1926 – Magician Harry Houdini died of gangrene and peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix. His appendix had been damaged twelve days earlier when he had been punched in the stomach by a student unexpectedly. During a lecture Houdini had commented on the strength of his stomach muscles and their ability to withstand hard blows.
445 BC – Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem
1517 – Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Palace Church. The event marked the start of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.
1541 – Michelangelo Buonarroti finishes painting “The Last Judgement” in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City
1756 – Giacomo Casanova escapes from prison in Venice by climbing onto the roof
1793 – Execution of Girondins in Paris during Reign of Terror
1837 – Collision of river boat Monmouth & Trement on Mississippi; 300 die
1864 – Nevada became the 36th state to join the U.S.
1876 – Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876 ravages British India (Modern-day Bangladesh), over 200,000 killed
1889 – Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair) in Paris closes after 32 million visitors
1914 – The Ottoman Empire (Turkey) joined the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria).
1917 – World War I: Battle of Beersheba in southern Palestine – “last successful cavalry charge in history” performed by the 4th Australian Light Horse
1918 – Spanish flu kills 21,000 people in the US in a single week
1922 – Benito Mussolini became prime minister of Italy.
1926 – Failed assassination attempt on Benito Mussolini by 15-year-old Anteo Zamboni, who was lynched on the spot
1926 – Magician Harry Houdini died of gangrene and peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix. His appendix had been damaged twelve days earlier when he had been punched in the stomach by a student unexpectedly. During a lecture Houdini had commented on the strength of his stomach muscles and their ability to withstand hard blows.
1938 – Great Depression: In an effort to try restore investor confidence, the New York Stock Exchange unveils a fifteen-point program aimed to upgrade protection for the investing public.
1940 – The British air victory in the Battle of Britain prevented Germany from invading Britain.
1940 – Deadline for Warsaw Jews to move into the Warsaw Ghetto
1941 – Mount Rushmore was declared complete after 14 years of work. At the time the 60-foot busts of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln were finished.
1941 – The U.S. Navy destroyer Reuben James was torpedoed by a German submarine near Iceland. The U.S. had not yet entered World War II. More than 100 men were killed.
1954 – The Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) began a revolt against French rule.
1956 – Rear Admiral G.J. Dufek became the first person to land an airplane at the South Pole. Dufek also became the first person to set foot on the South Pole.
1959 – Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine from Fort Worth, TX, announced that he would never return to the U.S. At the time he was in Moscow, Russia.
1963 – Leaking propane gas explodes kills 64 at ‘Holiday on Ice’ in Indiana
1968 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam.
1969 – Wal-Mart Discount City stores were incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
1972 – 2 Catholic children (6 and 4) playing on the street are killed in a Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) car bomb attack on a bar in Ship Street, Belfast
1978 – Iranian oil workers go on strike
1981 – Antiqua and Barbuda became independent of Great Britain.
1983 – The U.S. Defense Department acknowledged that during the U.S. led invasion of Grenada, that a U.S. Navy plane had mistakenly bombed a civilian hospital.
1984 – Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated near her residence by two Sikh security guards. Her son, Rajiv, was sworn in as prime minister.
1992 – Catholic church regrets its handling of Galileo Galilee’s case, Then Pope John Paul II acknowledged the errors committed by the Catholic Church while dealing with Galileo Galilei in the 17th century.
1992 – In Liberia, it was announced that five American nuns had been killed near Monrovia. Rebels loyal to Charles Taylor were blamed for the murders.
1997 – Louise Woodward, British au pair, was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder in the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen. She was released after her sentence was reduced to manslaughter.
1998 – Iraq announced that it was halting all dealings with U.N. arms inspectors. The inspectors were investigating the country’s weapons of mass destruction stemming from Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
1999 – EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed off the coast of Nantucket, MA, killing all 217 people aboard.
1999 – Leaders from the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. The event ended a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation.
2002 – A federal grand jury in Houston, Texas formally indicted former Enron Corp. chief financial officer Andrew Fastow on 78 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice related to the collapse of his ex-employer.
2011 – Day of Seven Billion, The world’s official population reached 7 billion on approximately this day. The United Nations Population Fund designated it as the Day of Seven Billion.
2016 – Lebanon parliament elects Michel Aoun President after 2 1/2 years without a leader
2017 – John Kelly, White House Chief of Staff comments in TV interview that “the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War”, draws criticism
2017 – Terrorist attack in New York when a truck mows down people on a cycle lane, killing 8, injuring 10
2017 – Two men convicted of raping and impregnating their 10 year old niece in Chandigarh, India
2018 – In landmark verdict, Pakistani Supreme Court acquits Christian woman of blasphemy against the prophet Mohammed after eight years on death row
2018 – US and Great Britain call for a cease-fire in Saudi-led war in Yemen, in 3-year war that has claimed over 10,000 lives and created famine conditions
2019 – US House of Representatives votes to formalize impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
