1710 – The first law regulating copyright is issued in Great Britain
1790 – Robert Gray is first American to circumnavigate the Earth
1841 – New York Tribune begins publishing under editor Horace Greeley
1849 – Safety pin patented by Walter Hunt (NYC); sold rights for $400
1864 – Austrian Archduke Maximilian becomes emperor of Mexico
1877 – The first human cannonball, a 14 year-old girl called “Zazel” was launched in 1877 at the Royal Aquarium in London. Her real name was Rossa Matilda Richter and she later toured with the P.T. Barnum Circus.
1912 – RMS Titanic sets sail for its first and last voyage
1961 – Adolf Eichmann tried as a war criminal in Israel
1963 – USS Thresher, a nuclear powered submarine, sinks 220 miles east of Boston
1970 – Paul McCartney officially announces the split of The Beatles
1991 – Last automat (coin operated cafeteria) closes (3rd & 42nd St, NYC)
1995 – NYC bans smoking in all restaurants that seat 35 or more
Birthdays
1847 – Joseph Pulitzer, publisher (St Louis Post-Dispatch, NY World)
1924 – Kenneth Noland, American painter
1934 – David Halberstam, international correspondent NY Times/Pulitzer
Deaths
1931 – Khalil Gibran, Lebanese poet and painter (b. 1883)
1966 – Evelyn Waugh, British writer, dies at 62
1975 – Walker Evans, photographer, dies at 71
Edited from various sources including historyorb.com, the NYTimes.com Wikipedia and other internet searches