Daily Gist

 When Dan Blocker appeared in an episode of Bonanza wearing a sling his audience wanted to know what had happened. The answer was simple, and true. During filming he had fallen off his horse and broken his arm. Raymond Burr had appeared in an episode of his hit show Perry Mason wearing a cast, and again the public wanted to know what had happened. The answer was more convoluted, and a straight-out lie. Raymond would visit troops in Korea and later Vietnam. The studio publicists said that while on a tour visiting troops his helicopter had crashed while under fire, causing damage to his arm. It was years later, after his death. that it was revealed that he had been walking along a beach on an Hawaiian island and had attempted to lift a large boulder looking for shells. He had hurt his arm muscles then. Just my opinion, he did a lot of good work for his country in visiting the troops, but this seemed to be overly manipulative and unnecessary. It just seems the publicity department wen...

 On December 29, 1942, in the afternoon, four prisoners escaped from the Auschwitz Concentration Camp: Otto Küsel, Jan Baras, Mieczyslaw Januszewski, and Dr. Boleslaw Kuczbara. Otto Küsel, a German Jew who worked as a horse cart driver, loaded four cabinets with the other three prisoners hidden inside. Since this was part of his usual work, the SS guards didn’t check him, and he was able to reach an open field without being stopped. Mieczyslaw Januszewski, who was dressed in an SS uniform and carrying a rifle, sat next to Küsel as they left the camp. Januszewski showed a fake SS identification, which helped them escape. After leaving, they contacted a Polish resistance group called the Polish Home Army for help. Many escapes from Auschwitz took place from outside work sites. The support of local civilians was crucial for the success of these escapes. The Auschwitz camp commander wrote in 1940 that the local Polish people were strongly against the SS and would do anything to help e...

 WHAT EXAMPLE OF BRAVERY SURPRISED THE WORLD ? Five years have passed since Francisco Erasmo Rodrigues de Lima, a father of four, a bricklayer, an alcoholic, divorced and homeless, was murdered on the steps of the Sé Cathedral in São Paulo, Brazil. A woman praying in church was taken hostage by a fugitive criminal. Francisco didn't hesitate; he knew what to do. He lit his last cigarette, held it firmly between his lips, lunged at the bandit, freed the woman, and was shot dead by the criminal. While Francisco gave his life in defense of that woman, a crowd watched and filmed, but only Francisco, a homeless man, ostracized by society, seen as a bandit, was capable of giving his life for a complete stranger. May this man always be remembered for his act of courage and heroism

 Shout out to this King. We will remember your bravery. ✊🏿 Job Maseko, a WW2 hero, sank a NAZI ship with a bomb made from a tin can with condensed milk. He was denied the highest military decoration, due to his race. Maseko served as a stretcher carrier for the allied forces in North Africa, providing medical assistance to the wounded. When his commander surrendered to the Germans at Tobruk in June 1942, he became a prisoner of war. He was forced to work on the ports at Tobruk. Being a former miner, he made an astonishing bomb on July 21 using condensed milk tin, cordite & a long fuse. He loaded the little tin with gunpowder and placed it in the hold of a German ship near some petrol drums. He planted his bomb deep in the hold on June 21, 1942, just before they were set to leave the already overloaded ship. He lighted the fuse and dashed to the dock. An enormous explosion erupted sinking the ship instantly. He eventually escaped from the prisoner of war camp and rose to the ra...

 Born into a Catholic family in Poland in 1922 Irene, gut  Opdyke had dreams of becoming  a nurse from an early stage. When she turned 17 , she was finally able to enrolled in a nursing school _ right before workd war ll broke out.  Opdyke eventually got a job making munitions to supply the German front and later as a kitchen worker in a hotel that housed and fed Nazi soldiers. One day, however, Opdyke witnessed a German soldier throw a Jewish infant to the ground. She decided right then and there that she would do whatever she could to help the Jewish people around her — no matter the risk to her own life. For the rest of the war, Opdyke listened in on German officers' calls and warned her Jewish coworkers about upcoming raids on their ghettos. Meanwhile, she smuggled food and travel permits to people hiding in the forests — and even hid 12 Jews right inside the home of a Nazi officer where she worked as a housekeeper

