least 1540. France was especially hard hit. The heat led to health crises in several countries. It combined with droughts to reduce crops in Southern Europe.
More than 70,000 people died in Europe. According to an Inserm study nearly 19,000 people died in France. People also died in the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
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On 1 January 2009 the former municipalities of Röthenbach bei Herzogenbuchsee and Wanzwil merged into the municipality of Heimenhausen.
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Aurigeno is a village and former municipality in the district of Vallemaggia in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland.
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Blockhouse
In military science, a blockhouse is a small fortification. It usually has one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire rifles or handguns in various directions. It usually refers to an isolated fort in the form of a single building. It serves as a defensive strong point against any enemy that does not possess siege equipment or, in modern times, artillery. A fortification intended to resist these weapons is more likely to qualify as a fortress or a redoubt.
In modern times, it may be a pillbox, a small underground bunker. However, a blockhouse may also refer to a room within a larger fortification, usually a battery or redoubt. The term "blockhouse" is of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Middle Dutch "" and 18th-century French "" (blockade).
Electoral fraud
Electoral fraud, or vote rigging, is any alteration or change of the vote count in an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result. That can be by increasing the vote share of one candidate or by lowering the vote count of another. It can also be a person casting more than one vote if only one vote is permitted, which is called ballot-box stuffing. What defines electoral fraud under law varies from country to country.
Many kinds of election fraud are outlawed in specific electoral laws. Other kinds violate general laws, such as those banning assault, harassment or libel. Technically, the term "electoral fraud" covers only acts that are illegal. Generally, the term is sometimes used to describe acts that are legal but are considered morally unacceptable, outside the spirit of electoral laws, or in violation of the principles of democracy.
In national elections, successful electoral fraud can have the effect of a coup d'état or corruption of democracy. In a narrow election, a small amount of fraud may be enough to change the result. Even if the outcome is not affected, fraud can still have a damaging effect if not punished. For example, it can reduce voters' confidence in democracy.
Even the perception of fraud can be damaging. Fraudulent elections can lead to the breakdown of democracy and to the establishment or ratification of a dictatorship.