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Today in History
Wednesday June 26
363 – Roman Emperor Julian is killed during the retreat from the Sassanid Empire. General Jovian is proclaimed Emperor by the troops on the battlefield.
1284 – Pied Piper lures 130 children of Hamelin away
The Pied Piper of Hamelin (German: Rattenfänger von Hameln, the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin) is the subject of a legend concerning the departure or death of a great number of children from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany, in the Middle Ages.
The earliest references describe a piper, dressed in multicolored clothing, leading the children away from the town never to return. In the 16th century the story was expanded into a full narrative, in which the piper is a rat-catcher hired by the town to lure rats away with his magic pipe.
When the citizenry refuses to pay for this service, he retaliates by turning his power that he put in his instrument on their children, leading them away as he had the rats. This version of the story spread as folklore. This version has also appeared in the writings of, amongst others, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the Brothers Grimm and Robert Browning.
1498 – Toothbrush invented
1797 – Charles Newbold was an American blacksmith born in 1780 in Chesterfield Township, New Jersey. On June 26, 1797, Newbold received the first patent for a cast iron plow. However, he was unable to sell his plow because many farmers feared that the iron in it would poison the soil.
On April 1, 1807, David Peacock was issued a patent for a three-piece iron plow (Newbold’s plow was cast in one piece). Newbold then sued Peacock for patent infringement and won $1,500.
1857 – Cawnpore England massacre.
1862 – Battle of Beaver Dam Creek-Union repulses Confederacy in Virginia The Battle of Beaver Dam Creek, took place on June 26, 1862, in Hanover County, Virginia. It was the start of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’scounter-offensive against the Union Army of the Potomac, under Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, which threatened the Confederate capital of Richmond. Confederate attacks were driven back with heavy casualties.
1870 – First section of Atlantic City Boardwalkopens
1870 – The Christian holiday of Christmas is declared a federal holiday in the United States
1894 – Karl Benz of Germany receives US patent for gasoline-driven auto
1909 – Victoria & Albert Museum opens in London
1919 – NY Daily News begins publishing
1927 – The Cyclone roller coaster opens on Coney Island
1940 – End of USSR experimental calendar
From1929 until 1940, The Soviet calendar added five- and six-day work weeks to the Gregorian calendar. Although the traditional seven-day week was still recognized, a day of rest on Sunday was replaced by one day of rest in each work week. Each day of the five-day week was labeled by either one of five colors or a Roman numeral from I to V. Each worker was assigned a color or number to identify his or her day of rest.
1959 – Queen Elizabeth and President Eisenhower open St Lawrence Seaway
1963 – President John Kennedy visits West Berlin and gives his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech
1964 – Beatles release “A Hard Day’s Night” album
1974 – The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time to sell a package of Wrigley’s chewing gum
1989 – Supreme Court rules 16 year olds can receive death penalty
1990 – 122°F in Phoenix Arizona
1994 – 104°F (40°C) at Denver, Colorado
2008 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in District of Columbia v. Heller that the ban on handguns in the District of Columbia is unconstitutional.
Birthdays
1730 – Charles Joseph Messier, astronomer (cataloguer of “M objects”)
1865 – Charles E Bonin,French explorer/diplomat
1898 – Willy Messerschmitt, German aircraft designer
1902 – William Lear, engineer/manufacturer/CEO (Lear Jet Corp)
1909 – “Col Tom” Parker, He managed the career of Elvis Presley
1913 – Maurice Wilkes, inventor (stored program concept for computers)
1915 – Paul Castellano, American mafia boss (d. 1985)
1929 – Milton Glaser, American Designer
Anniversaries
1739 – Taxonomist Carolus Linnaeus (32) weds Sara Elisabeth Moræa
1844 – US President John Tyler marries 2nd wife Julia Gardiner in NYC, 1st president to marry while in office
1984 – Tiny Tim marries Miss Jan (23)
Deaths
1541 – Francisco Pizarro, Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire is assassinated in Lima by the son of his former companion and later antagonist, Diego Almagro the younger. Almagro is later caught and executed.
1984 – George H Gallup, pollster (Gallup Poll), dies at 82
2012 – Nora Ephron, author/screenwriter, dies from pneumonia at 71
Edited from various internet sources
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