585 – War between Lydia and Media ended by solar eclipse
1635 – Virginia Governor John Harvey accused of treason and removed from office
1686 – First volume of Isaac Newton’s “Principia” published
1914 – 181 die in coal mine collapse at Eccles, West Virginia
1924 – 119 die in Benwood West Virginia coal mine disaster
1947 – Thor Heyerdahl and “Kon-Tiki” sail from Peru to Polynesia
1958 – Vice President Richard Nixon begins goodwill tour of Latin America. Click here to watch news footage of this experience in Venezuela
1965 – US marines invade Dominican Republic, stay until October 1966
1967 – Muhammad Ali refuses induction into army and is stripped of boxing title
1969 – Charles de Gaulle resigns as president of France
1977 – Christopher Boyce convicted for selling secrets
1977 – Andreas Baader and members of Baader-Meinhoff jailed for life after a trial lasting nearly 2 years in Stuttgart, Germany
1980 – Cyrus Vance, Carter’s Secretary of State, resigns
1989 – Iran protests sale of “Satanic Verses” by Salman Rushdie
2001 – Millionaire Dennis Tito becomes the world’s first space tourist.
Birthdays
1442 – Edward IV, King of England
1809 – Conradus Leemans, Dutch archaeologist
1882 – Alberto Pirelli, Italian industrialist
1916 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian automobile manufacturer (d. 1993)
1926 – Harper Lee, author (To Kill a Mockingbird)
1937 – Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq (1979-2003)
1930 – James Baker lll, Houston, Sec of Treasury and State
1950 – Jay Leno, New Rochelle, (Tonight Show)
Deaths
1865 – Samuel Cunard, Canadian-born British shipping magnate (b. 1787)
1926 – William Henry Johnson Zip the Pinhead, American freak show performer (b. 1857)
1945 – Benito Mussolini, Fascist leader (Italy), shot after trial at 61
1945 – Claretta Petacci, mistress of Mussolini, executed
1992 – Francis Bacon, Irish/British abstract painter, dies at 82
William Henry Johnson (aka Zip the Pinhead) was a poor black man born in Liberty Corner, New Jersey just before the civil war. His parents were former slaves. An oddly-shaped head and a state of poverty conspired to lead him into a freak show life in a circus. A local circus in New Jersey offered him as the ‘missing link’ in a act where he was supposedly caught in Africa and appeared in a cage eating fruits and nuts rattling the bars. The act was so successful, P.T. Barnum purchased the right to display him and immediately bumped it up a few notches and put William in a furry suit, styled his hair to come to a point and named him ‘Zip the Pinhead’. Throughout his life, he worked the circus and had a friend Captain White who looked after his finances and interest. When Mr. Johnson died in his early eighties he was still performing in a stage play at the New Amsterdam Theater. He took ill and died in Bellevue Hospital soon thereafter. His funeral was attended by Lady Olga Roderick, the Bearded Lady; Frank Graf, the tattooed man; and the greatest side show acts of the days. During the ceremony Captain White collapsed and died three days later.
Edited from various sources including historyorb.com, the NYTimes.com Wikipedia and other internet searches