On this day in ...... 1927, the 33-year-old Brooklyn native known by the stage name Mae West began serving 10 days in jail after she was convicted for public obscenity on account of Sex, a play that she wrote and in which she performed the part of a waterfront prostitute. "[A]llowed to wear silk panties instead of the uncomfortable prison issue," West (left) was released from the jail on what was then called Welfare Island, located in the middle of New York's East River, 2 days earlier on account of for good behavior.
... 1713 (295 years ago today), the decree of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, which allowed that if he died without a mail heir his daughter could inherit the Austrian throne and lands, was
promulgated. The 1st daughter, Maria Theresa, was born 4 years later. But on the emperor's death others contested this Pragmatic Sanction, resulting in a costly war. In the end Maria Theresa (right) kept her inheritance and attained titles such as Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. Her husband became Holy Roman Emperor Francis I.
