On this Day...
September 3
In 1939, Great Britain declared war on Nazi Germany. Though World War II was to be the bloodiest ever and cost more than the rest of history's wars combined, there was a sense of relief in Britain that the decision had finally been made. The Duke of Windsor put on his kilt and marched up and down defiantly playing the bagpipes. The Duke of Devonshire asked his chauffeur what he thought of Hitler. With classic British understatement the man replied, "Well, your Grace, it seems to me that he should know by now that he is none too popular in this district."
In 1875, six men were hanged by executioner George Maledon at Fort Smith, Arkansas, the first victims of "Hanging Judge" Isaac Parker's assembly-line justice - which he'd introduced to try and quell lawlessness on the frontier. Maledon hanged a total of sixty men for the judge, at $100 a hanging less burial expenses saying, "I never hanged a man who came back to have the job done over." He made his own ropes from the finest Kentucky hemp, kept them welloiled, and cleaned the scaffold daily to make sure that everything was working smoothly. When his own daughter was shot in a lover's quarrel, he looked forward to using his gallows on her killer. But much to his disgust, the murderer was reprieved!
- from Today's the Day! By Jeremy Beadle
In Cebu --
In 1942, the Carcar resistance movement against the Japanese was organized in Barrio Buenavista, Carcar, by Lt. Ramon G. Castillo and other leaders.
- from Cebuano Studies Center, University of San Carlos