37 – The Roman Senate annuls Tiberius’ will and proclaims Caligula emperor.
1314 – Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake.
1673 – Lord Berkley sells his half of New Jersey to the Quakers
1881 – Barnum & Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth opens in Madison Square Garden
1891 – Britain is linked to the continent by telephone
1902 – Turkey grants Germany syndicate the first concession to construct a railroad through Turkish territory to Baghdad, to be linked to Berlin
1922 – British magistrates in India sentence Mahatma Gandhi to 6 years imprisonment for disobedience
1899 – Phoebe, a moon of Saturn, is discovered by William Henry Pickering1922 – The first public celebration of Bat mitzvah, for the daughter of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, is held in New York City
1937 – The human-powered aircraft, Pedaliante, flies 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) outside Milan.
1961 – Poppin’ Fresh Pillsbury Dough Boy introduced
1989 – In Egypt, a 4,400-year-old mummy was found near the Pyramid of Giza, in Egypt.
1990 – Largest ever art robbery at Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. Thirteen works, valued over $500 million, were stolen. The case has yet to be resolved with no artwork recovered, but the museum is offering a $5 million dollar reward for information to help recover the stolen art.
Birthdays
1927 – George Plimpton, sports writer (Paper Lion), born in NYC, New York
1932 – John Updike, Shillington Pa, poet/novelist (Rabbit Run)
Anniversaries
1869 – US Abolitionist Harriet Tubman marries civil war veteran Nelson Davis in Auburn, NY
Deaths
235 – Marcus Aurelius Alexander, Syrian emperor of Rome (222-235), murdered
1584 – Ivan IV [Ivan the Terrible], Russian tsar (1547-84), dies at 53
1845 – John Chapman, [Johnny Appleseed], American pioneer agronomist dies in Allen County, Indiana
1997 – Willem de Kooning dies at age 92