Today in History

Today in History

1349 – 3,000 Jews were killed in Black Death riots in Efurt Germany.

1556 – Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was burned at the stake at Oxford after retracting the last of seven recantations that same day.

1788 – Almost the entire city of New Orleans, LA, was destroyed by fire. 856 buildings were destroyed.

1790 – Thomas Jefferson reported to U.S. President George Washington as the new secretary of state.

1804 – The French civil code, the Code Napoleon, was adopted.

1824 – Afire at a Cairo ammunitions dump killed 4,000 horses.

1826 – The Rensselaer School in Troy, NY, was incorporated. The school became known as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and was the first engineering college in the U.S.

1835 – Charles Darwin & Mariano Gonzales met at Portillo Pass.

1851 – Emperor Tu Duc ordered that Christian priests be put to death.

1851 – Yosemite Valley was discovered in California.

1857 – An earthquake hit Tokyo killing about 107,000.

1858 – British forces in India lift the siege of Lucknow, ending the Indian Mutiny.

1859 – In Philadelphia, the first Zoological Society was incorporated.

1868 – The Sorosos club for professional women was formed in New York City by Jennie June. It was the first of its kind.

1871 – Journalist Henry M Stanley began his famous expedition to Africa.

1902 – Romain Roland's play 'The 4th of July' premiered in Paris. 1902 – In New York, three Park Avenue mansions were destroyed when a subway tunnel roof caved in.

1904 – The British Parliament vetoed a proposal to send Chinese workers to Transvaal.

1905 – Sterilization legislation was passed in the State of Pennsylvania. The governor vetoed the measure.

1906 – Ohio passed a law that prohibited hazing by fraternities after two fatalities.

1907 – The U.S. Marines landed in Honduras to protect American interests in the war with Nicaragua.

1907 – The first Parliament of Transvaal met in Pretoria.

1908 – A passenger was carried in a bi-plane for the first time by Henri Farman of France.

1909 – Russia withdrew its support for Serbia and recognized the Austrian annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Serbia accepted Austrian control over Bosnia-Herzegovina on March 31, 1909.

1910 – The U.S. Senate granted ex-President Teddy Roosevelt a yearly pension of $10,000.

1918 – During World War I, the Germans launched the Somme Offensive.

1925 – The state of Tennessee enacted the Butler Act. It was a law that made it a crime for a teacher in any statesupported public school to teach any theory that was in contradiction to the Bible's account of man's creation.

1928 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge gave the Congressional Medal of Honor to Charles Lindbergh for his first trans-Atlantic flight.

1934 – A fire destroyed Hakodate, Japan, killing about

1,500.

1935 – Incubator ambulance service began in Chicago, IL.

1941 – The last Italian post in East Libya, North Africa, fell to the British.

1945 – During World War II, Allied bombers began four days of raids over Germany.

1946 – The Los Angeles Rams signed Kenny Washington. Washington was the first black player to join a National Football League team since 1933.

1946 – The United Nations set up a temporary headquarters at Hunter College in New York City.

1953 – The Boston Celtics beat Syracuse Nationals

(111-105) in four overtimes to eliminate them from the Eastern Division Semifinals. A total of seven players (both teams combined) fouled out of the game.

1955 – NBC-TV presented the first 'Colgate Comedy Hour'.

1957 – Shirley Booth made her TV acting debut in 'The Hostess with the Mostest' on CBS.

History