2003 – U.S. Representative from South Dakota Bill Janklow hits and kills a motorcyclist with his car at a rural intersection near Trent, South Dakota; he will eventually be convicted of manslaughter and will resign from Congress.
1384 – Hongwu Emperor of Ming China, Emperor Dong, hears case of couple who tore money bills while fighting over them (equal to act of destroying stamped government documents – law necessitated 100 floggings). Hongwu Emperor decides to pardon them.
1501 – Michelangelo awarded the contract to create his statue of David at Florence Cathedral by the Overseers of the Office of Works (the Operai) of the Duomo
1570 – King of Hungary John Sigismund Zápolyai signs secret treaty with Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II
1743 – Champion of England titleholder Jack Broughton publishes ‘Rules of the Ring’ – earliest boxing code
1777 – During the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Bennington took place. New England’s minutemen routed the British regulars.
1812 – General Hull surrenders Detroit and Michigan territory to British forces under the command of Major General Sir Isaac Brock, who capture Fort Detroit with the help of Indigenous warriors led by Tecumseh
1819 – Peterloo Massacre, Manchester, England: cavalry charges demonstrators, 15 people killed and 400–700 injured
1829 – The “Siamese twins,” Chang and Eng Bunker, arrived in Boston, MA. They had come to the Western world to be exhibited. They were 18 years old and joined at the waist.
1842 – In New York City, the U.S. government took over operations of the City Dispatch Post. This was the first congressionally authorized local postage delivery.
1858 – A telegraphed message from Britain’s Queen Victoria to U.S. President Buchanan was transmitted over the recently laid trans-Atlantic cable.
1861 – U.S. President Lincoln prohibited the Union states from trading with the states of the Confederacy.
1865 – Restoration Day in the Dominican Republic: The Dominican Republic regains its independence after 4 years of fighting against the Spanish Annexation.
1869 – War of the Triple Alliance: A Paraguay battalion made up of children is massacred by the Brazilian Army during the Battle of Acosta Ñu
1894 – Indian chiefs from the Sioux & Onondaga tribes met to urge their people to renounce Christianity & return to their old Indian faith
1907 – Mulay Hafid is proclaimed the Sultan of Morocco by supporters leading to civil war; Mulay is supported by Germany while France supports the existing Sultan
1920 – Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman is hit in head by NY Yankees pitcher Carl Mays; he dies the next day in only MLB game related fatality
1923 – Carnegie Steel Corporation put into place the eight-hour workday for its employees.
1934 – US ends occupation of Haiti (been there since 1915)
1946 – Direct Action Day: Widespread riots erupt in Calcutta between Muslims and Hindus over whether Pakistan should be a separate state, killing over 4,000 and leaving 100,000 homeless
1954 – First Issue of Sports Illustrated Hits the Newsstands, The sports magazine which is famous for its annual swimsuit issue was not profitable for the first few years of its existence. The boost in spectator sports eventually helped it become successful.
1960 – Cyprus was granted independence by Britain.
1961 – Martin Luther King Jr. protests for black voting rights in Miami, Florida
1971 – Over 8,000 workers go on strike in Derry, Northern Ireland, in protest at the introduction of Internment (allowing suspected terrorists to be indefinitely detained without trial)
1972 – Morocco King Hassan II’s B727 shot during failed coup attempt by General Mohamed Oufkir. Reportedly, King Hassan grabbed the radio and told the rebel pilots “Stop firing! The tyrant is dead!”, fooling pilots to break off attack
1978 – Xerox was fined for excluding Smith-Corona Mfg. from the copier market. The fine was $25.6 million.
1984 – The U.S. Jaycees voted to admit women to full membership in the organization.
1987 – First Day of Harmonic Convergence, The largest worldwide meditation event lasted for 2 days and was organized by new-age author José Argüelles. The dates for the event were chosen because of their astrological significance – on these days the Sun, the Moon and 6 of the planets were aligned in a triangular position as seen from the Earth.
1989 – A solar flare from the Sun creates a geomagnetic storm that affects micro chips, leading to a halt of all trading on Toronto’s stock market.
1991 – US President George H. W. Bush declares recession is near an end
1995 – Voters in Bermuda rejected independence from Great Britain.
1999 – In Russia, Vladimir V. Putin was confirmed as prime minister by the lower house of parliament
2003 – U.S. Representative from South Dakota Bill Janklow hits and kills a motorcyclist with his car at a rural intersection near Trent, South Dakota; he will eventually be convicted of manslaughter and will resign from Congress.
2012 – Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange is granted political asylum by Ecuador
2012 – 113 people are killed and over 200 wounded in a series of attacks across Iraq
2017 – Lebanon parliament abolishes article 522, which exempted rapists from prosecution if they married their victim
2017 – Three suicide bombers kill 27 people outside a refugee camp near Maiduguri in Borno state, Nigeria, Boko Haram suspected
2018 – World’s first floating dairy farm opens in Merwehaven harbour, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with 40 cows milked by robots
2020 – At least 17 people killed in attack on beach resort in Mogadishu, Somalia, by al-Shabab group
2021 – US President Joe Biden says “I stands squarely behind my decision” to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, despite sudden collapse of the country to the Taliban
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
