Events

• 1401 - Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.
• 1603 - James VI of Scotland also becomes James I King of England.
• 1731 - Naturalization of Hieronimus de Salis Parliamentary Act is passed.
• 1765 - American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain passes the Quartering Act that requires the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops.
• 1832 - In Hiram, Ohio a group of men beat, tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith, Jr..
• 1837 - Canada gives African men the right to vote.
• 1868 - Metropolitan Life Insurance Company is formed.
• 1878 - The British frigate HMS Eurydice sinks, killing more than 300.
• 1882 - Robert Koch announces the discovery of the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis (mycobacterium tuberculosis).
• 1900 - New York City Mayor Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
• 1907 - The first issue of the Georgian Bolshevik newspaper Dro is published.
• 1923 - Greece becomes a republic.
• 1934 - U.S. Congress passes the Tydings-McDuffie Act.
• 1936 - The longest game in NHL history was played between Detroit and Montreal. Detroit scored at 16:30 of the sixth overtime and won the game 1-0.
• 1944 - Ardeatine Massacre: German troops kill 335 Italian civilians in Rome.
• 1944 - World War II: In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 prisoners begin breaking out of Stalag Luft III.
• 1958 - Elvis Presley is officially inducted into the U.S.Army.
• 1959 - The Party of the African Federation (PFA) is launched by Léopold Sédar Senghor and Modibo Keita.
• 1965 - NASA spacecraft Ranger 9, equipped to convert it's signals into a form suitable for showing on domestic television, brings images of the Moon into ordinary homes before crash landing.
• 1972 - The United Kingdom imposes "Direct Rule" over Northern Ireland.
• 1973 - Kenyan track runner Kip Keino defeats Jim Ryun at the first-ever professional track meet in Los Angeles, California.
• 1976 - Argentina's military forces depose president Isabel Perón and start the National Reorganization Process.
• 1980 - Archbishop Óscar Romero is killed by right-wing terrorists while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.
• 1989 - Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (42,000 m³) of petroleum after running aground.
• 1998 - Jonesboro massacre: Two students, ages 11 and 13, fire upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas; five people are dead and ten are wounded.
• 1998 - A tornado sweeps through Dantan in India killing 250 people and injuring 3000 others.
• 1999 - Kosovo War: NATO commences air bombardment against Yugoslavia, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
• 1999 - Mont Blanc Tunnel Fire: 39 people die when a Belgian transport truck carrying flour and margarine caught fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel.
• 2003 - The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.
• 2006 - Long-term protests in Belarus are broken by police.
• 2006 - Pope Benedict XVI adds 15 men to the College of Cardinals, in the first consistory of his Pontificate.
• 2007 - The Australian Labor Party is reinstated after the New South Wales state elections.
• 2008 - Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.

Births