June 17th- Important Events in History

We're going to discuss some more important events in history. June 17th has certainly been a day that has seen a lot of history throughout the years.

On this day in 1885, the Statue of Liberty (pictured above) was delivered to the United States. The statue was transported here on board a French ship, which was commanded by Lespinasse De Saune. To get it here, the statue had to be reduced to 350 separate pieces. All of these pieces took up 214 crates! The ship and statue were escorted into the harbour by the American pilot Joseph Henderson.

June 17th was also the day the Kansas City Massacre occurred. In 1933, Vernon Miller (mugshot above) lead a gang to free federal prisoner Frank Nash. Nash was being transported to the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas (the same prison he escaped from three years earlier). The gang sprung into action as Nash was being put into a transport car. Although the massacre only lasted approximately thirty seconds, four law enforcement officers were killed, as well as gang member Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd. Because of this massacre, a year later the FBI gave agents the authorization to carry firearms and make arrests (which they could not previously do).