This Day in Minnesota History

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Today's Date: May 18

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1905

Five doctors at St. Paul's Ancker Hospital strike to protest the tyrannical ways of hospital director Dr. Arthur Ancker, who had suspended Dr. William Frost on "unsubstantiated grounds." The striking doctors were later dishonorably discharged from their duties. On May 15, 1923, Ancker died of a heart attack while screaming at two surgeons he accused of not properly washing their hands.
1931

Minneapolis-born aviator Charles "Speed" Holman is killed during an air show in Omaha. A pioneer of aviation, his best-known aerial stunt was looping, and he had won the US air speed trials in 1930. At his funeral, four 109th Air Squadron planes flew in the first recorded Missing Man formation, with a vacant spot reserved in Holman's memory. Holman Field at the St. Paul Downtown Airport is named in his honor.
2015

The Saint Paul Saints play their first game at the new CHS Stadium in St. Paul's Lowertown District. During the exhibition match, they face off against the Sioux City Explorers.
From The Minnesota Book of Days (Minnesota Historical Society Press).

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