Samuel Colt died on this date in 1862. He made all men equal, you know. Had he lived longer, he might have gotten into it with Abraham Lincoln over that idea. Lincoln presumably would have had the reach, and maybe even the fighting skill to win. But Colt would have had... well, you know.
Speaking of Lincoln, his indirect nemesis Samuel Mudd died on this date. We recently noted his birthday, and noted too that he might well have been involved in the plot to kill Lincoln. So we won't rehash it all here. But it's not good for Mudd.
On the author front, both Sinclair Lewis (1951) and Dashiell Hammett (1961) died on this date. Lewis died either directly from alcoholism, or indirectly from heart problems caused by alcoholism. I don't guess it really matters. He was the first American writer to win a Nobel Prize. Hammett was a school dropout, who worked for a while with the Pinkerton Agency. I guess one could argue that his writings drew upon those experiences. Certainly he made that claim, and I suppose he'd know. He was a Communist for most of his life, and only supported WWII after Hitler invaded the USSR. Amazing how that worked. However, he did serve in both world wars, earning a lifelong battle with tuberculosis in the First War. That, lung cancer, and yes, alcohol brought him to his end.
And to ours.
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