Today is the bicentennial of the execution of Pedro Domingo Murillo and eight fellow martyrs to Bolivian independence.

Men like Gregorio Garcia Lanza and Juan Bautista Sagarnaga (both Spanish links) wagered their necks under the leadership of wealthy mestizo Murillo. (all links Spanish)

Something of a career troublemaker, Murillo had had a few scrapes with the crown’s agents over his patriotic aspirations for the territory the Spanish called Upper Peru.

On July 16, 1809, taking advantage of the confused political situation in Spain following Bonaparte’s conquest, he put himself at the head (Spanish) of a breakaway state.

Unfortunately for the self-proclaimed Junta Tuitiva, neither masses nor elites really rallied to their side, and the Spanish swiftly crushed the uprising.

July 16, the date these dreamers declared independence, is still celebrated in La Paz.

And why not? Though militarily overwhelmed, this quixotic enterprise turned out to be one of the opening acts in a (largely successful) generation-long struggle for independence throughout the Spanish possessions in the New World.

On this day..

• 1733: Henry Neal, for shoes and breeches
• 1726: Thomas Craven and William Anderson, reluctant autobiographers
• 1696: Thomas Randal, obstinate
• 2015: Robert Ladd, "let's ride"
• 1802: Joseph Wall
• 1745: Eve, her smoke visible throughout the country
• 1879: John Achey and William Merrick, the first hanged in Indianapolis
• 1253: P. Morret, poor guesser
• 1913: Edward Hopwood, clumsy suicide
• Daily Double: Century-Old English Legal Novelties
• 1912: Albert Wolter, white slaver
• 1869: Chauncey W. Millard, candy man
• 2006: A female spy by al Qaeda
• 1547: Not Thomas Howard, because Henry VIII died first
• Themed Set: The English Reformation