 Violet Constance Jessop might just be the unluckiest—or luckiest—person to ever live. You decide. She was born in Buenos Aires in 1887. As a child, she got really sick with tuberculosis, and doctors didn’t think she’d make it. But somehow, she got better. Just when life seemed to be improving, her father died. Her parents were from Ireland, so her mother took Violet and her five siblings back to the UK. Violet went to school, but money was tight, so she had to quit and start working. And that’s where her unbelievable story begins. Her first job was with the Royal Mail Line as a cabin maid. It didn’t pay much, but it was a start. From there, she landed a better job as a stewardess with the White Star Line. That’s how she ended up working on the RMS Olympic, the Titanic’s sister ship, known at the time as the "lucky one." But luck didn’t quite hold. On September 20, 1911, the Olympic collided with a British Navy ship, the HMS Hawke, and the back of the ship got badly damaged. ...

 It’s round about 1971 and a woman poses for a photo outside Paramount Studios. For those passing nobody would have taken a second look. It’s just a nondescript, middle aged woman doing the tourist thing. But this is no ordinary middle aged woman. Three decades earlier she was a bright star in that same studio and had appeared in the classic film, This Gun For Hire, with movie legend Alan Ladd and she would go on to make a series of profitable movies. It’s Veronica Lake. When the photo was taken her l ooks, fame, luck and fortune were gone. Schizophrenia, alcoholism and bad relationships with many of her colleagues had destroyed her career. Hollywood columnist, Sue Cameron, had interviewed her shortly before and found, ‘’a woman who looked like a cleaning lady. I was really startled. I instantly knew here was someone… who was probably struggling financially. You could see she was very damaged.” Veronica was to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and asked Sue to accompany ...

 IN 1971, Djandoubi, who was employed as a labourer, suffered a serious accident at work that resulted in the Amputation of a leg, an event that had a psychological impact on him. In 1973, he tried to force his lover, Élisabeth Bousquet, a twenty-one-year-old girl he had met while hospitalized, to prostitute herself, but she reported him. Djandoubi was arrested and spent several months in prison. In July 1974, Djandoubi kidnapped Bousquet and tortured her, putting out several cigarettes on her breasts and genitals in front of two girls who were prostituting themselves for him. Élisabeth managed to escape on foot, but Djandoubi caught up with her and strangled her. That same summer, he kidnapped another girl, who managed to escape and tell the police everything. Arrested after a few months, Djandoubi was accused of torture and murder and sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out on September 10, 1977, at 4:40 in the morning, in the courtyard of the Marseille prison.

 She walked 1,700 miles barefoot acrossed deserts and mountains while carry her baby in her arms _ and found  the strength  to walk into a courtroom and win her freedom  Bridget “Biddy” Mason’s life began in Georgia, where she was born into slavery and treated as property rather than a person. For the first thirty years of her life, she knew only labour without pay, families torn apart, and the crushing reality of being owned. In 1847, the man who claimed her decided to head west. And Biddy, along with her three daughters, was forced to go with him — not in a wagon, but on foot. For more than 1,700 miles, she crossed scorching deserts, freezing mountain passes, and violent storms. Her infant was always in her arms. Her two older girls walked behind her, exhausted and scared, but following their mother’s steady, determined steps. Imagine that journey. Imagine her feet bleeding, her muscles burning, her arms aching under the weight of her child — yet she never stopped ...

 Malva Marina Reyes was the daughter of the famous poet Pablo Neruda, whose real name was Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto. She was born with a condition called hydrocephalus, which caused her head to grow larger than normal. Sadly, Neruda abandoned her because of her illness. The poet, known for writing the most beautiful and romantic verses, cruelly referred to his daughter as “Full stop” (because of the size of her head compared to her body), “Three-pound vampire,” and “Ridiculous being.” Malva passed away in poverty at the young age of 8, and her father did not even attend her funeral. Pablo Neruda, often praised as a beloved poet and a voice of the political left, had a daughter, Malva Marina. She died in Holland at just 8 years old, abandoned by her father, who rejected her because of her condition. This is often seen as an example of the double standards of many admired figures. Malva was born on August 18, 1934, in Madrid, where Neruda was working as a Consul General....

