This Day in History

In 1610, during his fourth voyage to the Western Hemisphere, English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into what is now known as Hudson Bay.

In 1776, members of the Second Continental Congress began attaching their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.

In 1876, frontiersman “Wild Bill” Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker at a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, by Jack McCall, who was later hanged.

In 1921, a jury in Chicago acquitted several former members of the Chicago White Sox baseball team and two others of conspiring to defraud the public in the notorious “Black Sox” scandal. Opera singer Enrico Caruso, 48, died in Naples, Italy.

In 1922, Alexander Graham Bell, generally regarded as the inventor of the telephone, died in Nova Scotia, Canada, at age 75.

In 1923, the 29th president of the United States, Warren G. Harding, died in San Francisco; Vice President Calvin Coolidge became president.

In 1934, German President Paul von Hindenburg died, paving the way for Adolf Hitler’s complete takeover.

In 1939, Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program. President Roosevelt signed the Hatch Act, which prohibited civil service employees from taking an active part in political campaigns.

In 1974, former White House counsel John W. Dean III was sentenced to one to four years in prison for obstruction of justice in the Watergate cover-up. (Dean ended up serving four months.)

In 1980, 85 people were killed when a bomb exploded at the train station in Bologna, Italy.

In 1985, 137 people were killed when Delta Air Lines Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, crashed while attempting to land at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

In 2000, Republicans awarded Texas Gov. George W. Bush their 2000 presidential nomination at the party’s convention in Philadelphia and ratified Dick Cheney as his running mate.

Ten years ago: A mystery from the 1991 Gulf War was finally solved as the Pentagon announced that the remains of missing Navy pilot Michael “Scott” Speicher (SPY’-kur) had been found. Catriona Matthew won the Women’s British Open for her first major title, beating Karrie Webb by three strokes.

Five years ago: Dr. Kent Brantly, the first Ebola victim to be brought to the United States from Africa, was safely escorted into a specialized isolation unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where he recovered from the disease. Author Billie Letts, 76, died in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

One year ago: Pope Francis changed Catholic Church teaching on capital punishment, decreeing that the death penalty is “inadmissible” under all circumstances. Apple became the world’s first publicly-traded company to be valued at $1 trillion. The Trump administration proposed weakening Obama-era mileage standards designed to make cars more fuel efficient and less polluting.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Nehemiah Persoff is 100. Rock musician Garth Hudson (The Band) is 82. Singer Kathy Lennon (The Lennon Sisters) is 76. Actress Joanna Cassidy is 74. Actress Kathryn Harrold is 69. Actor Butch Patrick (TV: “The Munsters”) is 66. Rock music producer/drummer Butch Vig (Garbage) is 64. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., is 62. Singer Mojo Nixon is 62. Actress Victoria Jackson is 60. Actress Apollonia is 60. Actress Cynthia Stevenson is 57. Actress Mary-Louise Parker is 55. Rock musician John Stanier is 51. Writer-actor-director Kevin Smith is 49. Actress Jacinda Barrett is 47. Actor Sam Worthington is 43. Figure skater Michael Weiss is 43. Actor Edward Furlong is 42. Rock musician Devon Glenn is 39. TV meteorologist Dylan Dreyer (TV: “Today”) is 38. Actress Marci Miller is 34. Singer Charli XCX is 27. Actress Hallie Eisenberg is 27.

Thought for Today: “A beautiful soul has no other merit than its own existence.” — Friedrich von Schiller, German author (1759-1805).