| In February the village began praying and fasting in order to rid itself of the devil's influence. The girls were pressured to reveal who in the community controlled their behavior. Three women were identified and examined. Pressured to identify the source of their affliction, the girls named three women, including Tituba, Parris' Carib Indian slave, as witches. Tituba (a slave), confessed to seeing the devil who appeared to her "sometimes like a hog and sometimes like a great dog." |
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| Philip E. Thomas and George Brown held an organizational meeting on February 12, 1827, including about twenty-five citizens, most of whom were Baltimore merchants or bankers. Chapter 123 of the 1826 Session Laws of Maryland, passed February 28, 1827, and the state of Virginia on March 8, 1827, chartered the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Company, with the task of building a railroad from the port of Baltimore, Maryland west to a suitable point on the Ohio River. |
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| The first issue of the Cherokee Phoenix rolled off the presses on February 28, 1828 and had an international circulation. Editor Elias Boudinot was immediately beset with financial problems, one of which was his yearly salary of $300.00. He requested, and got, a substantial raise and an assistant in late 1829 thanks to the efforts of Principal Chief John Ross. |
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| First regular steamboat service to California inaugurated by the arrival of the Pacific Mail’s steamer “California.” Gen. Persifer F. Smith, new commander of the military division of California, was aboard. Thomas O. Larkin and Capt. William T. Sherman went into the bay by small boat to greet the vessel. During the gold rush, it was not unusual for the sailors to stay and prospect for gold, abandoning their ship. |
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| The Republican Party was organized in Jackson, Michigan on February 28, 1854. (Three other cities, including Ripon, Wis., also claim to be the party's birthplace.) The first convention of the U.S. Republican Party was held on July 6, 1854, in Jackson. Many of its initial policies were inspired by the defunct Whig Party. |
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| After several futile attempts, the silver forces in Congress-led by Representative Richard ("Silver Dick") Bland of Missouri-finally succeeded in winning authorization for a new silver dollar when Congress passed the Bland-Allison Act on February 28, 1878. This Act required the Treasury to purchase at market levels between two million and four million troy ounces of silver bullion every month to be coined into dollars. | |
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| B.F. Keith established his own museum in Boston featuring "Baby Alice the Midget Wonder." His success in this endeavor allowed Keith to build the Bijou Theatre, the first in the vast empire he would go on to construct as the "father of American Vaudeville." |
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| By 1916, Harris began recording for Victor, and one year later she enjoyed her first hit -- "They Go Wild, Simply Wild, Over Me." She could belt out a strong theater blues, like Layton-Creamer's "Eveybody's Crazy 'Bout the Doggone Blues, But I'm Happy" (also a hit), but she tempered those brash titles with ballads such as "After You've Gone." Also, she continued performing in vaudeville, but at a much higher caliber than in Chicago, touring the nation with a top billing. Harris was among the most popular singers of the '20s, and her versions of "St. Louis Blues," "Tea for Two," and "Look for the Silver Lining" were the most successful of the era. |
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| For most of the '20s, his biggest decade for record sales, he favored dance and novelty numbers that today evoke the zanier side of the era. Even his catch phrase -- "Is everybody happy?" -- seemed by the end of '30s to be a quaint echo of the so-called Roaring Twenties. |  |
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| The University of Pittsburgh beat Fordham U 50-37. NBC covered the first televised football game (1939), the first major-league baseball game (1939), college football game (1939), hockey game (1940), basketball game (1940), inter-collegiate track meet (1940) and the first world’s championship prize fight (1941), in its efforts to bring sporting events to its ever-increasing television audiences. It was the first to present opera (1940), the first to pick up the Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey Circus from Madison Square Garden (1940), the first to cover a national convention of the major political parties (1940), the first to enter the Halls of Congress and the White House (1947). |
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| The best-selling female singer during the 1950s, Patti Page in many ways defined the decade of earnest, novelty-ridden adult pop with throwaway hits like "The Doggie in the Window" and "I Went to Your Wedding." By singing a wide range of popular material and her own share of novelty fluff, she proved easily susceptible to the fall of classic adult pop but remained a chart force into the mid-'60s. |  |
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| At MIT, Jay Forrester installed magnetic core memory on the Whirlwind computer. Core memory made computers more reliable, faster, and easier to make. Such a system of storage remained popular until the development of semiconductors in the 1970s. |  |
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| There were two versions of "Stagger Lee." The first had Stagger Lee and Billy gambling (Stagger Lee shot Billy at the end), the second, rushed out by ABC-Paramount after hearing complaints from radio listeners, had Stagger Lee and Billy arguing over a girlfriend, who goes back to Stagger at the end. It was based on the traditional blues/folk song, "Ballad of Stack-o-Lee." Price recorded his version at the request of Dick Clark. This was the first Rock 'n' Roll record to hit #1 despite being censored. |
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| Drysdale and Koufax teamed to set down enemy batters, leading the Dodgers to World Series appearances in 1963 and 1965. After the season, in which the duo went 49-20, they teamed to fight the front office, demanding more money and security. Both wanted long-term contracts, and at the time most of the media were against them. They sought a three-year, $1.05 million contract to be divided evenly. Drysdale eventually signed for $110,000 and Koufax for slightly more. |
