Freedom friends
25 years ago — 1993
After a month of good weather and record attendance, Memphis in May International Festival officials said the 1993 festival was the best ever held. Cynthia Ham, executive director, said ticketed event attendance reached a record 200,276, but she said she believes that more than 1 million people were exposed to at least one of the annual festival’s events. Perfect weather helped attract the big crowds.
50 years ago — 1968
Representative Ray Blanton conducted a ceremony in Mayor Henry Loeb’s office yesterday to honor local law enforcement officers by presenting their leaders with the new six-cent “Law and Order” stamp. The Seventh District representative presented first-day issues of the stamp to Fire and Police Director Frank Holloman, Sheriff William N. Morris and Commander Stuart Dean of the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
75 years ago — 1943
LONDON — More than 1,500 tons of screaming steel were dropped last night by the RAF on Wupertal, one of Hitler’s key arsenals. The city of 411,000 had never been bombed before, and returning pilots said smoke was rising three miles above the target. The British lost 33 planes.
100 years ago — 1918
W. Percy McDonald of Memphis has arrived safely overseas, according to word received by the young soldier’s brother, Prather. Mr. McDonald, who served with the Chickasaw Guards on the Mexican border, has been selected as one of 50 to attend an artillery school in France.
125 years ago — 1893
ATLANTA — This city paid her final tribute to the remains of Jefferson Davis yesterday. The casket was in the Capitol for several hours and at least 40,000 people joined the procession to file past it. An honor guard of 2,000 Confederate veterans led the way. A special train is conveying the remains of Mr. Davis, president of the Confederacy, from their temporary resting place in New Orleans to the permanent shrine in Richmond, Va. Elaborate ceremonies are marking the train’s slow progress through the South. Mr. Davis died in 1889.