• Christmas massacre in North Carolina

    It was Christmas Day, 1929 in Germanton, Stokes County, North Carolina and a father of seven was out with his eldest son, shooting rabbits near their home just outside of town in Walnut Cove. At some point during the hunt, Arthur Lawson, then aged sixteen ran out of ammunition for his rifle. He asked his father if he could spare some, but Charles replied that he too was getting low, and gave his son some money, asking that he go into town and buy more for further shooting planned for that afternoon. Arthur set off for the walk into town from near their home at 2890 Brook Cove Road. There…

  • The Assassination of Domitian

    Titus Flavius Domitianius was born the youngest son of Emperor Vespasian in 51 CE.  This was prior to his father’s rise to emperor of Rome.  (For more on Emperor Vespasian, please see this post http://www.historynaked.com/emperor-titus-flavius-vespasian/ )  His older brother, Titus, and his father were close, leaving Domitian on the outside looking in.  After a stunning turn of events, Vespasian became emperor and passed the throne to his oldest son Titus on his death.  Titus was groomed as Vespasian’s heir, and it was assumed Titus would marry and pass the throne on to his sons.  Domitian was relegated to being a patron of the arts, and was none too happy about…

  • East St. Louis Riots of 1917

    The Great Migration saw great numbers of Southern African Americans who traveled north to find jobs and opportunities. One of the places that became a stopping point was the industrial city of East St. Louis. In Illinois across the Mississippi river from St. Louis, East St. Louis was booming due to increased production for World War I. The Aluminum Ore Company and American Steel Company were prominent among those hiring. However, tensions were running high as up to 2,000 people a week were arriving from the South. The rate was so high that Marcus Garvey actively tried to discourage migration to East St. Louis, but still people came. In February…

  • Ancient Who Dunnit-  The Death of Philip II of Macedon

    Philip had been the ruler of Macedon for twenty-three years and was currently on wife number seven.  He had turned Macedonia into a force to reckoned with by revolutionizing the army into a efficient fighting force.  He subdued Greece and conquered the surrounding territories.  Now he had a raft of children from his various wives.  His son, Alexander, was from wife number four, Olympias, whom he divorced and was Greek to boot.  Even though Alexander was older, the oldest son did not always get the throne and Philip and wife seven had a young son named Caranus.  In fact, there had been an incident where members of the court expressed…

  • The Affair of the Poisons

    Court is treacherous place full of back biting nobles who would sell their own mothers to get ahead.  The Affair of the Poisons was an episode in the court of Louis XIV that exemplified exactly how far one would go to get where they needed to be in court. It all started with the arrest of the wife of a minor noble, the Marquise de Brinvilliers.  As with most noble marriages, the Marquise did not marry for love.  In fact, she disliked her husband the Marquis enough to attempt to murder him.  She apparently didn’t do a very good job because she didn’t succeed and got caught.  However, this was…