TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – FEB 16
600 Pope Gregory the Great decrees saying “God bless You” is the correct response to a sneeze
1659 1st known cheque (£400) (on display at Westminster Abbey)
1760 Cherokee Indians held hostage at Fort St. George are killed in revenge for Indian attacks on frontier settlements.
1804 U.S. frigate Philadelphia, captured and held by Barbary pirates at Tripoli during the Tripolitan War, was set fire to and destroyed by a small group of men led by Stephen Decatur.
1838 Kentucky passes law permitting women to attend school under conditions
1840 American Charles Wilkes discovers Shackleton Ice Shelf, Antarctica
1857 The National Deaf Mute College was incorporated in Washington, DC. It was the first school in the world for advanced education of the deaf. The school was later renamed Gallaudet College.
1917 1st synagogue in 425 years opens in Madrid
1929 In mysterious murder suicide Ned Doheny Jr., son of oil magnate Edward L. Doheny, dies along with secretary Hugh Plunkett at Greystone Mansion, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles
1933 Catholic newspaper Germania warns against Nazis and communists
1934 Thousands of Socialists battle Communists at a rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
1937 Dupont patents a new thread, nylon, which will replace silk in a number of products and reduce costs.
1951 Stalin contends the U.N. is becoming the weapon of aggressive war.
1957 The “Toddlers’ Truce”, a controversial television closedown between 6.00pm and 7.00pm, abolished in the United Kingdom
1959 Fidel Castro becomes the 16th Prime Minister of Cuba after overthrowing Fulgencio Batista
1968 The country’s first 911 phone system went into service in Haleyville, Ala.
1965 Four persons are held in a plot to blow up the Statue of Liberty, Liberty Bell and the Washington Monument.
1978 China and Japan sign a $20 billion trade pact, which is the most important move since the 1972 resumption of diplomatic ties.
1987 John Demjanjuk went on trial in Jerusalem. He was accused of being “Ivan the Terrible”, a guard at the Treblinka concentration camp. He was convicted, but the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the ruling.
1992 Ethiopia finds the remains of former Emperor Haile Selassie on the grounds of the Imperial Palace, under the private lavatory of dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, who overthrew the Emperor
1999 Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan.
2006 The last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army
2017 Suicide attack on shrine of Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Sehwan, Pakistan kills 72, Islamic State claims responsibility
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
