On this date in history 143 years ago -- June 9, 1870

from Writer's Almanac (American Public Media, Garrison Keillor): It was on June 9, 1870 that the novelist Charles Dickens died; he had a stroke and fell off his chair at the dinner table. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Dickens asked to be buried "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," so even though he was buried in Westminster Abbey, it was a secret funeral, early in the morning, with only 12 mourners. But the grave was left open for a week and thousands of people, all types of people, came to throw in flowers for the man whose tomb is inscribed with the words "He was a sympathiser to the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world."