| The gang robbed the express messenger of $3,000 and relieved the passengers of their watches, cash and jewelry from the Rock Island Express at Adair, IA. It was one of the first recorded train robberies west of the Mississipppi and expanded Jesse James and his gang's operations from his specialty of bank holdups to train robbery. |  |
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| “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” was Mark Twain's first novel. By the time Twain died, it had become an American classic, and it remains perhaps the best-loved of all his books among general readers. When it first came out in 1876, however, it was comparatively a failure. Despite Twain's determination "that Tom shall outsell any previous book of mine," the American Publishing Co. sold less than 24,000 copies in the book's first year. |  |
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| In a Gobron-Brillié, Louis Rigolly set a new land speed record of 103.58 mph at Ostend, Belgium. Built explicitly for land speed racing, it was the first vehicle to set record over 100 mph. Powered by a in-line 4 cylinder, 13,600 cc's with 130 bhp, the engine was an opposed 4-cylinder layout. The chassis consisted of welded steel tubes. |  |
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| The "Scopes Monkey Trial" pitted against each other lawyers William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow (the latter representing teacher John T. Scopes) in an American court case that tested a law passed on March 13, 1925, which forbade the teaching, in any state-funded educational establishment in Tennessee, of "any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals." This is often interpreted as meaning that the law forbade the teaching of any aspect of the theory of evolution. John T. Scopes was convicted of violating state law for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution. The conviction was later overturned. |
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| It was formerly called the Veterans Administration, also called the VA, which was established July 21, 1930 to consolidate and coordinate government activities affecting war veterans. The VA incorporated the functions of the former U.S. Veterans' Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. |
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| W2XAB New York (CBS) begins broadcasting the first regular seven-day-per-week TV broadcasting schedule in the U. S., 28 hours per week with live pickups and a wide variety of programs. The first broadcast included Mayor James J. Walker, Kate Smith, and George Gershwin. |  |
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| After months of uncertainty over the President's preference for a running mate, Truman was selected as Roosevelt's vice presidential candidate in 1944 as the result of a deal worked out by St. Louis’ Robert Hannegan, who was Democratic National Chairman that year. Roosevelt, increasingly frail, agreed to replace Henry Wallace as Vice President because he was considered too liberal by the party establishment. The surviving evidence suggests that Roosevelt chose to leave the selection of a running mate unresolved well into the summer of 1944. |
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| In 1950, another somewhat offbeat ballad, "Mona Lisa," soared to the top of the charts and stayed there for weeks. Gradually Cole began singing "stand up" rather than sitting in front of a piano. Success continued with "Unforgettable," "Too Young," "Answer Me, My Love," and "Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup." |  |
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| USS Seawolf was the Navy's second nuclear-powered attack submarine and the first submarine to be equipped with a S2G sodium-cooled nuclear reactor. But due to the difficulties of running a sodium-cooled reactor, the Navy decided to replace Seawolf's sodium-cooled reactor with a water-cooled one and use only water-cooled designs in the future. Lieutenant James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, the only U.S. President to qualify in submarines, was to be her Engineering Officer, but had resigned his commission upon the death of his father in 1953. |
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| Pop vocalist Grant was apparently named after a New York restaurant called Gogi's La Rue, which was frequented by Dave Kapp, head of A&R at RCA Records. She had previously recorded, without success, as Audrey Brown and Audrey Grant, but as Gogi Grant she hit the US Top 10 in 1955 with the ballad "Suddenly There's A Valley" and a year later with a sad ballad about lost love, "The Wayward Wind", which shot to number 1 in the USA. |
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| Gibson's big year was 1957, when she became the first black player to win the Wimbledon singles title and the first to win the U. S. National title. She also won the women's doubles at Wimbledon with Darlene Hard and the U. S. mixed doubles with Kurt Nielsen. In 1957 she was the first black to be named Associated Press female athlete of the year. |  |
