December 7, 1993: The Long Island Rail Road Massacre

December 7, 1993: A crazed gunman shoots 25 passengers on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train, killing 6 of them. It was the worst crime ever committed on an American train, and remains so.

Armed with a Ruger P89 semi-automatic pistol, Colin Ferguson, a 35-year-old immigrant from Jamaica, boarded an eastbound train at New York's Jamaica, the neighborhood in Queens, heading for Hicksville, Nassau County. As the train pulled into Merillon Avenue station in Garden City Park, he pulled his weapon, and started firing. Several passengers managed to subdue him until an LIRR policeman was able to board the train and arrest him.

At first, Ferguson had a public defender, then fired him, and tried to represent himself. William Kunstler and Ron Kuby volunteered to represent him, but Ferguson fired them, too. Kunstler had previously represented the Chicago Seven at their conspiracy trial in 1969-70, and Doors singer Jim Morrison at his 1970 obscenity trial. Kuby, like Kunstler described as a "radical lawyer," was the left half of a politically-opposite talk show on radio station WABC, with Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa on the right.

When Ferguson was ruled competent to stand trial,  Kuby told the media, "Without a psychiatric defense, Ferguson has no defense. There was no doubt that he was there, that he fired the weapon, that he would have fired it more had he not been wrestled to the ground. There is no doubt that Colin Ferguson, if sane, was guilty."

He was convicted, on February 17, 1995. Like another infamous New York killer, David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam, he has been attacked by fellow inmates, including yet another New York murderer, serial killer Joel Rifkin. Allegedly, the fight started when Ferguson told Rifkin, "I wiped out six devils, and you only killed women." Rifkin responded, "Yeah, but I had more victims," and then, Ferguson punched Rifkin. Guards broke the fight up before a result could be determined.

One of Ferguson's victims was Dennis McCarthy. His widow, Carolyn McCarthy, ran for Congress the next year, on a gun control platform. In spite of a nationwide conservative tide, including the defeat of anti-gun Governor Mario Cuomo by George Pataki in New York State, she won, and served in Congress for 18 years.

A memorial to the victims was erected in Mineola, on Long Island. As of December 7, 2022, Ferguson is at Upstate Correctional Facility in Malone, Franklin County, New York, close to the Canadian border.

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December 7, 1993 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 9 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 92-78 at The Forum outside Los Angeles  in Inglewood, California.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Boston Celtics, 117-90 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Detroit Pistons, 91-89 at the Orlando Arena.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 109-100 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Sacramento Kings, 105-87 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 115-111 at the Chicago Stadium. The Clippers' Danny Manning led all scorers on the night with 43 points.

* The Miami Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks, 106-101 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Charlotte Hornets, 121-102 at The Summit in Houston. Otis Thorpe scored 40 points. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Denver Nuggets, 95-90 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

And there were 6 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders played the Edmonton Oilers to a tie, 4-4 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Calgary Flames played the Quebec Nordiques to a tie, 4-4 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Hartford Whalers beat the Washington Capitals, 6-1 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The St. Louis Blues beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* The Florida Panthers beat the season's other expansion team, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 3-2 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now the Honda Center).

* And the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the San Jose, 3-1 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).

September 8, 1910: Pennsylvania Station Opens In New York

September 8, 1910: Pennsylvania Station -- or "Penn Station" for short -- opens in Manhattan, between 31st and 33rd Streets, and between 7th and 8th Avenues. It is hailed as the greatest train station ever built, and eliminated the need for trans-Hudson ferries.

It serves New Jersey and beyond via the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the Counties of Nassau and Suffolk via the Long Island Rail Road. To get to points north, such Upstate New York, New England and Canada, one must still use Grand Central Depot, or, after its replacement in 1913, Grand Central Terminal.

The growth of highways and the auto industry ruined passenger rail travel in America, beyond the commuter level. In 1963, New York's Penn Station was a dirty relic, and hardly resembled the great temple of transit that people who hate its replacement want to think of it as.

The upper structure was demolished, and service continued below ground, protected by a temporary steel roof, until 1968, when the new Penn Station opened, with the new Madison Square Garden above.

Penn Station II, New York, which opened in 1968

By 1968, both the Pennsylvania and its great rival, the New York Central Railroad, were bankrupt. They merged, forming the Penn Central Transportation Company. It didn't work: They filed for bankruptcy in 1970, their regional service was taken over by the newly-formed Amtrak in 1971, and Conrail took over their local service in 1976. In 1983, New Jersey Transit took over. All the while, the LIRR kept rolling in and out. Penn Station remains America's busiest passenger rail terminal.

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September 8, 1910 was a Thursday. There was no NFL, NBA or NHL yet. But there were games in what would later be called Major League Baseball:

* The New York Highlanders beat the Washington Senators, 8-2 at League Park in Washington. Jack Warhop went the distance, backed by a 4-for-4 performance by his 1st baseman, who was also his manager -- who was also a man throwing games, though not on this day: Hal Chase. In 1913, the Highlanders officially changed their name to what people were already calling them: The New York Yankees.

* The New York Giants played the Boston Doves at the Polo Grounds, and the game was called due to darkness after 10 innings, tied 1-1. The Doves were named for their owner, John Dovey. He sold them to William Russell in 1911, and they were renamed the Boston Rustlers. Russell died after the season, and the team was bought by James Gaffney, an officer, or "Brave," in New York's Tammany Hall political organization. So they were renamed the Braves.

* The Brooklyn Superbas lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-1 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. Named for a circus troupe, Hanlon's Superbas, because they had once been managed by Ned Hanlon, they resumed using one of their former names the next season: The Brooklyn Dodgers.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-2 at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Naps beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-4 at League Park in Cleveland. The home team was named for their 2nd baseman and manager, Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie. After he left in 1914, they were renamed the Cleveland Indians. Lajoie went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Ty Cobb did not play for the Tigers in this game.

Lajoie and Cobb would famously battle for the American League batting title to the end of that season, with Cobb sitting out the last 2 games and Lajoie going 8-for-8 in the finale, and Cobb still winning it -- until 1981, when someone discovered that one of Cobb's games was counted twice, giving him 2 more hits than he should have had.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-3 at West Side Park in Chicago.

* And a doubleheader was played at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The Chicago White Sox won the opener, 1-0. Fred Olmstead pitched a 1-hit shutout. The St. Louis Browns won the nightcap, 6-4.