Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is May 5. Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile on the tiny South Atlantic island of St. Helena on this date in 1821. The British had sent him there in 1815 -- they apparently wanted to make sure he didn't escape like he did from Elba, his first place of exile. It was a sad end to a crack military strategist, statesman and visionary who cheesed off a lot of people just because he wanted to rule the world. Go figure. Advertisement For years, it was believed Napoleon died from stomach cancer, but the current theory is that he may have been poisoned with arsenic. Apparently, the British REALLY wanted to make sure he didn't get away again! By the way, there are more books written about Napoleon than any other historical figure. Events leading to the Scopes "Monkey Trial" began on this date in 1925 when 24-year-old biology teacher John Scopes was arrested for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution in violation of Tennessee state laws. The trial pitted two of America's best lawyers -- Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan -- against one another. Scopes was convicted and fined $100. The statute he was accused of violated was repealed in 1967. Advertisement Alan Shepard became America's first astronaut in space -- and the second man in space -- on this date in 1961 in a brief, sub-orbital flight from Cape Canaveral, Fla. His space capsule was the Freedom 7. And Congress began hearings into the Iran-Contra affair on this date in 1987. The hearings, which were broadcast nationwide, captivated Americans almost as much as the Watergate hearings of 14 years earlier had -- and made a star out of White House aide Oliver North. We now return you to the present, already in progress.
