1755
Jul 5, Sarah Siddons, Welsh actress, gained fame playing Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, was born.

1908
Jul 5, In Fairmont, West Virginia, a special day was organized by Mrs. Grace Golden Clayton, who wanted to celebrate the lives of the 210 fathers who had been lost in the Monongah Mining disaster several months earlier, on December 6, 1907. A general Father’s Day was organized in Spokane, Wa., on June 19, 1910.

1849
Jul 5, The sailing ship Niantic arrived in SF, Ca, and anchored in Yerba Buena Cove. The ship’s owners soon converted her to a storage and auction house for imported goods and built a hotel on her deck.

1976
Jul 5, In SF the body of Wanda Baun (19), a prostitute, was found dead. She had been stabbed over 50 times. In 2007 Darrell Sweigart was convicted of 2nd degree murder after DNA evidence linked to the murder. He was already serving a 25 year to life sentence for rape and robbery.

1996
Jul 5, An LA County woman was identified as the first person in the US to carry the rare AIDS virus strain known as Group O. She was discovered by epidemiologists several months ago. Group O is only detected in 4 of 5 cases with current testing methods. Blood supply tests will need to be changed.

1997
Jul 5, Sixteen-year-old Martina Hingis became the youngest Wimbledon singles champion this century as she beat Jana Novotna in the women's finals. (Charlotte "Lottie" Dod won in 1887 at age 15).

2001
Jul 5, In Germany Hannelore Kohl (68), the wife of Chancellor Kohl, was found dead from suicide in Oggersheim. She suffered from a rare light allergy.

2002
Jul 5, In Mexico Katy Jurado (78), the actress who played a sultry wildcat in some of the top American films of the 1950s and gained an Academy Award nomination, died.

2003
Jul 5, In Russia 2 women suicide bombers blew themselves up at a giant rock festival in suburban Moscow, leaving 14 victims killed.

2004
Jul 5, Rwaida Al Shemre (33), an Iraqi interpreter for the US 3rd Battalion, was assassinated as she was driven to work.

2004
Jul 5, Voters in Zacatecas, Mexico, elected Amalia Garcia (PRD), the country's first female governor since the end of one-party dominance. Pres. Fox's National Action Party lost badly in Chihuahua and Durango. It finished a distant third in Zacatecas,

2007
Jul 5, In Nigeria kidnappers snatched the 3-year-old daughter of a British worker as she was being taken to school.

2010
Jul 5, Australia's new leader launched a plan to make East Timor a hub for processing asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution across Asia while a debate rages in her country over illegal migration.

2011
Jul 5, In Florida Casey Anthony (25) was found not guilty of killing her 2-year-old daughter three years ago in a case that captivated the nation as it played out on national television from the moment the toddler was reported missing. She was convicted of only four counts of lying to investigators looking into the June 16, 2008, disappearance of her daughter Caylee, whose body was found in nearby woods six months later.