Today in HISTORY

YEAR DAY EVENT 48BC Aug 9 Julius Caesar defeated Gnaius Pompey at Pharsalus. 378 Aug 9 In the Battle of Adrianople the Visigoth Calvary defeated Roman Army. 1378 Aug 9 Cardinals declared pope Urbanus VI lawless (anti-Christian, devil). 1483 Aug 9 Pope Sixtus IV celebrated the first mass in the Sistine Chapel, which was named in his honor. 1549 Aug 9 France declared war on England. England declared war on France. 1638 Aug 9 Jonas Bronck of Holland became the 1st European settler in the Bronx. 1645 Aug 9 Settlers in New Amsterdam gained peace with the Indians after conducting talks with the Mohawks. 1672 Aug 9 Jose Ximenez (70), Spanish composer, died. 1673 Aug 9 Dutch recapture NY from English. It was regained by English in 1674. 1757 Aug 9 English Ft. William Henry, NY, surrendered to French and Indian troops. 1778 Aug 9 Captain Cook reached Cape Prince of Wales in the Bering straits. 1790 Aug 9 The Columbia returned to Boston Harbor after a three-year voyage, becoming the first ship to carry the American flag around the world. 1805 Aug 9 Austria joined Britain, Russia, Sweden and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia in the third coalition against France. 1814 Aug 9 Andrew Jackson and the Creek Indians signed the Treaty of Fort Jackson, giving the whites 23 million acres of Creek territory. 1829 Aug 9 The locomotive “Stourbridge Lion” went into service. 1831 Aug 9 1st US steam engine train run was from Albany to Schenectady, NY. 1842 Aug 9 The United States and Canada signed the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, resolving a border dispute between Maine and Canada’s New Brunswick. 1854 Aug 9 Henry David Thoreau published “Walden,” in which he described his experiences while living near Walden Pond on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. 1859 Aug 9 The escalator was patented. The first working escalator appeared in 1900. Manufactured by the Otis Elevator Company for the Paris Exposition, it was installed in a Philadelphia office building the following year. 1862 Aug 9 At Cedar Mountain, Virginia, Confederate General “Stonewall” Jackson repelled an attack by Union forces. Gen. Charles S. Winder was killed. 1902 Aug 9 Edward VII was crowned king of England following the death of his mother, Queen Victoria. 1904 Aug 9 Friedrich Ratzel (59), German social-geographer (Lebensraum), died. 1910 Aug 9 Alva Fisher patented the first complete, self-contained electric washing machine. 1919 Aug 9 Ruggiero Leoncavallo (62), Italian composer (Pagliacci), died. 1930 Aug 9 A forerunner of the cartoon character Betty Boop made her debut in Max Fleischer’s animated short “Dizzy Dishes.” 1931 Aug 9 In Germany two Berlin police officers were shot and killed during a Communist demonstration. In 1993 Erich Mielke (d.2000 at 92), former head of the East German Stasi, was convicted for participating in the shooting. 1936 Aug 9 Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the Berlin Olympics as the United States took first place in the 400-meter relay. 1942 Aug 9 Mahatma Gandhi and 50 others were arrested in Bombay after the passing of a “quit India” campaign by the All-India Congress. 1943 Aug 9 Chaim Soutine (b.1893), Jewish expressionist painter, died in Paris of a perforated ulcer. 1960 Aug 9 There was a race riot in Jacksonville Florida. 1961 Aug 9 The United Kingdom applied for membership in the European Community. 1962 Aug 9 Hermann Hesse (85), winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1946), died in Switzerland. 1968 Aug 9 The 267-day Detroit newspaper strike ended. 1978 Aug 9 A California statewide Teamsters warehouse workers strike began. 1985 Aug 9 A federal judge in Norfolk, Va., found retired Navy officer Arthur J. Walker guilty of seven counts of spying for the Soviet Union. 1987 Aug 9 Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh, vowing to investigate the Iran-Contra affair “vigorously but fairly,” told a meeting of the American Bar Association in San Francisco that he would not be deterred by the “popularity of persons involved.” 