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John Bullock Clark Sr. (April 17, 1802 – October 29, 1885) was an American militia officer and politician. A lawyer with a colorful reputation, he was also an officer in the Missouri militia. During the 1838 Mormon War, Clark was given the Extermination Order. A candidate in the 1840 gubernatorial election, he was later a member of the Missouri state legislature. In 1857, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. After the American Civil War began in 1861, he became a general in the pro-secessionist Missouri State Guard. He fought against the United States military at the Battle of Carthage and was expelled from the House. Clark later resigned his military commission to join the Provisional Confederate Congress. A Confederate senator for a term, he was not re-appointed due to concerns about his personal behavior. He was subsequently elected to the Confederate House of Representatives. Clark fled to Mexico after the defeat of the Confederacy, but later returned to Missouri. (Full article...)

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Dulles International Airport Main Terminal

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In the news

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The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is awarded to political prisoners and journalists Belarusian Andrzej Poczobut and Georgian Mzia Amaglobeli.
Sanae Takaichi is elected as the first female prime minister of Japan by the National Diet.
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On this day

October 29: Double Ninth Festival in China (2025); Republic Day in Turkey

Kalākaua dime

1883 – The San Francisco Mint signed a contract to produce the Kalākaua coinage (coin pictured) for the Hawaiian Kingdom.
1948 – Arab–Israeli War: The Israel Defense Forces massacred at least 52 villagers while capturing the Palestinian Arab village of Safsaf.
1955 – An explosion, likely caused by a World War II–era naval mine, capsized the Soviet ship Novorossiysk in the harbor of Sevastopol, with the loss of 608 men.
1999 – About 10,000 people died when the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the North Indian Ocean made landfall in the Indian state of Odisha near Bhubaneswar.
2007 – Somali pirates hijacked a North Korean ship in the Indian Ocean northeast of Mogadishu.

Marie of Romania (b. 1875)
Frances Hodgson Burnett (d. 1924)
Phan Bội Châu (d. 1940)
Primož Roglič (b. 1989)

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Today's featured picture

Le droit d'aînesse is an opéra bouffe composed by Francis Chassaigne. The original French libretto was written by Eugène Leterrier and Albert Vanloo, with an English-language version titled Falka translated and adapted by Henry Brougham Farnie. The story concerns an arranged marriage intended to make a governor's heir, his nephew, an aristocrat. Through a series of mishaps that place the governor's nephew and his niece each in danger, the niece, Falka, becomes the noble heir. Falka was first produced at the Comedy Theatre in London on 29 October 1883, the same year as the French premiere, with Violet Cameron in the title role of Falka, running for 157 performances. It was revived at the Avenue Theatre in 1885, still starring Cameron, and also enjoyed successful productions in Australia, New Zealand and the United States, including productions in 1884 and 1900 on Broadway. This poster for Falka was produced for a production at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in 1885.

Poster credit: David Allen & Sons Ltd.; restored by Adam Cuerden

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