1655 – Cyrano de Bergerac, French dramatist and novelist (Voyage to the Moon), and inspiration for Edmond Rostand’s play, dies under mysterious circumstances at 36
1667 – Abraham Cowley, English poet (Mistress/Sex libri plantarum), dies
1844 – Joseph Bonaparte, older brother of Napoleon I and King of Naples and Spain, dies at 76
1878 – George Law Curry, American newspaper publisher and Governor of Oregon, dies at 58
1915 – Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, Haitian rebellion leader, President of Haiti (1915), lynched by a mob at 56
1937 – Muslim Magomayev, Azerbaijani-Soviet composer, dies at 51
1981 – Fr. Stanley Rother, American Roman Catholic priest, martyr and missionary to Guatemala, murdered at 46
1986 – Cliff Melton, American baseball pitcher (MLB All Star 1942; NL saves leader 1937; NY Giants), dies at 74
1994 – Colin Turnbull, British-American anthropologist (The Forest People), dies at 69
2015 – James Jude, American thoracic surgeon (developed CPR), dies at 87