Sunday 23rd of February 1417

211th Pope Paulus II is born as Pietro Barbo in Venezia, Veneto, Italy.

Tuesday 23rd of February 1447

207th Pope Eugenius IV dies of unknown causes at the age of 64 in Vatican City, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Friday 23rd of February 1685

Composer Georg Friedrich Händel is born in Zum Gelben Hirsch, Halle an der Saale, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany.

Sunday 23rd of February 1744

Jewish banker Mayer Amschel Rothschild aka The Founding Father of International Finance is born in Judengasse, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany.

Wednesday 23rd of February 1848

6th President of the United States John Quincy Adams dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 81 in United States Capitol, Washington, District of Columbia, United States.

Adams' last words were "This is the last of earth. I am content."

Saturday 23rd of February 1850

Hotelier César Ritz is born in Niederwald, Valais, Switzerland.

Tuesday 23rd of February 1875

Murderers John Holloway, Owen Haggerty and Elisabeth Godfrey are executed by hanging at the age of 39, 24 and 34 respectively in Newgate Prison, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

In the crowd of nearly 40.000 spectators 31 were trampled to death and many more injured.

Saturday 23rd of February 1878

Abstract art pioneer Kazimir Severinovich Malevich is born in Kiev, Ukraine, Russia.

Monday 23rd of February 1885

21-year-old Murderer John Henry George Lee aka Babbacombe Lee aka The Man They Couldn't Hang is brought upon the scaffold three times to be hanged but the trapdoor refuses to open upon each attempt despite being carefully tested by executioner James Berry in Exeter Prison, Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom.

Lee continued to petition successive Home Secretaries and was finally released in 1907.

Tuesday 23rd of February 1897

40-year-old Celestin Gautrais is beaten to death by serial killer Joseph Vacher aka L’Eventreur du Sud-Est in Lacaune, Tarn-et-Garonne, France.

Tuesday 23rd of February 1904

Organizer of the Soviet spy ring Rote Kapelle Leopold Trepper is born in Nowy Targ, Województwo Małopolskie, Poland.

Friday 23rd of February 1906

Bigamist and multiple murderer Johann Otto Hoch aka The Bluebeard Murderer is executed by hanging at the age of 51 in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Hoch was found guilty of the murder of one wife but is thought to have killed more, perhaps up to 50 victims.

Sunday 23rd of February 1930

34-year-old Hildegard Eid is attacked and raped by serial killer Peter Kürten aka The Vampire of Düsseldorf in Grafenberger Wald, Düsseldorf, Grafenberg, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

She survived and met Kürten again on 3 March 1930.

Sunday 23rd of February 1930

Sturmführer of the SA Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel known for the song ‘Die Fahne Hoch’ aka das Horst-Wessel-Lied dies of blood poisoning at the age of 23 in Städtische Krankenhaus, Berlin, Friedrichshain, Berlin, Germany.

On 14 January Wessel was shot in the head by Communist Albrecht Höhler at his house in the Großen Frankfurter Straße 62.

Monday 23rd of February 1931

Cop killer Irene Schroeder aka Trigger Woman aka Iron Irene aka Animal Woman aka Tiger Girl is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 22 in Rockview Penitentiary, Benner Township, Pennsylvania, United States.

Schroeder was the first woman to die in the Pennsylvania Electric Chair.

Monday 23rd of February 1931

Pop artist Tom Wesselmann is born in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States.

Tuesday 23rd of February 1937

An unidentified woman is found hacked to death by unidentified serial killer Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run aka Cleveland Torso Murderer in Euclid Beach, Cleveland, Ohio, United States.

The head was never found.

Wednesday 23rd of February 1938

Cult film director Paul Joseph Morrissey known for his early association with Andy Warhol is born in New York, Manhattan, New York, United States.

Friday 23rd of February 1940

Actor Peter Henry Fonda is born in New York City, New York, United States.

Wednesday 23rd of February 1944

Chemist Leo Henricus Arthur Baekeland aka The Father of the Plastics Industry known for inventing Bakelite dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 81 in Craig Hause, Beacon, New York, United States.

Baekeland became a recluse, eating all of his meals from cans and becoming obsessed with developing an immense tropical garden on his winter estate in Coconut Grove, Florida.

Wednesday 23rd of February 1944

Musician Johnny John Dawson Winter is born in Beaumont, Texas, United States.

Saturday 23rd of February 1946

29-year-old Sex killer Neville Clevely Heath aka The Sadistic Romeo is found whipping an unidentified girl in Strand Palace Hotel, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 23rd of February 1965

Actor Stan Laurel known from Laurel and Hardy dies of a heart attack at the age of 75 in Santa Monica, California, United States.

Wednesday 23rd of February 1966

Victim of Bobby Joe Long aka The Adman Rapist Virginia Lee Johnson is born in Danbury, Connecticut, United States.

Thursday 23rd of February 1967

Double murderer Bobby Hopkins is born in Lea County, New Mexico, United States.

Monday 23rd of February 1970

Daughter of actor Marlon Brando Cheyenne Tarita Brando is born in Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia.

Tuesday 23rd of February 1971

20-year-old Serial killer Gustaaf Van Eyken aka De Vampier van Muizen assaults an unidentified woman in Mechelen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Friday 23rd of February 1973

25-year-old Member of the 'Manson Family' Susan Denise Atkins aka Sadie Mae Glutz is baptised by Chaplain Sargent Wright in California Institution for Women, Chino, California, United States.

Monday 23rd of February 1976

Start of the first trial against 30-year-old Serial killer Ted Theodore Robert Bundy aka The Only Living Witness in Metropolitan Hall of Justice, 400 South 300 East, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.

Bundy stood trial for the DaRonch kidnapping.

Monday 23rd of February 1981

16-year-old Gabriella Bohn is beaten to death and raped by serial killer Bernd Bopp aka Der Hammermörder in Ludwigshafen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.

Saturday 23rd of February 1985

Over 100 die in express train fire in Rajnandgaon, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Friday 23rd of February 1990

31-year-old Performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV performs 'Body Art' in Galerie Lydia Megert, Münstergasse 6, Bern, Mittelland, Switzerland.

I was hanging naked upside down on a tree which I had brought into the gallery. Between my body and the door a long stick was stuck.

Friday 23rd of February 1996

Serial killer William George Bonin aka The Freeway Killer is executed by lethal injection at the age of 49 in San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California, United States.

Bonin was the first man to be executed by lethal injection in California. Bonin's last meal request was for two large pizzas, three pints of ice cream and three six-packs of Coke.

Friday 23rd of February 1996

Convicted robber Paul Wilson tries to strangle 50-year-old Serial killer Peter William Sutcliffe aka The Yorkshire Ripper with the flex of a headphone in Broadmoor Hospital, Crowthorne, Berkshire, United Kingdom.

Stockwell Strangler Kenneth Erskine and murderer Jamie Devitt came to rescue Sutcliffe.

Wednesday 23rd of February 2000

Murderer Cornelius Alan Goss is executed by lethal injection at the age of 39 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Goss' last meal request was for one apple, one orange, one banana, coconut, and peaches.

Saturday 23rd of February 2013

James Chance and the Contortions playing live in Petrol Club, d'Herbouvillekaai 25, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.