Sunday 9th of January 1324

Merchant traveller Marco Polo dies of a serious illness at the age of 70 in Venezia, Veneto, Italy.

Saturday 9th of January 1554

234th Pope Gregorius XV is born as Alessandro Ludovisio in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

Wednesday 9th of January 1788

Connecticut is admitted as fifth state of the U.S. in Hartford, Connecticut, United States.

Saturday 9th of January 1836

Philosopher, poet and murderer Pierre François Lacenaire is executed by the Guillotine at the age of 33 in Barrière Saint-Jacques, Paris, XIVe, Île-de-France, France.

Thursday 9th of January 1890

Journalist, satirist and writer Kurt Tucholsky aka Kaspar Hauser, Peter Panter, Theobald Tiger and Ignaz Wrobel is born in 13 Lübecker Straße, Berlin, Moabit, Berlin, Germany.

Tuesday 9th of January 1894

33-year-old Serial killer Henry Howard Holmes aka The Torture Doctor marries Georgiana Yoke posing as Henry Mansfield Howard in Denver, Colorado, United States.

At the time Holmes was still married to Clara Lovering and Myrta Belknap.

Tuesday 9th of January 1900

Murderess Louise Josephine Jemima Masset is executed by hanging at the age of 34 in Newgate Prison, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

She killed her illegitimate son Manfred on 27 October 1899. Her last words were "What I suffer is just."

Thursday 9th of January 1908

Philosopher, political activist, feminist and social theorist Simone de Beauvoir is born as Simone-Lucie-Ernestine-Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir in 101 Boulevard Montparnasse, Paris, VIe, Île-de-France, France.

Thursday 9th of January 1913

37th President of the United States Richard Milhous Nixon is born in Yorba Linda, California, United States.

Tuesday 9th of January 1923

Murderess Edith Jessie Thompson is executed by hanging at the age of 30 in Holloway Prison, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

On 3 October 1922 her lover Frederick Bywaters stabbed her husband Percy Thompson to death. When the gallows trapdoor opened and Thompson fell, the sudden impact of the noose caused her to suffer a massive haemorrhage. All women hanged in Britain after her were required to wear special knickers made of canvas which would prevent a recurrence of the massive bleeding suffered by Thompson.

Tuesday 9th of January 1923

Murderer Frederick Edward Francis Bywaters is executed by hanging at the age of 21 in HM Prison Pentonville, Caledonian Road, London, Islington, Greater London, United Kingdom.

On 3 October 1922 he stabbed his lover Edith Thompson's husband Percy Thompson to death.

Friday 9th of January 1925

Actor Lee Clarence Leroy Van Cleef is born in Somerville, New Jersey, United States.

Friday 9th of January 1925

Murderer Sam Flowers is executed by hanging at the age of 44 in Arizona State Prison Complex, 1305 E Butte Avenue, Florence, Arizona, United States.

Flowers killed his wife on 20 february 1923

Thursday 9th of January 1941

Singer, songwriter, musician and activist Joan Chandos Baez is born in New York, Staten Island, New York, United States.

Wednesday 9th of January 1946

Member of the Rote Armee Fraktion Ulrich Wessel is born in Bielefeld, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Monday 9th of January 1950

Musician Rio Reiser known for his band Ton Steine Scherben is born as Ralph Christian Möbius in Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Friday 9th of January 1953

Child killer Leland Morris known for the murder of Thelma Taylor is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 22 in Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem, Oregon, United States.

On 5 August 1949 Morris abducted and killed 15-year-old Thelma Taylor in Portland. The site of the murder under St. John's Bridge is supposedly haunted by Taylor.

Friday 9th of January 1953

Murderer Frank Oliver Payne is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 52 in Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem, Oregon, United States.

Thursday 9th of January 1958

Hit man Elmer Burke aka Trigger is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 40 in Sing Sing Prison, Ossining, New York, United States.

Burke spent his last evening eating a final meal of steak, smoking six cigars and reading newspaper clippings about himself.

Thursday 9th of January 1958

Assassin and Grey Wolves member Mehmet Ali Ağca is born in Hekimhan, Malatya ili, Turkey.

Thursday 9th of January 1969

44-year-old Satan worshipper and serial rapist Edward John Louis Paisnel aka The Beast of Jersey assaults an unidentified 7 1/2-year-old girl in her bed in La Roque, Jersey, United Kingdom.

Saturday 9th of January 1971

25-year-old Mass murderer John Linley Frazier aka The Killer Prophet slashes open his arm and writes “Freedom from Pigs” on the wall of his cell in Santa Cruz, California, United States.

Sunday 9th of January 1972

The ocean-liner Queen Elisabeth is destroyed by fire in Victoria Harbour, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.

The vessel was sold at auction in 1970 to Hong Kong tycoon Tung Chao Yung and renamed Seawise University as a play on Tung's initials (C.Y.'s).

Thursday 9th of January 1975

58-year-old Casimir Strawinski is stabbed to death by serial killer Vaughn Greenwood aka The Skid Row Slasher in Los Angeles, California, United States.

Tuesday 9th of January 1979

Structural engineer and architect Pier Luigi Nervi known for his innovative use of reinforced concrete dies of natural causes at the age of 88 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Monday 9th of January 1984

17-year-old Natalya Shalapinina is stabbed to death by serial killer Andrei Chikatilo aka The Rostov Ripper in Park of Aviators, Rostov, Rostov Oblast, Russia.

Shalapinina had been a close friend of Olga Kuprina, killed by Chikatilo in 1982.

Thursday 9th of January 1986

83-year-old Yvonne Couronne is tortured and strangled by serial killer Thierry Paulin aka Le Tueur de la Pleine Lune in 8b Rue Sarette, Paris, XIVe, Île-de-France, France.

Thursday 9th of January 1986

83-year-old Françoise Vendôme is tortured and killed by serial killer Thierry Paulin aka Le Tueur de la Pleine Lune in 68 Rue de Charenton, Paris, VIIe, Île-de-France, France.

Vendôme's body was discovered on 12 January.

Thursday 9th of January 1992

42-year-old Serial killer William Lester Suff aka The Lake Elsinore Killer is arrested after a routine traffic stop in Riverside, California, United States.

In Suff's Mitsubishi van a police officer found a bloody knife and objects believed to be related to 12 or more killings between 1989 and 1991.

Friday 9th of January 1998

34-year-old Serial killer Hubert Geralds aka The Englewood Rapist is sentenced to death in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Tuesday 9th of January 2001

Murderer Jack Wade Clark is executed by lethal injection at the age of 38 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Friday 9th of January 2004

Murderer Raymond Dale Rowsey is executed by lethal injection at the age of 33 in Raleigh State Prison, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States.

Rowsey's execution was the 888th carried out in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Rowsey's final meal request was for pizza, chicken wings, two packages of peanut M&M's, and a Pepsi.

Sunday 9th of January 2005

A window in a museum in Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.