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| "Hard Headed Woman" was part of the soundtrack for his 1958 motion picture King Creole, and was included on the record album of the same name. The song was also released as a 45rpm single and in 1958 went to No. 1 on the Billboard charts. It became the first rock and roll single to earn the RIAA designation of "Gold Record." |  |
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| The Coasters' first recording in New York was 1958's "Yakety Yak," which featured King Curtis on tenor sax. Its witty, slice-of-life lyrics about a teenager being hassled by his parents struck a resounding chord, and "Yakety Yak" became the Coasters' first number-one pop hit that summer, topping the R&B charts as well. |  |
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| In 1955, President of the United States Dwight Eisenhower proposed building a nuclear powered merchant ship. The next year, Congress authorized NS Savannah as a joint project of the Atomic Energy Commission, the Maritime Administration, and the Department of Commerce. Savannah's cargo space was limited to 8,500 tons of freight in 652,000 cubic feet (18,000 m3). Many of her competitors could accommodate several times as much cargo. Her streamlined hull made loading the forward holds laborious, which became a significant disadvantage as ports became more and more automated. |
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| Mercury-Redstone 4 was the fourth mission in the Mercury-Redstone series of flight tests and the second U.S. manned suborbital spaceflight. It was the next step in the progressive research, development and training program leading to the study of man's capabilities in a space environment during manned orbital flight. The main objective was to corroborate the man-in-space concept. The main configuration differences between the MR-3 spacecraft was the addition of a large viewing window and an explosively actuated side hatch. |
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| Vinton also recorded "Mr. Lonely," a song he co-wrote, in the same session. "Mr. Lonely" was mothballed by Epic Records for two years until Vinton engineered its release -- then it went to #1 at the height of Beatlemania. When he first recorded this, Vinton didn't like the results because it was the wrong tempo, so he tried again. The second version was released and hit #1 in the US - successful enough to earn him a new recording contract, this time as a solo recording act. |
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| During the mission, problems developed with the fuel cell that precluded rendezvous with the radar evaluation pod (REP). Primary rendezvous G&N system with REP objective was not achieved. REP rendezvous was not attempted due to a decision to power down fuel cells. Secondary objective to demonstrate controlled reentry guidance was not achieved due to incorrect navigation coordinates transmitted to the spacecraft computer from the ground. This caused an 89mile overshoot of the landing zone. |
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| He won the Masters Tournament four times, in 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964; the U.S. Open in spectacular fashion in 1960 at Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver and the British Open in 1961 and 1962. He came from seven strokes off the pace in the final round in that U.S. Open win and has finished second in four other Opens since then. Among the majors, only the PGA Championship has eluded him. He has finished second in the PGA three times. |
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| In 1969, Apollo XI astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin blasted off from the moon after 21 1/2 hours on the surface and returned to the command module piloted by Michael Collins. The Lunar module was comprised of two stages. The decent stage had the landing gear, and was used as a launch pad for the ascent stage. The ascent stage was mainly the cabin, and had a fixed thrust engine (15,500-Newton-thrust) to propel it to 2000 m/s in Lunar orbit for docking. The lunar module's lower section, left behind, has a plaque mounted upon it, reading, "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind." |
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| Atlanta Brave Hank Aaron hits a Ken Brett fastball into the left-CF stands for a 2-run home run during an 84 loss to the Phillies. It is career home run 700 for Aaron, only the 2nd player to reach that milestone. |  |
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| At first, the producers objected to the line "meaner than a junkyard dog" - they thought it was too crass. This was Croce's first #1 hit ("Time in a Bottle" was the other). It topped the charts 10 weeks before he died in a plane crash. |  |
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| In 1973, the USSR launched Mars 4, on a Proton SL-12/D-1-e booster. It was one of several Soviet Mars probes - Mars 4, 5, 6, and 7 - launched in Jul-Aug 1973. The Mars 4 reached Mars on February 10, 1974. Its intended mission was to be an orbiting station. Sadly, retro-rockets failed to fire, due to a flawed computer chip, and it flew past within only 2200-km of the planet. A limited series of pictures and data were returned, including the first detection of the nightside ionosphere. |
