This Day in History – October 14, 2011

1656 Massachusetts enacts the first punitive legislation against the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). The marriage of church-and-state in Puritanism makes them regard the Quakers as spiritually apostate and politically subversive. 1773 Just before the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, several of the British East India Company’s tea ships are set ablaze at the old seaport of Annapolis, Maryland. 1774 1st Continental Congress is 1st to declare colonial rights (Philadelphia) 1834 1st black to obtain a US patent, Henry Blair, for a corn planter 1862 Baseballer James Creighton ruptures bladder hitting HR, dies 10/18 1863 American Civil War: Battle of Bristoe Station Confederate troops under the command of General Robert E. Lee fail to drive the American Union Army completely out of the Commonwealth of Virginia. 1884 The American inventor, George Eastman, receives a U.S. Government patent on his new paper-strip photographic film. 1888 Louis Le Prince films first motion picture: Roundhay Garden Scene. 1908 The Chicago Cubs defeat the Detroit Tigers, 2-0, clinching the World Series. It would be their last one to date. 1910 The English aviator Claude Grahame-White lands his Farman Aircraft biplane on Executive Avenue near the White House in Washington, D.C.. 1912 While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, is shot and mildly wounded by John Schrank, a mentally-disturbed saloon keeper. With the fresh wound in his chest, and the bullet still within it, Mr. Roosevelt still carries out his scheduled public speech. 1922 1st automated telephones-Pennsylvania exchange in NYC 1926 The children’s book Winnie-the-Pooh, by A. A. Milne, is first published. 1933 Nazi Germany withdraws from The League of Nations. 1939 BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) formed 1943 Prisoners at the Nazi German Sobibor extermination camp in Poland revolt against the Germans, killing eleven SS guards, and wounding many more. About 300 of the Sobibor Camp’s 600 prisoners escape, and about 50 of these survive the end of the war. 1944 German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel commits suicide rather than face trial for his part in an attempt to overthrow Hitler 1944 Athens, Greece, is liberated by British Army troops entering the city as the Wehrmacht pulls out during World War II. This clears the way for the Greek government-in-exile to return to its historic capital city, with George Papandreou, Sr., as the head-of-government. 1947 Captain Chuck Yeager of the U.S. Air Force flies a Bell X-1 rocket-powered experimental aircraft, the Glamorous Glennis, faster than the speed of sound – over the high desert of Southern California – and becomes the first pilot and the first airplane to do so in level flight. 1949 Eleven leaders of the American Communist Party are convicted, after a nine-month trial in a Federal District Court, of conspiring to advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. Federal Government. 1957 Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first Canadian Monarch to open up an annual session of the Canadian Parliament, presenting her Speech from the Throne in Ottawa, Canada. 1958 The American Atomic Energy Commission, with supporting military units, carries out an underground nuclear weapon test at the Nevada Test Site, just north of Las Vegas, Nevada. 1958 The District of Columbia’s Bar Association votes to accept African-Americans as member attorneys. 1960 Peace Corps 1st suggested by JFK 1962 Houston Oiler George Blanda throws for 6 TD passes vs NY Titans 56-17 1962 The Cuban Missile Crisis begins: A U.S. Air Force U-2 reconnaissance plane and its pilot fly over the island of Cuba and take photographs of Soviet missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads being installed and erected in Cuba. 1964 Martin Luther King Jr wins Nobel Peace Prize 1967 The Vietnam War: The folk singer Joan Baez is arrested concerning a physical blockade of the U.S. Army’s induction center in Oakland, California. 1968 Gruener & Watson (US) set scuba depth record (133 m) 436 feet in Bahamas 1968 Vietnam War: 27 soldiers are arrested at the Presidio of San Francisco in California for their peaceful protest of stockade conditions and the Vietnam War. 1968 Vietnam War: The United States Department of Defense announces that the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps will send about 24,000 soldiers and Marines back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours of duty in the combat zone there. 1968 The first live telecast from a manned spacecraft, the Apollo 7, launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the U.S.A. 1968 An earthquake rated at 6.8 on the Richter Scale destroys the Australian town of Meckering, Western Australia, and it also ruptures all nearby main highways and railroads. 1968 Jim Hines of the United States of America becomes the first man ever to break the so-called “ten-second barrier” in the 100-meter sprint in the Summer Olympic Games held in Mexico City with a time of 9.95 seconds. 1969 The United Kingdom introduces the British fifty-pence coin, which replaces, over the following years, the British ten-shilling note, in anticipation of the decimalization of the British currency in 1971, and the abolition of the shilling as a unit of currency anywhere in the world. 1975 Pres Ford escapes injury when his limousine is struck broadside 1978 1st TV movie from a TV series-“Rescue from Gilligan’s Island” 1979 NHL’s greatest scorer Wayne Gretsky scores his 1st NHL goal 1979 The first Gay Rights March on Washington, D.C., the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, demands “an end to all social, economic, judicial, and legal oppression of lesbian and gay people”, and draws 200,000 people. 1980 Bob Marley’s last concert 1980 Pres nominee Ronald Reagan promises to name a woman to Supreme Court 1981 Citing official misconduct in the investigation and trial, Amnesty International charges the U.S. Federal Government with holding Richard Marshall of the American Indian Movement as a political prisoner. 1982 U.S. President Ronald Reagan proclaims a War on Drugs. 1982 Islanders assessed 108 penalty minutes Penguins 125 (233 total) 1985 On Mon Night football, Jets retire Joe Namath’s #12, beat Miami 23-7 1986 Concentration camp survivor Elie Wiesel wins Nobel Peace Prize 1986 Tim Kides of West NY, NJ performs 25,000 leg raises in 11:57:15 1987 In Midland, Tx 1-year-old Jessica McClure falls 22′ (7m) down a well 1989 Texas A&I, Johnny Bailey sets NCAA season rush record at 6,085 yards 1990 SF 49er Joe Montana passes for 6 touchdowns vs Atlanta (45-35) 1998 Eric Robert Rudolph is charged with six bombings including the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia. 2003 Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman becomes infamously known as the scapegoat for the Cubs losing game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series to the Florida Marlins. This has become known as the Steve Bartman incident. 2006 College football brawl between University of Miami and Florida International University leads to suspensions of 31 players of both teams.]]]]> ]]>