At Deir-al-Qumar in present day south-central Lebanon, militant Druse peasants massacred large numbers of male Maronite Christians. Confict between Druse and Christians had been flaring for weeks, with clashes in Beirut and surrounding areas.  Western observers counted around 1,200 in Deir-el-Qumar.  By July, violence had spread to Damascus where thousands more Christians were killed, including Europeans.  (By John Osborne)

At one o'clock in the morning, the steamboat Ben W. Lewis, bound for St. Louis from Memphis with eighty-five passengers, burst a boiler at the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi near Cairo, Illinois.  Fire quickly engulfed the vessel, considered one of the speediest of the Mississippi fleet.  Passengers and crew took to the river and despite the efforts of other boats in the area, between forty and fifty lives were lost.  (By John Osborne)