This day in history - April 16

[seamusTX]

1922 - Annie Oakley set a record by breaking 100 clay targets in a row.

I can't get more details on this factoid. Today, skeet and trap shooters regularly hit 100 in a row.

1947 - The French freighter Grandcamp, loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer, exploded in the port of Texas City. It was the first of two explosions that are classified the worst industrial disaster in American history.

At least one forum member is a survivor of that event: ElGato.

1947 - Bernard M. Baruch coined the term cold war in a speech at the South Carolina statehouse.

1992 - The U.S. House ethics committee listed 303 current and former lawmakers who had abused their House bank accounts. This disclosure led to the conviction of the Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of the ways and means committee, and several other federal officials. The scandal was a factor in the political turnover of the House in 1994.

- Jim

[TxDrifter]

Annie was 62 at the time. She had previously suffered a back injury with paralysis and subsequently five back surgeries that she recovered from prior to this. During that time period her feat was not that common, much less by women and at that age.

[seamusTX]

Survivors of the Texas City explosion gathered for a group photo yesterday:
http://galvestondailynews.com/story/225410" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Other background articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_Disaster" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.texascity-library.org/TCDisa ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

[WildBill]

Here's a video of Annie Oakley shooting.

http://www.westernshirts.com/blog/2010/ ... fun-facts/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;