May 9th, 1918: Maui is the first destination of the very first seaplane trip in the Hawaiian islands.  The chief of the U.S. Army’s 6th Aero Squadron, Major Harold M. Clark, leaves Oahu from Fort Kamehameha and lands in Kahului Harbor. He then takes off again, destination Hilo. However, heavy clouds obstruct his view and he crash lands in the jungle near Kaiwiki. To his great credit, the Major spends two days hacking his way to town, but indeed makes it safely.

• 1502: Columbus leaves Spain on his fourth & final trip to the “New World” 
• 1754: The first newspaper cartoon is published in America: appearing in Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette
• 1893: The first motion picture exhibition is given by Thomas Alva Edison 
•  1896: The first horseless carriage show is held in London (10 models are displayed) 
• 1901: Australia conducts its first meeting of Parliament in Melbourne 
• 1960: The Food and Drug Administration first approves the use of birth control pills (Enovid by G.D. Searle and Co.) 
• 1974: House Judiciary Committee begins formal hearings on President Nixon’s impeachment 
• 1989: Journalists petition the Chinese government for freedom of the press 
• 1994: Nelson Mandela is chosen to be South Africa’s first black president by the country’s newly-elected parliament 
• 2002: Maryland Governor Parris Glendening suspends all executions in his state while a study is done on whether the death penalty is being meted out in a racially discriminatory way 

BORN ON THIS DAY — May 9th

•  1800: John Brown, abolitionist
• 1860: James Barrie, author
• 1873: Howard Carter, Egyptologist
• 1882: Henry J Kaiser, industrialist
• 1883: Jose Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher
• 1918: Mike Wallace, newscaster
• 1936: Albert Finney, actor
• 1936: Glenda Jackson,  actress
• 1937: Sonny Curtis, guitarist
• 1940: James L Brooks, producer/director 
• 1946: Candice Bergen,  actress  
• 1949: Billy Joel, singer
• 1962: Dave Gahan, rock musician
• 1979: Rosario Dawson, actress