TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – SEPT 22
1656 – The General Provincial Court in session at Patuxent, Maryland, impanels the first all-woman jury in the Colonies to hear evidence against Judith Catchpole, who is accused of murdering her child. The jury acquits her after hearing her defense of never having been pregnant.
1692 – Last people hanged for witchcraft (8) in the US, 20 hanged overall during Salem witch trials
1711 – The Tuscarora Indian War begins with a massacre of settlers in North Carolina, following white encroachment that included the enslaving of Indian children.
1776 – American Captain Nathan Hale is hanged as a spy by the British in New York City; his last words are reputed to have been, “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”
1789 – Congress authorized the office of Postmaster-General.
1862 – President Abraham Lincoln issues a proclamation calling for all slaves within the rebel states to be freed on January 1, a political move that helps keep the British from intervening on the side of the South.
1903 – Italo Marchiony was granted a patent for the ice cream cone.
1906 – Race riots in Atlanta, Georgia leave 21 people dead.
1919 – President Woodrow Wilson abandons his national tour to support the League of Nations when he suffers a case of nervous exhaustion.
1922 – In the ongoing war against bootleggers 125 Prohibition agents have been killed against 50 bootleggers and Rum Runners.
1948 – Following the blockade of Berlin by Russia the British Foreign Secretary has stressed that the western powers are not committed to going to war over the situation as they believe there will be a political solution .
1949 – The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb successfully.
1955 – Commercial television began in Great Britain. The rules said that only six minutes of ads were allowed each hour and there was no Sunday morning TV permitted.
1961 – President John Kennedy signs a congressional act establishing the Peace Corps.
1970 – President Richard M. Nixon signs a bill giving the District of Columbia representation in the U.S. Congress.
1975 – Assassination attempt on US President Gerald Ford is foiled
1980 – The Iran-Iraq War begins as Iraq invades Iran; lasting until August 1988, it was the longest conventional war of the 20th century.
1986 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan addressed the U.N. General Assembly and voiced a new hope for arms control. He also criticized the Soviet Union for arresting U.S. journalist Nicholas Daniloff.
1988 – Canada’s government apologized for the internment of Japanese-Canadian’s during World War II. They also promised compensation.
1989 – An IRA bomb at the recreation center at the Royal Marine School of Music in Deal, Kent has killed 10 young soldiers and injuring 22 more
1998 – The U.S. and Russia signed two agreements. One was to privatize Russia’s nuclear program and the other was to stop plutonium stockpiles and nuclear scientists from leaving the country.
1999 – Saudi Arabia has added its voice to other Arab countries threats to boycott the Walt Disney entertainment company in protest against the Israeli exhibit at the millennium show in Florida which portray Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
2004 – CBS owned stations are fined $550,000 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after the Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” during the Super Bowl half time show.
2012 – The Roman Catholic Church in the Australian state of Victoria has admitted that over six-hundred children suffered from sexual abuse by priests since the 1930s.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
