On This Day:
Thursday April 3, 2014 This is the 93rd day of the year, with 272 days remaining in 2014. Fact of the Day: Pony Express The Pony Express was a continuous mail delivery system consisting of horse-and-rider relays. The route went from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, covering approximately 1,800 miles; it took about ten days to cover and had 150 to 190 stations. Riders averaged 10 mph and were paid $100 per month. The Pony Express only lasted from April 1860 through October 1861, ending with the completion of the transcontinental telegraph line. Some famous Pony Express riders included William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, James "Wild Bill" Hickok, Charlie "Broncho Charlie" Miller, and Robert "Pony Bob" Haslam.
Holidays Feast day of Saints Agape, Chionia, and Irene, St. Pancras of Taormina, St. Richard of Chichester, St. Nicetas, St. Burgundofara, and St. Sixtus I, pope.
Guinea: Anniversary of the Second Republic (1984).
Events 1721 - Robert Walpole became the first prime minister of Britain.
1776 - George Washington received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Harvard College.
1829 - James Carrington of Connecticut patented the coffee mill.
1860 - The legendary Pony Express began service between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. The mail was carried by Henry Wallace riding west and John Roff riding east.
1922 - In the USSR, Joseph Stalin was appointed as general secretary of the Communist Party.
1930 - Haile Selassie became emperor of Ethiopia.
1948 - President Harry Truman signed the Marshall Plan, which channeled more than $13 billion in aid to European countries between 1948-1951.
1953 - "TV Guide" was published for the first time.
1968 - Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "Mountaintop" speech to a rally in Memphis, less than 24 hours before he was assassinated.
1982 - British prime minister Margaret Thatcher ordered a naval task force to the Falkland Islands.
1996 - Theodore John Kaczynski was arrested by FBI agents in Montana and accused of being the Unabomber, the terrorist who sent 16 mail bombs that killed three people and injured 23 during an 18-year period.
2000 - A federal judge in Washington ruled that Microsoft Corporation had violated U.S. antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on competitors.
Births 1783 - Washington Irving, American author and historian.
1823 - William Marcy "Boss" Tweed, American politician, leader of corrupt Tammany Hall organization in New York City .
1837 - John Burroughs, American nature writer.
1898 - Henry R. Luce, American magazine publisher who created "Time," "Fortune," Life," and "Sports Illustrated."
1924 - Marlon Brando, American, Academy Award-winning actor.
1924 - Doris Day (born Doris Mary Ann von Kappelhoff), American singer and actress.
1942 - Wayne Newton, American singer.
Deaths 1882 - Jesse James, American outlaw.
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