French amateur astronomer observes a new planet in our solar system

On this date, in his amateur observatory seventy miles from Paris, Edmund Lescarbault, a French doctor, observed a small dark body transit the Sun.  Leading French astronomer Urbain Le Ferrier checked Lescarbault's calculations and on January 2, 1860 announced the discovery of the planet Vulcan, a body between Mercury and the Sun, that had been hypothesized for decades.  Later science proved  Vulcan did not exist but it remained in literature as a handy fictional planet, including its role as the home planet of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek character Spock. (By John Osborne)

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“An Armed Police,” New York Times, February 3, 1859

Notes
Cropped, edited, and prepared for use here by Don Sailer, Dickinson College, November 17, 2008.
Image type
document
Use in Day View?
No
Courtesy of
Historical Newspapers (ProQuest)
Permission to use?
Yes
Original caption
New York Times
Source citation
“An Armed Police,” New York Times, February 3, 1859, p. 4: 5.
Source note
Original image has been adjusted here for presentation purposes.

“General Walker’s Conversion to Romanism,” New York Times, February 9, 1859

Notes
Cropped, edited, and prepared for use here by Don Sailer, Dickinson College, November 17, 2008.
Image type
document
Use in Day View?
No
Courtesy of
Historical Newspapers (ProQuest)
Permission to use?
Yes
Original caption
General Walker’s Conversion to Romanism
Source citation
“General Walker’s Conversion to Romanism,” New York Times, February 9, 1859, p. 4: 5.
Source note
Original image has been adjusted here for presentation purposes.

The New York State Anti-Slavery Convention meets in Albany and advocates the dissolution of the Union

The New York State Anti-Slavery Committee met in Albany with Aaron Powell of Columbia, New York in the chair. Speeches were heard from Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, and several others. The New York Times reported that on this day "all the speeches made were of an extreme character." This is not surprising considering that resolutions were passed advocating the dissolution of the Union and terming the Union "a covenant with Death" that ought to be annulled. (By John Osborne)
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The Connecticut Republican Party Convention meets in New Haven

The Republicans of Connecticut met in their party convention at New Haven with August Brandagee of New London chairing. The one day meeting renominated Governor William Alfred Buckingham and reaffirmed its support for the principles of the party in both state and national matters. Buckingham would go on to serve as Connecticut's Civil War governor. (By John Osborne)
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In Ohio, the Coshocton County Treasurer's Office is robbed of $20,000

In Coshocton County, Ohio, at around ten o'clock in the evening, several men overpowered the County Treasurer who was working late in his office in Coshocton, the county seat. The safe was opened and approximately $20,000 was taken, $4000 of it in gold. The robbers left the treasurer tied up and escaped with their haul. (By John Osborne)
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The East Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Church meets in Williamsport, Pennsylvania

With Dickinson College faculty member Bishop Levi Scott presiding, the East Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Church opened its meeting in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. One hundred and sixty clergymen were in attendance. (By John Osborne)
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