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| "Bad Girls" was Summer's biggest hit. It was #1 in the US for 5 weeks, helping her earn the title "The Queen Of Disco." Summer got the idea when she sent her secretary on an errand and she got propositioned by some guys. |  |
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| The National Women's Hall of Fame is the only national membership organization that honors and celebrates the achievements of American women. Founded in 1969 in Seneca Falls, New York, where in 1848 the first Women's Rights Convention was held, the Hall inducts distinguished women and offers programs and exhibits in Seneca Falls, the Finger Lakes area, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. |
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| On July 21, 1984 a 34-year-old male worker was pinched to death by a machine he operated when he climbed over the safety rail with an air gun. The cause of death was not crushing but cardiopulmonary arrest. |
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| "When Doves Cry" deals with Prince's feelings toward his parents when he wondered if he was becoming like them. He calls his father "demanding" and mother "never satisfied." The barrage of keyboards in the chorus represents the doves crying. In the US, this was the #1 song of 1984. |  |
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| Glenn Medeiros is best known for his rendition of George Benson's "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You," which was #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 of 1987 and #1 in the UK as well as in France and Germany (one of his three worldwide #1 hit singles). He also scored a 1990 United States #1 hit duet with Bobby Brown entitled "She Ain't Worth It" and followed it up with another hit duet hit with Ray Parker, Jr. "All I'm Missing Is You". |
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1733 John Winthrop was granted the first honorary
Doctor of Law Degree in the United States
1873 The first train robbery in America was pulled
off by Jesse James and his gang
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1875 Mark Twain's "The Adventure of Tom Sawyer"
was registered
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1904 Camille Jenatzy sets world auto speed record
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1921 Indians (9) & Yankees (7) hit a record
16 doubles
1925 The so-called "Monkey Trial" ended
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1930 US Veterans Administration established
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1930 State record high temperature of 110°
in Millsboro, DE
1931 Ted Husing was master of ceremonies for the
very first CBS-TV program
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1934 State record high temperature of 113°
in Gallipolis, OH
1944 Harry S Truman accepted the Democratic party’s
nomination for vice president
More ...
1951 "Too Young" by Nat 'King' Cole
topped the charts
More ...
1955 First sub powered by liquid metal cooled
reactor launched-Seawolf
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1956 “The Wayward Wind" by Gogi Grant
topped the charts
More ...
1957 First Black to win a major US tennis tournament
(Althea Gibson)
More ...
1958 "Hard Headed Woman" by Elvis Presley
shared #1
More ...
1958 "Yakety Yak" by the Coasters
shared #1
More ...
1959 First atomic powered merchant ship, Savannah,
christened, Camden NJ
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1961 Launch of Mercury 4 (Liberty bell) with Grissom
More ...
1962 "Roses Are Red (My Love)" by Bobby
Vinton topped the charts
More ...
1965 Gemini 5 launched atop Titan V with Cooper
& Conrad
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1968 Arnold Palmer became the first golfer to
earn a million dollars
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1969 Neil Armstrong steps on the Moon at 2:56:15
AM (GMT)
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1973 Hank Aaron becomes 2nd major leaguer to hit
700 HRs
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1973 "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" by Jim Croce
topped the charts
More ...
1973 USSR launches Mars 4 for fly-by (1622 miles)
of the red planet
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1978 World's strongest dog, 176 lb. St Bernard,
pulls 6400 lb. load 88.6 feet
1979 "Bad Girls" by Donna Summer topped
the charts
More ...
1979 National Women's Hall of Fame (Seneca Falls,
NY) dedicated
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1980 Jean-Claude Droyer climbs the Eiffel Tower
in 2 hrs 18 mins
1984 First documented case of a robot killing
a human in US
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1984 "When Doves Cry" by Prince topped
the charts
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1988 ESA's Ariane-3 launches 2 communications
satellites (1 Indian)
1990 "She Ain't Worth It" by Glenn Medeiros
featuring Bobby Brown topped the charts
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