1571 – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, is arrested for his role in the Ridolfi plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots.
1776 – According to American colonial reports, Ezra Lee makes the world’s first submarine attack in the Turtle, attempting to attach a time bomb to the hull of HMS Eagle in New York Harbor (no British records of this attack exist).
1857 – Mountain Meadows massacre: Mormon settlers slaughter most members of peaceful, emigrant wagon train.
1860 – Italian unification: Giuseppe Garibaldi enters Naples.
1907 – Cunard Line’s RMS Lusitania sets sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England, to New York City.
1911 – French poet Guillaume Apollinaire is arrested and put in jail on suspicion of stealing the Mona Lisa from the Louvre museum.
1927 – The first fully electronic television system is achieved by Philo Farnsworth.
1940 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe begins the Blitz, bombing London and other British cities for over 50 consecutive nights.
1978 – While walking across Waterloo Bridge in London, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov is assassinated by Bulgarian secret police agent Francesco Gullino by means of a ricin pellet fired from a specially-designed umbrella.
Births
923 – Suzaku, emperor of Japan (d. 952)
1819 – Thomas A. Hendricks, 21st Vice President of the United States (d. 1885)
1860 – Grandma Moses, American painter (d. 1961)
1867 – J. P. Morgan Jr., American banker and philanthropist (d. 1943)
1908 – Michael E. DeBakey, American surgeon and educator (d. 2008)
1912 – David Packard, co-founded Hewlett-Packard (d. 1996)
1930 – Sonny Rollins, American saxophonist and composer
1936 – Buddy Holly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1959)
Deaths
1202 – William of the White Hands, French cardinal (b. 1135)
1362 – Joan of the Tower (b. 1321)
1601 – John Shakespeare, father of William Shakespeare (b. 1529)
1951 – John French Sloan, American painter and etcher (b. 1871)
1978 – Keith Moon, English drummer (The Who) (b. 1946)