MOMENTS IN TIME

The History Channel

* On Jan. 22, 1779, famed Tory outlaw Claudius Smith meets his end on the gallows in Goshen, N.Y. Smith earned the label “Cowboy of the Ramapos” for his use of guerrilla tactics against Patriot civilians. Legend has it that Smith’s skull was filled with mortar and included in the edifice of the Goshen Court House.

* On Jan. 19, 1809, poet, author and literary critic Edgar Allan Poe is born in Boston. In 1836, Poe married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm, and completed his first full-length work of fiction, “Arthur Gordon Pym.” He became known for dark horror stories like “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.”

* On Jan. 17, 1893, on the Hawaiian Islands, a group of American sugar planters under Sanford Ballard Dole overthrow Queen Liliuokalani, the Hawaiian monarch, and establish a new provincial government with Dole as president. Three hundred U.S. Marines were called to Hawaii, allegedly to protect American lives.

* On Jan. 18, 1912, after a two-month ordeal, the expedition of British explorer Robert Falcon Scott arrives at the South Pole, only to find that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had preceded them by just more than a month. Caught in a storm on the way back to base camp, Scott and two others perished.

* On Jan. 16, 1945, Adolf Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany, takes to his underground bunker, where he remains for 105 days until he commits suicide on April 30 in the waning days of World War II. Hitler and his wife swallowed cyanide capsules (which had been tested on his “beloved” dog and her pups). For good measure, he shot himself with his pistol.

* On Jan. 21, 1957, Patsy Cline, one of the greatest figures in country music history, first gains national attention with her appearance on “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts,” wowing the studio audience with her performance of “Walkin’ After Midnight.”

* On Jan. 20, 1980, bleachers at a bullring in Sincelejo, Colombia, collapse, killing 222 people. The deadliest tragedy at a sporting event in Colombia’s history was the result of overcrowding and poor construction.

(c) 2011 King Featutes Synd., Inc.