History for March 5

History for March 5 - On-This-Day.com:
Gerhardus Mercator 1512 - Flemish mapmaker, William Oughtred 1575 - Mathematician, credited with inventing the slide rule, Antoine Cadillac 1658 - Founder of Detroit, MI


Rex Harrison 1908 - Actor, Penn Jillett 1955 - Magician (Penn and Teller), Andy Gibb 1958 - Singer


1624 - In the American colony of Virginia, the upper class was exempted from whipping by legislation.


1770 - "The Boston Massacre" took place when British troops fired on a crowd in Boston killing five people. Two British troops were later convicted of manslaughter.


1836 - Samuel Colt's Patent Arms Manufacturing of Paterson, New Jersey, was chartered by the New Jersey legislature.


1842 - A Mexican force of over 500 men under Rafael Vasquez invaded Texas for the first time since the revolution. They briefly occupied San Antonio, but soon headed back to the Rio Grande.


1922 - "Annie Oakley" (Phoebe Ann Moses) broke all existing records for women's trap shooting. She hit 98 out of 100 targets.


1933 - The Nazi Party won 44 percent of the vote in German parliamentary elections.


1946 - Winston Churchill delivered his "Iron Curtain Speech".


1953 - Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin died. He had been in power for 29 years.