 He used to tell people, 'If anybody ever touches my kid, I'll **** him.' I knew he wasn't kidding." In February 1984, 11-year-old Jody Plauché was kidnapped and sexually-assaulted by his karate teacher, Jeff Doucet. Stolen away from his Baton Rouge home and held prisoner in a California hotel room, he endured several days of horrific abuse before police tracked him and his kidnapper down and returned him safely to his dad, Gary Plauché. But Jody's ordeal wasn't over — and his father wanted revenge. On March 16, 1984, Doucet was being walked through the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport to be handed over to Louisiana authorities. Gary Plauché, hiding behind sunglasses and a baseball cap, stood in wait, then suddenly stepped forward and shot Doucet in the head at point-blank range — all while local news cameras were rolling.

 ANYONE BEEN EMBARRASSED BY A FREINDS MOM AT A SLEEPOVER  IT WAS DAD Last year, my daughter went to a sleepover at a friend’s house. It was Justin’s birthday, and about ten boys and girls from school were invited and would sleep in one and the same room — some in genuine beds, some on the floor. Around 3AM, my daughter awoke, and saw Justin’s father sitting on one of the beds, staring at the sleeping kids. Although he was one of the funny dads, his face was all different now — very serious, and dark, clenching his jaw and with a vein visibly throbbing in his forehead. Although his eyes were actually blue, his pupils were now so dilated that they looked black as night. When my daughter told us the next day, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about Ted Bundy, who also had widely dilated pupils when he talked about his victims, the dump sites (and what happened after the demise of the victims), and what have you. Even before he became a murderer, he could have episodes in which...

  On May 26, 2000, Nubia and her twin brother, Victor, were born to an alcoholic mother and a father who was a registered sex offender. To make matters worse, Nubia was born with a congenital abnormality that required her to always be on medications. In 2003, they were taken from their mother and placed in a foster home. This was how they met Jorge and Carmen Barahonas. Their lives changed for the worse when they started living with the Barahonas. The abuse they sustained made their teachers report to authorities. All the reports were not taken seriously, and no one cared to investigate further. The only person who cared was the children's legal guardian, Paul Neuman. He was removed from his role because he didn’t like the way the adoptive parents maltreated the children. Neuman wanted to stop them from formally adopting the twins in 2008, but they fought to have him removed as their guardian. The Barahonas wrote directly to the then governor of Florida, Charles Joseph, and Neuman ...

 On the first day that she was allowed to walk to school alone, 10-year-old Natascha Kampusch was abducted by a man driving a white van on the streets of suburban Vienna. She would spend the next eight years in a nightmare — locked in a windowless room that her kidnapper built beneath his basement and suffering unimaginable abuse at his hands. Image: bottom- the entrance to the basement where she was held. But through it all, Kampusch never lost faith that she would escape. She even experienced visions of her 18-year-old self, who promised her she would one day be free. Finally, after 3,096 days of captivity, she escaped, just when her older self said she would. After her escape, her frustrated abductor walked in front of the train killing himself.

 A lot of women understand how she must have felt ♥️ Rest in Peace Good Lady 🕊️ She gave him ten children. She buried three of them with her own hands. She crossed the ocean with him, stayed by his side through fame and struggle, and kept a busy household running. And yet, Catherine Hogarth — the wife of Charles Dickens — was pushed aside, blamed, and forgotten. Dickens, praised as a great writer of the Victorian era, called her “fat, lazy, jealous, and dull.” He even shared their private troubles with the public, writing a letter that made him look like the victim. The world felt sorry for him. Few felt sorry for her. But who wouldn’t be tired after ten pregnancies? Who wouldn’t gain weight or grieve deeply after burying children? Catherine was not weak — she was strong. She kept going. Her marriage ended not because of her, but because Dickens fell in love with a much younger actress, Ellen Ternan. Divorce was nearly impossible at the time, so Catherine was made the one to blame...

 Leon Smith, Jr. was born on July 14, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York, to proud parents Irene and the late Leon Smith, Sr. He started school in the public school system, attending Borough Hall Academy Junior High School and Queens Day Preparatory High School. He went to Gannon College in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he played on the basketball and soccer teams. Later, he transferred to Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn and studied Business Management. Before joining the FDNY on February 27, 1982, Leon worked for the NYCDOT, the NYC Department of Sanitation, and also as a mental health therapist. Leon loved helping people and knew by age nine that he wanted to be a firefighter. He often left the park to hang out at the local firehouse near his home. His father told his mother to let him go, saying at least he was safe there. Leon was always kind and giving; he once gave his winter coat to a classmate who didn’t have one because he had three. Leon enjoyed working with his hands. He was mecha...

