April 3, 1996: The Unabomber Is Caught

April 3, 1996: The Unabomber is arrested at his cabin in rural Montana, ending a bombing spree that began in 1978, killing 3 people and injuring 23 others.

He had promised to stop his bombing campaign if The Washington Post published his anti-technology "manifesto," titled Industrial Society and its Future. The Post's board decided to publish it. A lot of conservatives derided it as the rantings of a leftist wacko. They didn't read it. I did: It included a chapter titled "The Dangers of Leftism."

Publishing it turned out to be the right decision: David Kaczynski recognized the writing style of his brother Theodore, a 53-year-old former mathematics professor, and ratted him out to the FBI. He was arrested at his cabin outside Lincoln, Montana.

It truly was isolated: About 40 miles west of the nearest Interstate highway, I-15 in Wolf Creek, Montana; 50 miles northwest of the State capital, Helena; 275 miles northwest of Yellowstone National Park, in northwestern Wyoming; 530 miles northeast of Boise, Idaho; 285 miles east of Spokane, Washington; and 170 miles south of the U.S.-Canadian border. The closest city with a major league sports team? Not Denver, not Salt Lake City, not Seattle: Calgary, Alberta, Canada, about 350 miles to the north.

Theodore insisted that he was sane, fired his lawyers when they wanted him to plead insanity, pleaded guilty to all charges, and is still alive, incarcerated at the federal "supermax" prison in Florence, Colorado.

Soon after the arrest, Saturday Night Live introduced Will Ferrell's Unabomber character, complete with orange jumpsuit and unkempt hair: "Ted Kaczynski, what have you been doing with yourself?" "Well, I've been doing a lot of writing." "Have you gotten anything published?" "Yeah, one thing."

Actually, he had several articles on mathematics published in scholarly journals between 1964 and 1971, after which his mental illness led him away from his work and into his crimes. While in prison, with little else to do, Kaczynski wrote 3 full-length books: The Road to Revolution in 2008, Technological Slavery in 2010, Anti-Tech Revolution: Why and How in 2016.

UPDATE: Kaczynski developed cancer, and was transferred to a federal prison hospital in North Carolina. His treatment did little good. and he committed suicide by hanging on June 10, 2023, at the age of 81.

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April 3, 1996 was a Wednesday. This was also the day U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown was killed in a plane crash. I have a separate entry for that event.

These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-1 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland. Andy Pettitte outpitched Jack McDowell. Rookie Derek Jeter went 3-for-3 with a walk.

* The New York Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-3 at Shea Stadium.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Colorado Rockies, 3-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-1 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Cal Ripken went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 15-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Tom Glavine was the winning pitcher. Ryan Klesko and Javy López hit home runs, and Fred McGriff went 3-for-4 with 6 RBIs. Barry Bonds went 1-for-4.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers, 16-7 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-4 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-5 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Tony Gwynn went 4-for-4, while Ken Caminiti went 2-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-2 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The California Angels beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Gary Disarcina singled Garret Anderson home with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Oakland Athletics, 10-4 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* And the Chicago White Sox beat the Seattle Mariners, 4-2 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Ken Griffey Jr. went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

Football was out of season. There were 8 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Orlando Magic, 98-85 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 100-94 at the Continental Airlines Arena in the Meadowlands.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 102-87 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 105-89 at the Gund Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Charlotte Hornets, 98-83 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Sacramento Kings, 117-96 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Houston Rockets, 118-103 at Key Arena in Seattle.

* And the Vancouver Grizzlies beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 105-103 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

There were 10 games in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Boston Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1 at the Molson Centre (now the Bell Centre) in Montreal.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Hartford Whalers, 4-2 at the ThunderDome (now Tropicana Field) in St. Petersburg, Florida.

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Florida Panthers, 3-2 at the Corel Centre (now that Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Dallas Stars, 3-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Colorado Avalanche, 6-3 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* The Calgary Flames beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-3 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim beat the Edmonton Oilers, 1-0 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now the Honda Center).

* The Detroit Red Wings and the Los Angeles Kings played to a tie, 2-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the New York Rangers, the New York Islanders, the New Jersey Devils, the Philadelphia Flyers, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the San Jose Sharks were not scheduled.