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Lee Harvey Osawald talking to reporters before being murdered by Jack Ruby. Watch the footage.
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1489 – The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice.
1558 – Ferdinand I appointed Holy Roman Emperor
1757 – On board HMS Monarch (his own flagship), British Admiral John Byng is executed by firing squad for neglecting his duty “Pour encourager les autres“.
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A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds
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1794 – Eli Whitney patents cotton gin
1812 – Congress authorizes war bonds to finance War of 1812
1888 – The Blizzard rages on blanketing New York City
1918 – First concrete ship to cross the Atlantic (Faith) is launched
1933 – Civilian Conservation Corp begins tree conservation
1939 – Nazi Germany dissolves Republic of Czechoslovakia
1964 – Jack Ruby sentenced to death for Lee Harvey Oswald’s murder
1983 – OPEC cut oil prices for first time in 23 years
1992 – Soviet newspaper “Pravda” suspends publication
1995 – First time 13 people in space
2013 – Xi Jinping is named as the new President of the People’s Republic of China
Birthdays
1681 – Georg Philipp Telemann, late baroque composer
1800 – James Bogardus, Tribecan inventor and builder of cast-iron facade buildings
1879 – Albert Einstein, German-born theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate (theory of relativity)
1903 – Adolph Gottlieb American painter (d. 1974)
1948 – Billy Crystal, actor, writer, producer
Deaths
1883 – Karl Marx, German philosopher (Communist Manifesto), dies at 64
1932 – George Eastman, US industrialist (Kodak-camera), suicide at 77
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1933 – Balto, husky dog who brought back the antitoxin in 1925
In the winter of 1925 there were signs that a diphtheria epidemic was likely to afflict the town of Nome, Alaska. The serum necessary to prevent the outbreak was in Seattle, 2,800 miles away.
After the aircraft that was to fly to Nome had mechanical troubles, officials choose to move the medicine by way of mutiple dog sled teams. Despite
blizzard conditions with subzero temperatures, the serum arrived as the world watched with bated breath. Two hero dogs made the spotlight Balto and Togo.
Human vanity intervened and there was those who favored one dog and story over the other. Balto was put to work on the vaudeville circuit while the rest of the team was sold to the highest bidder, a company that sponsored the show and the dogs were chained as part of novelty and freak show in Los Angeles.
When a former prize fighter turned businessman visited Los Angeles and saw the condition of the dogs, Balto and his six companions were brought to Cleveland and given a hero’s welcome parade. The dogs lived the rest of their lives in the local Zoo. After his death, Balto’s remained were mounted and are on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
1969 – Ben Shahn, US painter, dies at 70
2006 – Ann Calvello, Roller Derby Queen (b. 1929)
Various internet sources and searches are used in the making of this document