1264 – The Statute of Kalisz, guaranteeing Jews safety and personal liberties and giving battei din (rabbinical court) jurisdiction over Jewish matters, is promulgated (established as law) by Boleslaus the Pious, Duke of Greater Poland.
1655 – Warsaw falls without resistance to a small force under the command of Charles X Gustav of Sweden during The Deluge, making it the first time the city is captured by a foreign army.
1810 – The Tonquin sets sail from New York Harbor with 33 employees of John Jacob Astor’s newly created Pacific Fur Company on board. After a six-month journey around the tip of South America, the ship arrives at the mouth of the Columbia River and Astor’s men establish the fur-trading town of Astoria, Oregon.
1888 – In London, the body of Jack the Ripper’s second murder victim, Annie Chapman, is found.
1974 – Watergate Scandal: US President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office.
2012 – Jimmy Carter passes Herbert Hoover for longest retirement after leaving office. Hoover was retired for 11,553 days, and had held the record for over 54 years.
Births
1814 – Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, French archaeologist, ethnographer, and historian (d. 1874)
1828 – Joshua Chamberlain, American general and politician, 32nd Governor of Maine (d. 1914)
1914 – Denys Lasdun, English architect, designed the Royal National Theatre (d. 2001)
1947 – Ann Beattie, American author and academic
Deaths
1613 – Carlo Gesualdo, Italian lute player and composer (b. 1566)
1935 – Carl Weiss, American physician (b. 1906)
1970 – Percy Spencer, American engineer, invented the microwave oven (b. 1894)