 Graham Fredrick young - A case of a deadly childhood obsession  He became fascinated with poisons from a young age; he read how they worked and the effects they had on human bodies. In 1962 at the age of 14, Young was taken into custody for poisoning his family members by adding thallium and antimony to their foods and drinks. His stepmother died as a result. Soon after he arrived in prison, one of the inmates died of cyanide poisoning. Young had so much knowledge of poisons that he knew how to extract cyanide from laurel leaves that were around the prison facility. In 1971, he was deemed rehabilitated and released from Broadmoor. When he found himself in a factory where his role was to make tea for the workers, his ill passion came back. He started poisoning his co-workers, he targeted his competitors first and those who annoyed him. Victims would fall ill with symptoms that included vomiting, stomach pains, nausea, and diarrhea. Initially, the mysterious illness was assumed...

 THEY WERE TWO CHILDREN,TWO SOULS BOUND BY THE SAME FATE BUT DIVIDED BY THE  COLOUR OF THEIR SKIN The boy’s name was Elijah, and though he was just ten, he carried the weight of the world on his small shoulders. The girl’s name was Emma, and at eight years old, she had already learned what it meant to be broken, to live under the heavy hand of cruelty. Elijah’s skin was as dark as the midnight sky, and his life had always been one of hardship. Born into slavery on a cotton plantation in the South, he knew no world outside of the endless fields, the hot sun that scorched his back, the whip that lashed at his legs when he faltered. He worked alongside his mother, who had always told him that one day, when he was older, he would be strong enough to escape. But her words were always spoken in hushed tones, as if hope itself could get them both in trouble. Emma, on the other hand, had never known the harshness of the fields. Her family was wealthy, but their wealth was built on the...

 UNKNOWN BUT NOT FORGOTTEN OHIO , IN 1933 It's the day before Christmas Eve when a young woman is seen at the Greyhound bus station in the town of Willoughby. It is unknown where she comes from, but what we know is that she travels to the train station, where she nervously buys a ticket to Corry, Pennsylvania. In Corry, the girl will never arrive. That afternoon several inhabitants of the town meet her, as beautiful in her blue suit as her eyes; Many people notice her, having never seen her before: she has red hair and high cheekbones, as if she came from afar. Soon the young woman, in the cold of December, takes refuge in Mary Judd's small guesthouse, but without giving any name. It is there that she spends the night, before leaving in the morning, after inquiring about religious services and settling her bill with her landlady. Mary remembers her as a young woman with kind manners: although she was apparently in a hurry, before going out she found time to wish the woman a Mer...

 What a beautiful story. I lost the love of my life at 23 and married a narcissist on the rebond. I love to hear happy stories like yours; it warms the cockles of my heart. Your faces reflect your happiness. I am not, and never will be, a skeptic of love at first sight. I am currently 67 years old. When I was 19 and home during summer break of my freshman year at Texas A&M University, I went to the birthday party of an 18-year-old friend from high school, who would be following me to A&M the following semester. And, like me, he would soon be a member of the Texas A&M Cadet Corps. I only went to the birthday party because I had a crush on my friend's 16-year-old sister and wanted an excuse to ask her out. At that party, I saw a 17-year-old brunette for the first time (who would also be attending Texas A&M in two years). It was definitely love at first sight, and I completely forgot about my friend's sister. That brunette (whom I loved at first sight) soon became ...

 THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF JEAN HILLLIARD   On the night of December 20, 1980, nineteen-year-old Jean Hilliard's car ended up in a ditch and remained stuck. Given the late hour, the freezing Minnesota cold and the isolated road, she tried to walk for help. She was found in the morning in the yard of a local cattle rancher, completely frozen and stiff as a log. According to her account and what she remembers of her, she had walked a few miles and by the time she saw the house she was exhausted. The last thing she remembers is being almost to the door and then everything went black. The woman remained outside in the garden, exposed to temperatures of over -20 degrees for more than six hours. When the man who lived there came out to her and saw her on the ground, she said that she was as hard as marble, but she noticed that air bubbles were forming in her nostrils. He loaded her into the car like she was a tree trunk and took her to the hospital. In the emergency room she was still...

