July 2nd - A famous day for death

Last night I stayed in and finished another of Michael Palin's travel books. In this one, he travels around the world following the life of Ernest Hemingway.

He visits sites of interest to any Hemingway fan, including the Italian battlefield on which he was injured in WWI, the running of the bulls in Pamplona, and even takes a safari through Africa to see where Hemingway hunted.

It was an interesting book, and the last chapter dealt with Hemingway's return to the US after he was forced to leave Cuba due to sanctions against the country.

He settled in the tiny town of Ketchum, Idaho and tried to lead a quiet life, uninterrupted by the adoring public. He couldn't though, and eventually he committed suicide due to the enormous amount of pressue he placed upon himself.

I knew he had committed suicide, but I didn't the where or when. The ironic thing is, he died on July 2, 1961. I had to read it again, as I found out I was learning this on the eve of the 45th anniversary of his death. I don't know why, but that gave me sort of a weird feeling knowing that.

This morning I was browsing through the news on Yahoo and came across one of those, "today in history" stories. Knowing it would mention Hemingway, I decided to check it out.

After doing so, it seems that July 2nd is a pretty big day for famous deaths. A few of the deaths of past July 2nd's.

1566 - French prophet Nostradamus
1881 - President James Garfield was shot, he later died of these wounds, though not on July 2nd
1937 - Pilot Amelia Earhart disappears over the Pacific Ocean
1961 - Author Ernest Hemingway
1994 - A US Air jet crashed in Charlotte, killing 37
1997 - Actor Jimmy Stewart
2004 - Actor Marlon Brando

And in another death related event, it was in 1976 that the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was neither cruel, nor unusual.

Interesting stuff.