1988 Aug 9 President Reagan nominated Lauro Cavazos to be secretary of education; Cavazos became the first Hispanic to serve in the Cabinet. 1990 Aug 9 A week after Iraq invaded Kuwait, Western European diplomats and Arab witnesses reported that Iraq had virtually sealed its borders, preventing thousands of foreigners from leaving Iraq or Kuwait. 1991 Aug 9 In South Africa, hundreds of police battled neo-Nazis as pro-apartheid extremists tried to stop a speech by President F.W. de Klerk. 1992 Aug 9 Closing ceremonies were held for the Barcelona Summer Olympics, with the Unified Team of former Soviet republics winning 112 medals to 108 for the United States. 1993 Aug 9 Mohamed M. Tabet (54), commissar of Casablanca, was executed by firing squad. He had committed violent acts against some 16000 women. 1994 Aug 9 A divided US Senate opened formal debate on legislation to provide health insurance for millions of Americans without it. 1995 Aug 9 A Boeing 737 belonging to Guatemala’s Aviateca airline hit the Chichontepec volcano in El Salvador on a flight from Miami and killed all 65 on board. 1996 Aug 9 In Jacksonville, Fla., a jury held the Brown and Williamson Tobacco Co. liable for the lung cancer of Grady Carter and awarded damages of $750,000. 1997 Aug 9 An Amtrak train derailed on a bridge near Kingman, Arizona, and 183 of 350 passengers were injured. A flash flood had undermined supports for a small bridge. 1998 Aug 9 Americans, Kenyans and Tanzanians held church and memorial services to mourn those killed in bombing attacks on two U.S. embassies. 1999 Aug 9 In Algiers 2 bombings left 3 people dead and 10 wounded. 2000 Aug 9 In New Jersey 2 small planes collided in midair and the bulk of one plane crashed through the roof a house. All 11 passengers were killed. 2001 Aug 9 Pres. Bush announced that he would allow taxpayer dollars to be used for stem cell research limited to some 5 dozen existing stem cell lines. 2002 Aug 9 The Bush administration said the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act does not extend beyond the few miles of territorial waters. 2003 Aug 9 Gregory Hines (57), considered the greatest tap dancer of his generation, died of cancer in Los Angeles. 2004 Aug 9 Oil prices for September delivery of light crude hit a record high of $44.98 since trading began in NYC in 1983. 2005 Aug 9 The US State Department said the US will begin issuing electronic passports in December to help tighten border and identity security. 2006 Aug 9 The White House said neither Israel nor Hezbollah should escalate their month-old war, as Israel decided to widen its ground invasion in southern Lebanon. 2007 Aug 9 President Bush held a news conference in which he publicly prodded Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, his embattled war-on-terror partner, to hold free presidential elections, share intelligence and take “swift action” against terrorist leaders in his country. 2008 Aug 9 In Afghanistan airstrikes and clashes north of Kabul killed 11 people, some of whom were believed to be civilians. 2009 Aug 9 In San Francisco Bruce Sherman (66), accordionist and singer of sea chanteys, committed suicide. 2010 Aug 9 Skype SA, the Internet calling service that was controlled until last year by eBay Inc., filed for a US initial public offering. 2011 Aug 9 Pres. Obama announced fuel efficiency standards for heavy trucks. The regulations called for cutting 9-23% of fuel consumption and greenhouse gases by 2018. 2012 Aug 9 The US Postal Service reported losses of $57 million per day in the last quarter and warned it will miss another payment due to the US Treasury. A week earlier it defaulted on a payment for future retiree health benefits. 2013 Aug 9 Pres. Obama signed into law a measure restoring lower interest rates for student loans. 2014 Aug 9 In NYC a sea of Palestinians and their sympathizers lined Manhattan streets, marching to the UN and shouting that Israel’s response to missile attacks was genocide that took children’s lives.