On This Day

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Hello friends. Let's take a look back at what happened on this day in history. 1814 English engineer George Stephenson displayed his first steam locomotive, a travelling engine designed for hauling coal. 1832 In Quincy, Massachusetts the first known railroad accident was recorded. Four people were on a vacant train car watching another car move a large stone when a cable snapped throwing them and the train cars down a 35-foot embankment. 1 person was killed the other 3 were seriously injured. 1866 The first officer to have the position of General of the Army of the United States was Ulysses S. Grant when he was given the job on this day. 1878 Charles Bolton, known as the outlaw Black Bart, robbed a Wells Fargo stagecoach. He took the money from the safe on board, less than $400.00, and a passenger's diamond ring and watch. He left a taunting poem for the police which read, "Here I lay me down to sleep to wait the coming morrow, Perhaps success, perhaps defeat / And everlasting sorrow, Yet come what will, I’ll try it once, My conditions can’t be worse, And if there’s money in that box, 'Tis money in my purse." He would rob other stagecoaches before being caught in 1888. He had left a handkerchief at a robbery and police were able to trace it back to him. He spent some time in prison, when released he lived the rest of his days in Nevada. 1897 Wanting to join the gold rush in northern Canada, Jack London would leave San Fransico. While in Klondike, he began writing stories trying to get them submitted to magazines. In 1900 his first story, The Son of the Wolf, was published followed three years later by his biggest story, The Call of the Wild. 1943 Italy's fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was voted out of power and arrested by King Victor Emmanuel III on this day. 1946 Near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, the US detonated an atomic bomb, the first time one was tested underwater. 1956 Near the New England coastline two boats, a Swedish passenger ship and the Italian liner SS Andrea Doria collided. 51 people lost their lives, 46 from the Andrea Doria, 5 from the Stockholm. 1960 After 6 months of sit in protests at a Woolworth’s store in Greensboro, North Carolina for white's only at the lunch counter, the store finally stopped its segregation policy. 1965 At the Newport Folk Festival, acoustic folk musician Bob Dyan, played using an electric guitar to the dismay of the crowd. They booed so loud that no one could hear him sing his newly released hit Like A Rolling Stone. 1972 In Tuskegee, Alabama the infamous Tuskegee syphilis experiment came to light. The Tuskegee Institute allowed poor black men who had syphilis to go untreated to see what would happen to them. More than 100 of these men died. 1975 Running for a record 6,137 shows on Broadway, was Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban's musical "A Chorus Line" 1978 Oldham, England is where Louise Joy Brown, the first “test tube baby,” was born. 2000 The first ever crash of the Air France Concorde happened shortly after takeoff in Paris, France killing all 109 on board and 4 more on the ground. Happy birthday to King of Scots, James I English clockmaker (cylinder tunnel), Thomas Tompion American general (Continental Army and later the United States Army) and 1st US Secretary of War (1785-94), Henry Knox American actor (Real McCoys) Walter Brennan English chemist and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, Rosalind Franklin American actress (The Golden Girls--one of my favorite shows) Estelle Getty American folk singer and songwriter ("City of New Orleans"; "You Never Even Called Me by My Name"), Steve Goodman Canadian rock guitarist (Red Rider - Lunatic Fringe) Ken Greer American Pro Football Hall Of Fame running back, Walter Peyton American actor (Friends) Matt LeBlanc We said goodbye to English gardening expert (Forsythia), William Forsyth, age 67 French surgeon under Napoleon (first modern military surgeon), Dominique Jean Larrey, age 76 Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame right wing, Bryan Hextall, age 70 American Baseball Hall Of Fame pitcher, Ted Lyons, age 85 American Scientist and Engineer who headed the team that invented the Apollo Guidance Computer and inertial navigation technology for aircraft, space vehicles, and submarines, Charles S. Draper, age 85 American child actress (The Land Before Time) murdered along with her mother by her father, age 11 American golfer, Ben Hogan, age 84