James O. Putnam, a prominent American Party politician in the state of New York, endorsed Abraham Lincoln for the presidency in a letter to Lincoln supporters organizing a rally in New York City's Union Park.  Defending Republicans from charges of abolitionism and judging Lincoln himself "no fanatic" on matters of racial equality, Putnam saw Lincoln's personal character as a powerful attribute and stressed his intention to vote for him.  (By John Osborne)  

Four days before his execution, forty year old Albert W. Hicks, the last man tried, convicted and executed for the federal crime of piracy in the United States, gave a lengthy and fanciful confession of a spectacular career in crime to a Deputy U.S. Marshall.  Hicks claimed to have robbed and killed for twenty years in California, through Latin America, and on the high seas.  This secured his fame and thousands came to watch his execution. (By John Osborne)   

At exactly eleven in the morning, forty year old Albert W. Hicks, the last man tried, convicted and executed for the federal crime of piracy in the United States, was hanged on Bedloe's Island (now Liberty Island) with numerous boats carrying thousands of New Yorkers viewing the event.  Tried in May, 1860 before the U.S. Circuit Court in New York City, Hicks was accused of killing and robbing the crew of the schooner, E.A. Johnson, in March 1860. (By John Osborne)   

Albert W. Hicks, the last man tried, convicted and executed for the crime of piracy in the United States, went before the U.S. Circuit Court in New York City, Judge Smalley presiding.  Hicks was accused of killing and robbing the crew of the schooner, E.A. Johnson, in March 1860.  Sentenced to death, he was hanged on Bedloe's Island (now Liberty Island) with numerous boats carrying thousands of New Yorkers viewing the event.  (By John Osborne)   

Erasmus Beadle published his first of many "dime novels" in New York City with the sale of Ann S. Stephens' Malaeska, the Indian Wife of the White Hunter.  Stephens' novel was the repackaging of a serial Stephens had first published in the Ladies' Companion two decades before.  Beadle bought the story for $250 and sold more than 30,000 copies.  He then put out two ten-cent novels a month and set in motion a publishing phenomenon that was to dominate popular reading in the United States into the twentieth century.  (By John Osborne)