Special Sub-Topic: I Was No One ... Until I Died! Click Here To Play: I Was No One ... Until I Died!

Greetings. Little is known about me, other than I was either part black or part Indian, and died in Boston, March 5, 1770. Many consider me the first U.S. casualty of the American Revolution. Who am I?

Crispus Attucks. Attucks was killed when some British soldiers fired on an angry mob during the tension that led to the Revolution. Five colonists were killed.

Hello. I was a spy for General Washington's army. After being captured, I was hanged in New York, September 22, 1776. My career was not especially impressive, but I'm remembered for my dying words, which were misquoted as "I only regret that I have one life to give for my country." Who am I?

Nathan Hale. According to the British officer who heard him, Hale's last words were actually "It is the duty of every good officer to obey any orders given to him by his commander in chief."

Guten Tag! I was a down and out Nazi supporter during a period of Nazi/Communist street fighting. I died in a brawl in Berlin, February, 1930. When Joseph Goebbels learned I'd written a patriotic song, he had it made the Nazi national anthem. Who am I?

Horst Wessel. Wessel was killed, not for his lofty political beliefs, but in a brawl when his landlady tried to evict him for keeping a prostitute in his apartment. His song, the "Horst Wessel Lied" has been banned in Germany since 1945.

Howdy! I was just a simple railroad engineer from Kentucky. On the morning of April 30, 1900, I was driving the Cannonball express into Vaughan, Mississippi when I encountered a stalled train. The fireman bailed, but they pulled me from the wreckage with my hand still on the brake. I was later immortalized in a folk song. Who am I?

John Luther 'Casey' Jones. The ironic thing is, Jones was covering for an engineer who'd called in sick.

Welcome. I was a Baptist missionary to China in 1940. I stayed there throughout World War II as an American intelligence agent. Ten days after the Japanese surrendered, I was shot by the Communists. The ultra-right wing organization that carries my name calls me 'the first uniformed casualty of World War III.' Who am I?

John Birch. The John Birch Society was founded in 1958 by Robert Welch, Jr.

Hi there! I was just a regular Dallas patrolman, until the day of November 22, 1963. That was the day I was allegedly shot and killed by a wanted criminal, by the name of Lee Harvey Oswald. Who am I?

J. D. Tippit. Tippit was shot four times when he stopped to question a man who matched the description of Oswald. A grief-stricken public sent thousands of dollars to Tippit's widow, Marie.

G' evening, mate. I was just a poor streetwalker in the seedy London Whitechapel district. In the early morning hours of August 31, 1888, I was murdered by the man who would come to be known as Jack the Ripper. I was his first victim. Who am I?

Mary Anne "Polly" Nichols. She was murdered around 3:30 in the morning, her throat slashed, her belly ripped open. Jack went on to kill four more prostitutes, though some put the count as high as seventeen. His identity was never discovered.

Hi. I was a former secretary to Robert Kennedy. On July 18, 1968 I attended a party for former RFK staffers on Chappaquiddick Island. Senator Edward Kennedy offered me a ride home. He subsequently ran his car off a bridge into a pond, where I drowned. Who am I?

Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy, while having discussed the incident with several friends and his lawyer, never contacted the authorities. This scandal probably prevented him from becoming president.

Hey. I was a twenty-one-year-old college student from Wyoming. On the morning of October 7, 1998, I was brutally robbed and beaten, and died on the 12th. This was one of the first widely reported cases of gay-bashing in the US. Who am I?

Matthew Shepard. Shepard was killed by Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, who are currently serving life sentences. Their girlfriends testified they had planned to rob a homosexual, and pretended to be gay to gain Shepard's trust. In the aftermath of the murder, there were several attempts to make gay bashing a nationally recognized hate crime (it was not so classified in Wyoming). This effort was ultimately unsuccessful. Fred Phelps, founder of an anti-gay movement, protested Shepard's funeral and tried to get permission to build a monument commemorating Shepard's 'entrance into hell.'

Peace be upon you. I was a 66-year-old Buddhist monk from Vietnam. One June 11, 1963, I lit myself on fire at a busy Saigon intersection. I did this to protest the way the government of Vietnam was oppressing the Buddhist religion. Witnesses say I never moved a muscle, never made a sound. Who am I?

Thích Quảng Ðức. Madam Nhu, the acting first lady of Vietnam, commented that she would "clap hands at seeing another monk barbecue show" Thank you for playing. Information comes from Wikipedia, and "The Book of Lists 2," by Irving Wallace, et al, published 1980.