Joseph Charless was a prominent citizen in St. Louis,  Missouri, a bank president and trustee of Westminster College. On June 3, 1859, angered over Charless's testimony at an embezzlement trial that had made him unemployable, Joseph W. Thornton shot Charless on the street. Charless died the following day. Thornton was tried in September and tried to use the insanity defense Daniel Sickles had successfully pursued the previous spring. This was not permitted, however, and Thornton was found guilty. He was hanged this day at the St. Louis Jail. (By John Osborne)

Joseph Charless was a prominent citizen in St. Louis,  Missouri, a bank president and trustee of Wesminster College in the city.  Joseph W. Thornton, a former employee, blamed Charless for the fact that no other bank would employ him. On June 3, 1859, Thornton walked up to Charless on the street and fired two shots.  An attempt was made to lynch Thornton but the fatally wounded Charless himself helped prevent this.  Thornton was tried the following September, found guilty, and hanged at the St. Louis Jail on November 11, 1859.  (By John Osborne)

Joseph Charless was president of the Mechanics Bank and a trustee of Wesminster College in St. Louis.  Joseph W. Thornton, unemployed, blamed Charless for the fact that no bank would employ him. He walked up to Charless on the street and fired two shots. A crowd tried to lynch Thornton but the fatally wounded Charless himself helped stop the attempt.  Thornton was tried in September, found guilty, and hanged at the St. Louis Jail on November 11, 1859.  (By John Osborne)

President James Buchanan left the capital to travel to North Carolina, where he visited the University at Chapel Hill and gave the Commencement Address there. (By John Osborne)

On this day, the United States Post Office, the Land Office, and several other buildings in central Dubuque, Iowa, were destroyed in a severe fire. (By John Osborne)

Major Earl Van Dorn, with six companies of the Second Cavalry, trekked two hundred miles north from Texas and engaged a large force of Comanche Indians near the abandoned Fort Atkinson in eastern Nebraska.  The cavalrymen fought largely dismounted.  Fifty-five hostiles were killed and over a hundred horses captured.  One private was killed and Lieutenant Fitzhugh Lee was wounded through the lung with an arrow.  Captain Kirby Smith, also wounded, and Lieutenant John Bell Hood participated in this action.  All these officers joined the South in 1861. (By John Osborne)