• 1384 - The Hongwu Emperor of Ming China hears a case of a couple who tore paper money bills while fighting over them—a case considered equal to the act of destroying stamped government documents, which by law necessitated one hundred floggings by a bamboo rod. However, the Hongwu Emperor decided to pardon them, seeing as how their intention wasn't to tear up the money.
• 1513 - Battle of Guinegate (Battle of the Spurs) - King Henry VIII of England defeats French Forces who were forced to retreat.
• 1780 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Camden - The British defeat the Americans near Camden, South Carolina.
• 1792 - Maximilien Robespierre presents the petition of the Commune of Paris to the Legislative Assembly, which demanded the formation of a revolutionary tribunal.
• 1812 - War of 1812: American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit without a fight to the British Army.
• 1819 - Eleven people die and 400 are injured by cavalry charges at the Peterloo Massacre at a public meeting at St. Peter's Field, Manchester, England.
• 1841 - U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.
• 1858 - U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. However, a weak signal will force a shutdown of the service in a few weeks.
• 1865 - Restoration Day in the Dominican Republic: The Dominican Republic regains its independence after 4 years of fighting against the Spanish Annexation.
• 1868 - Arica, Peru (now Chile) is devastated by a tsunami which followed a magnitude 8.5 earthquake in the Peru-Chile Trench off the coast. The earthquake and tsunami killed an estimated 25,000 people in Arica and perhaps 70,000 people in all.
• 1869 - Battle of Acosta Ñu: A Paraguay battalion made up of children is massacred by the Brazilian Army during the War of the Triple Alliance.
• 1870 - Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Mars-La-Tour is fought, resulting in a Prussian victory.
• 1896 - Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.
• 1913 - Tōhoku Imperial University of Japan (modern day Tōhoku University) admits its first female students.
• 1914 - World War I: Battle of Cer begins.
• 1915 - World War I: Should victory be achieved over the Central Powers, the Triple Entente promises the Kingdom of Serbia: the Austro-Hungarian territories of Baranja, Srem, Slavonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina; and the eastern ⅔ of Dalmatia (from the river of Krka to the city of Bar).
• 1920 - Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit in the head by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees, and dies early the next day. To date, Chapman is the only player to die from injuries sustained in a Major League Baseball game.
• 1920 - The congress of the Communist Party of Bukhara opens. The congress would call for armed revolution.
• 1930 - The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, is made by Ub Iwerks.
• 1940 - World War II: The Communist Party is banned in German-occupied Norway.
• 1941 - HMS Mercury, Royal Navy Signals School and Combined Signals School opens at Leydene, near Petersfield, Hampshire, England.
• 1942 - World War II: The two-person crew of the U.S. naval blimp L-8 disappears without a trace on a routine anti-submarine patrol over the Pacific Ocean. The blimp drifts without her crew and crash-lands in Daly City, California.
• 1944 - First flight of the Junkers Ju 287.
• 1945 - An assassination attempt was made on Japan's prime minister, Kantaro Suzuki.
• 1945 - Puyi, the last Chinese emperor and ruler of Manchukuo, was captured by Soviet troops.
• 1946 - The Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, is established, and Ichirō Ishikawa is appointed its representative.
• 1960 - Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1960 - Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,330 m), setting three records that still stand today: High-altitude jump, free-fall, and fastest speed by a human without an aircraft.
• 1962 - Pete Best replaced by Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey) as drummer for The Beatles.
• 1964 - Vietnam War: A coup d'état replaces Duong Van Minh with General Nguyen Khanh as President of South Vietnam. A new constitution is established with aid from the U.S. Embassy.
• 1966 - Vietnam War: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong. The committee intends to introduce legislation making these activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 people are arrested.
• 1972 - The Royal Moroccan Air Force fires upon, in an unsuccessful coup d'état attempt, Hassan II of Morocco's plane while he's traveling back to Rabat.
• 1987 - A McDonnell Douglas MD-82 carrying Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes on take-off from Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Michigan (Detroit), killing 155 passengers and crew. The sole survivor is four-year-old Cecelia Cichan.
• 1992 - In response to an appeal by President Fernando Collor de Mello to wear green and yellow as a way to show support for him, thousands of Brazilians take to the streets dressed in black.
• 1993 - The Debian distribution was first announced by Ian Murdock, then a student at Purdue University. Murdock initially called his system the "Debian Linux Release"
• 2003 - U.S. Representative from South Dakota Bill Janklow hits and kills a motorcyclist with his car at a rural intersection near Trent, South Dakota; he'll eventually be convicted of manslaughter and will resign from Congress.
• 2005 - West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashes near Machiques, Venezuela, killing the 160 aboard.

Births