This Day in History

On May 30, 1989, student protesters in Beijing erected a “Goddess of Democracy” statue in Tiananmen Square (the statue was destroyed in the Chinese government’s crackdown).

On this date:

In 1431, Joan of Arc, con- demned as a heretic, was burned at the stake in Rouen, France.

In 1883, 12 people were trampled to death in a stam- pede sparked by a rumor that the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge was in danger of col- lapsing.

In 1912, aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright, 45, died in Dayton, Ohio, of typhoid fe- ver more than eight years af- ter he and his brother, Orville, launched their first airplane.

In 1935, Babe Ruth played in his last major league base- ball game for the Boston Braves, leaving after the first inning of the first game of a double-header against the Phil- adelphia Phillies, who won both games (Ruth announced his retirement three days later).

In 1937, ten people were killed when police fired on steelworkers demonstrating near the Republic Steel plant in South Chicago.

In 1943, during World War II, American troops secured the Aleutian island of Attu from Japanese forces.

In 1972, three members of the Japanese Red Army opened fire at Lod Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, killing 26 people. Two attackers died; the third was captured.

In 1994, Mormon Church president Ezra Taft Benson died in Salt Lake City at age 94.

In 1996, Britain’s Prince Andrew and the former Sarah Ferguson were granted an uncontested decree ending their 10-year marriage.

In 2002, a solemn, wordless ceremony marked the end of the agonizing cleanup at ground zero in New York, 8½ months after 9/11.

Ten years ago: Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba, was seen leaving a hotel room in Lima, Peru, where the body of 21-year-old Stephany Flores was found three days later. (Van der Sloot later confessed to murdering Flores, and is serving a 28-year prison sentence.) Dario Franchitti drove 199 nearly flawless laps, then got a huge break from a spectacular crash on the last lap to climb back on top of the open- wheel world with a win at the Indianapolis 500.