 GENOVESE SYNDROME  A decidedly atypical woman for those years due to her independent lifestyle, Kitty Genovese lived in New York far from her family with a partner with whom she lived. On March 13, 1964, Kitty finished work late and returned home by car, around three in the morning. When she got out of the car, she found herself faced by a man, Winston Moseley, who chased her and stabbed her twice with a knife before running away following the screams of a witness who, however, did not intervene directly. Free from her attacker, Kitty, wounded and limping, tried to run away toward home: the neighbors who saw her dragging herself along the street thought she was drunk or very tired and did not take an interest in her. When she realized that she would not be able to reach her home due to her wounds, Genovese, chased by Moseley who had gone back specifically to look for her and finish her off, took refuge in the entrance hall of a building. She asked for help again, also because...

 This is the story of a boy naned Josh _A gentle, kind kid who spent most of his school days trying to stay out of spot light Because of his size, he often became the target of teasing and hurtful jokes. Most days he kept his head down, hoping to avoid attention. One afternoon, a group of classmates decided to play a cruel trick on him. They dared him to ask the most admired girl in school — Emily — to the upcoming dance. Their plan was simple: push him into an embarrassing moment and then laugh when she rejected him. Josh knew exactly what they expected. But he also knew he had nothing to be ashamed of. So he gathered his courage, bought a small bouquet with his saved-up allowance, and walked to Emily’s house after school. His hands were shaking as he knocked on the door. When Emily opened it, Josh could barely get the words out. “Would you… maybe like to go to the dance with me?” For a moment, there was silence. Then Emily did something no one at school expected. She stepped forw...

 THE LAST CHRISTMAS OF THE LAWSON FAMILY  A few days before Christmas 1929, Charlie Lawson, a sharecropper from Germanton, North Carolina, took his family to town to buy new clothes and then take a picture. They seemed happy, but on the holiday he killed the entire family. The only survivor was his son Arthur, who had been sent out hours earlier to run some errands. After saying goodbye to his two daughters, Carrie and Maybell, aged 12 and 7 respectively, who were going to their uncle's house, Charlie shot them at point-blank range with a 12-gauge shotgun, hiding their bodies in the barn. A few minutes later, entering the house, he shot his wife and, going through the rooms, one by one, his other children, Marie, aged 17, James, aged 4, Raymond, aged 2, and Mary Lou, aged just 4 months. Except for the youngest daughter, whom he decided to beat to death, all of whom were hit with a shotgun blast. After killing his family, he went into the woods and committed suicide. Near his b...

 Christmas Eve, 1931, its o'clock  in the evening when Ed and julian Stewaet's car suddenly breakdown in the middle of nowhere seven miles west of superior,  Arizona While Ed tries to figure out what the problem is, Julia walks nervously through the desert. And a hundred yards from the road she comes across an abandoned hatbox. Attracted by a noise, the woman approaches; she thinks that inside there might be an abandoned kitten or puppy. But she certainly doesn't expect to find, wrapped in a blue blanket, a little red-haired girl; abandoned in the middle of nowhere, she whimpers from the cold and hunger but is apparently in good health. Julia lets out a scream. Her husband runs over, the two look around: as far as the eye can see there is no one. The couple picks up the little girl, and after a quick repair of the car, they take her to the nearest town and hand her over to the authorities. The doctors who are treating her determine that the little girl is no more than a w...

When you have 14 minutes to live you discover who you really  are May 31, 1889. Johnstown, Pennsylvania. 3:10 PM. The South Fork Dam—badly repaired years earlier by wealthy industrialists who valued their fishing lake more than the valley below—finally surrendered to the rain-swollen reservoir behind it. Twenty million tons of water. A forty-foot wall moving at forty miles per hour. The sound reached the valley before the water did: a roar so deep and terrible that survivors would spend the rest of their lives trying to describe it. "A thousand freight trains," some said. But no metaphor could capture the sound of your entire world being erased. Johnstown had fourteen minutes. Fourteen minutes between the first warnings and total annihilation. Fourteen minutes to make choices that would echo through generations. What would you do with fourteen minutes? Gertrude Quinn was six years old, playing on the second floor of her family's home when the impossible happened. The hous...