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| Paul Simon wrote "Bridge Over Troubled Water" about providing comfort to a person in need. It started as a modest Gospel hymn but became more dramatic as he put it together. In 1971, this won 5 Grammys: Song Of The Year, Record Of The Year, Best Contemporary Song, Best Engineered Record, and Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists. The album also won Album Of The Year. This was the last album Simon and Garfunkel released before they split up. |
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| In 1976, Rabbitt started a string of Top Ten hits that ran uninterrupted until 1989. During that time, he had 16 number one singles, including "Drinkin' My Baby (Off My Mind)" (1976), "You Don't Love Me Anymore" (1978), "Every Which Way But Loose" (1979), "Drivin' My Life Away" (1980), "I Love a Rainy Night" (1980), "Step By Step" (1980), and "You and I," a 1982 duet with Crystal Gayle. |  |
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| As the 18th pick in the second round of the 1970 draft, Murphy enjoyed a 13-year career with the San Diego and Houston Rockets. He still ranks second in the NBA record book for consecutive free throws made (78) and first for seasonal percentage mark (.958). He led the NBA in free throw percentage twice and finished among the top five eight other times. |  |
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| M*A*S*H, a comedy based on the movie of the same name, aired on CBS from 1972-1983 and has become one of the most celebrated television series in the history of the medium. M*A*S*H was set in South Korea, near Seoul, during the Korean War. The series focused on the group of doctors and nurses whose job was to heal the wounded who arrived at this "Mobile Army Surgical Hospital" by helicopter, ambulance or bus. |
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| In baseball's sternest disciplinary move since the Black Sox were banished for life, Commissioner Ueberroth gives seven players who were admitted drug users a choice of a year's suspension without pay or heavy fines and career-long drug testing, along with 100 hours of drug-related community service. Joaquin Andujar, Jeffrey Leonard, Enos Cabell, Keith Hernandez, Dave Parker, Dale Berra, and Lonnie Smith will be fined 10 percent of their annual salaries, while 14 other players will receive lesser penalties for their involvement with illegal drugs. |
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| "Livin' on a Prayer" tells the story of Tommy and Gina, 2 kids working to make it on their own despite constant hardships. It struck a chord with America's youth, especially the ones from New Jersey. The characters in the song relate to the working class fans Bon Jovi played to. |  |
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| It has been reported that STS36 deployed an Advanced KH-11 photo-reconnaissance satellite that used an all-digital imaging system to return pictures. The satellite was placed into a low earth orbit with a high-inclination to the equator to allow coverage of most of the Earth's surface. The KH-11 series is a digital imaging photo-reconnaissance satellite with both visual and infrared sensors. |  |
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| The airport's computerized baggage system, which was supposed to reduce flight delays, shorten waiting times at luggage carousels, and save airlines in labor costs, turned into an unmitigated failure. After 16 months of delays and $3.2 billion in budget overruns, an opening originally scheduled for October 31, 1993 with a single baggage system for all three concourses turned into a February 28, 1995 opening. |
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| "My Heart Will Go On" was written for the movie Titanic. James Horner came up with the music for this song and scored the film. It won the 1998 Oscar for Best Song From A Film and Grammys for Record Of The Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Song Of The Year and Best Song for a Motion Picture. Worldwide, this was the biggest selling single of 1998 and in the UK it sold 1,312,551 copies, making Celine Dion the only woman with 2 million-selling singles in the UK. |
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1692 Salem witch hunt begins
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1827 First commercial railroad in US, Baltimore
& Ohio (B&O) chartered
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1828 First American Indian newspaper in US, Cherokee
Phoenix (weekly), Georgia
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1849 The ship California arrived at San Francisco,
carrying the first of the gold seekers
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1854 Republican Party formally organized at Jackson,
MI
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1878 US congress authorizes large-size silver
certificate
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1883 First US vaudeville theater opens (Boston)
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1925 "Tea For Two" by Marion Harris
hit #1
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1930 Ted Lewis and his orchestra recorded "On
the Sunny Side of the Street"
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1940 First televised basketball game (college)
at NYC's Madison Square Garden
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1953 "The Doggie in the Window" by Patti
Page topped the charts
More ...
1956 Forrester issued a patent for computer core
memory
More ...
1959 "Stagger Lee" by Lloyd Price topped
the charts
More ...
1966 Sandy Koufax & Don Drysdale begin a joint
holdout against Dodgers
More ...
1967 Wilt Chamberlain sinks NBA record 35th consecutive
field goal
1970 "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by
Simon & Garfunkel topped the charts
More ...
1981 "I Love a Rainy Day" by Eddie Rabbitt
topped the charts
More ...
1981 Calvin Murphy (Hou), sets NBA record with
78 consecutive free throws
More ...
1983 Final TV episode of "MASH" airs
(CBS); record 125 million watch
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1986 Peter Ueberroth suspended 7 baseball players
for drug abuse
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1987 "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi
topped the charts
More ...
1990 US 65th manned space mission STS 36 (Atlantis
6) launches into orbit
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1995 Denver International Airport opens
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1997 Smokers must prove they are over 18 to purchase
cigarettes in US
1998 "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine
Dion topped the charts
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