On this Day... December 30

CEBU, Philippines – In 1916, Rasputin was murdered by Prince Feliz Yussopov and three accomplices, who had lured him to what was promised to be a wild party in a cellar. There, as the phonograph played "Yankee Doodle Dandy," they fed him cakes and wine liberally laced with cyanide. When that didn't work, thanks to a peculiarity in his body chemistry, Yussopov shot him - but Rasputin fought back and escaped to the courtyard, where he was shot over and over again. Some reports say that he was stabbed as well and finally the prince tried to finish him off with a truncheon. The assassins tied him up and pushed him through a hole in the ice on the River Neva - but when the body was found and examined some days later, one arm was free of its bindings and the lungs were full of water. Rasputin had survived his own assassination and drowned.

• In 1853, railroad executive James Gadsden purchased 30,000 square miles of Mexico for the United States. He paid $10 million for the land, which was to be used to complete the southern railroad, but the deal was so unpopular that Mexico's dictator Santa Anna was banished and Gadsden was recalled. A year later the name Gadsonia was suggested for the new territory - not surprisingly, it was rejected!

- from Today's the Day!  By Jeremy Beadle

In Christian history

• In 1927, The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel was incorporated in Los Angeles. Founded in 1923 by evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, the denomination provided a significant outlet for women in ministry. Today more than 40 percent of its ministerial roles are filled by women.

- from This Day in Christian History By William D. Blake

In the Philippines

• In 1896, Dr. Jose Protacio Rizal, the greatest man of the Malayan race, was shot to death at Bagumbayan (present day Luneta or Rizal Park), Manila, by a firing squad of native soldiers, on the accusation of political conspirary and sedition, and rebellion against the Spanish government in the Philippines. Recognizing that the verdict was made up, and the die had been cast against him, he said on the eve of his death: "A victim is sought and I am the one who is chosen to bear the whole blame. I am innocent of the crime of rebellion. I am going to die with a tranquil conscience." Dr. Rizal was born of a well-to-do family in Calamba, Laguna on June 19, 1861. He obtained his education successively from his mother, from a school in Biñan, Laguna, then from the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, Santo Tomas University, and from the Central University of Madrid where he obtained his doctor's degree in medicine and philosophy. This was supplemented by his travels in France, Germany, England, United States, and other foreign countries. As his biographers have noted, he was a physician, occultist, painter, sculptor, philosopher, novelist, poet, philologist, and agriculturist. In 1901, when the Americans took control of the country, Governor-general William Howard Taft named Rizal as the Philippine national hero. A year later, on February 1, 1902, the Philippine Commission enacted Act No. 345, which made December 30, a public holiday, Dr. Jose P. Rizal Day.

- www.kahimyang.info