1245 – Thomas, Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after having confessed to torture and forgery.
1431 – England begins trial against Joan of Arc
1804 – First locomotive, Richard Trevithick’s, runs for first time, in Wales
1862 – Confederate constitution and presidency are declared permanent
1878 – First telephone book, 50 subscribers in New Haven, Connecticut
1882 – NYC’s 24 hour race begins, winner with most mileage in 24 hours
With 120 miles James Saunders wins NYC’s 24 hour race & $100 prize
1885 – Washington Monument dedicated
1916 – Battle of Verdun in WW I begins and ends with one million casualties
The Carolina parakeet
1918 – The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.
The Carolina parakeet, a small neotropical parrot (Conuropsis carolinensis) possessed a bright yellow head with a reddish orange face and a pale beak and was native to the eastern, midwest and plains states of the United States. It lived in swamps and old-growth forests along rivers. The clearing of the eastern and southern deciduous forests caused its collapse. As early as 1932, noted artist John J. Audubon commented on its decline. Rarely seen outside of Florida after 1860, by the turn of the century it was restricted to the swamps of central Florida. The last known wild specimen was killed in Okeechobee County, Florida, in 1904, and the last captive bird died at the Cincinnati Zoo on February 21, 1918.
1920 – First artificial rabbit used at a dog race track (Emeryville, California)
1925 – First issue of New Yorker magazine published. Yes, The New Yorker
1931 – Alka Seltzer introduced
1947 – First instant developing camera demonstrated by E H Land.
1972 – Richard Nixon becomes first US president to visit China. On February 21, 1972, he arrived in the People’s Republic of China. One purpose of the visit was that the U.S. was seeking to improve relations with a Communist country during the Cold War.
1975 – John Mitchell, HR Haldeman and John D Ehrlichman, all part of Nixon’s inner circle are sentenced to 2½-8 yrs in prison for their role in the coverup of the Watergate breakin.
1987 – Syrian army marches into Beirut
Birthday
1821 – Charles Scribner, US, music publisher (Scribner Catalog)
1903 – Anaïs Nin, French writer (d. 1977)
Deaths
1554 – Hieronymus Bock, German doctor (founder of modern botany), dies
1965 – Malcolm X, Black Moslem leader, assassinated in Harlem at age 39