Images in History

Oil is discovered on January 10, 1901 outside Beaumont, Texas. The first gusher, Spindletop, above left, created an oilfield crowed with rigs, as seen above right in 1903.

No oil field had ever been as productive as Spindletop. The resulting frenzy became known as the Texas Oil Boom. As a consequence, Texas quickly became one of the biggest oil-producing states in the U.S.

Anthony Francis Lucas (1855-1921), bottom left, was the leading expert in the U.S. on salt dome formations and the Croatian mechanical engineer behind the successful drilling at the Beaumont gusher. At bottom right: A 1901 photograph of the rotating drill bit used at the Spindletop oil gusher.

Marinus van der Lubbe (1909-1934), was executed by beheading in Berlin, Germany on January 10, 1934. Shown at left standing at his trial, he was convicted on February 7, 1933 and sentenced to death for setting fire to the Reichstag, seat of the German government (see charred remains at right). Van der Lubbe, a retarded Dutch hobo and a communist, was found wandering in the smoldering ruins. He was made a scapegoat by the Nazis, who actually started the fire themselves to purge the country of their enemies, chiefly communists and liberals.

At left, the river-like landslide of debris that roared down from Mt. Huascaran, Peru, on January 10, 1962, destroyed six villages and killed 4,000-6,000 people, making this mudslide one of the most devastating in recorded history. Mt. Huascaran is the highest peak in the Peruvian Andes.

Fritz Lang's Metropolis premieres in Berlin, Germany, on January 10, 1927 causing a sensation among moviegoers. The most expensive silent film ever made (costing approximately 5 million Reichsmark), this classic portrays a futuristic world where the individual is subjugated to industry in a struggle between a downtrodden working class and controlling city planners.

Like many Germans, Lang (1890-1976) later fled the Nazis and migrated to the U.S. in 1934. He moved to Hollywood where he directed films which (unfortunately) never quite matched those he directed in Europe.

Actor Paul Henreid
Born January 10, 1905
Died March 29, 1992
Shown in advertisement for

The Spanish Main (1945)

Actor Sal Mineo
Born January 10, 1939
Died February 12, 1976
Shown in New York
in May, 1957

Author Dashiell Hammett
Born May 27, 1894
Died January 10, 1961
Author of
The Maltese Falcon (1930)
and The Thin Man (1934)

Film producer Carlo Ponti
Born December 11, 1912
Died January 10, 2007 (age 94)
Shown in June 1963 with
wife Sophia Loren (1934-)

Liberal activist "Studs" Terkel (1912-2008), top left, recruits artist and classic pianist Edward "Eddie" Balchowsky (1916-1989) (self portrait at top right) on January 10, 1936 to fight on the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil War.

Balchowsky subsequently played several concerts with singer Paul Robeson (1898-1976) (bottom left) in Madrid, where Robeson sang in eight languages for the multi-tongued Loyalist soldiers. Balchowsky lost his right arm (from the elbow) at the 1938 Battle of the Ebro River.

Following his injury, Balchowsky lived mostly in Chicago as a classic Bohemian, living hand to mouth in hovels and producing a considerable body of artwork throughout his life (he was still able to play classical musical written for the left hand). Long addicted to drugs (heroin), he provided the marijuana to film actor Robert Mitchum (1917-1997) that brought about Mitchum's 1948 jail term. (Mitchum is shown center left mopping the floor of the Los Angeles Jail).

One of America's most gifted (and collectible) impressionistic painters, Balchowsky either fell or jumped in front of a Chicago elevated train, ending his life in December 1989. His large body of works include Woman (1966) (bottom left) and Chicago Alley (1984) (bottom right)