Today in History
May 16 - Today in History
By Staff
May 16, 2008 - 12:00:00 AM

0942 - Saadiah Gaon, head of Talmudic Academy of Sura, dies
0955 - Alberich II, (bastard?) son of Octavianus elected pope
1165 - Ramjbam and his family reach Acre Palestine
1527 - Florence becomes a republic
1532 - Sir Thomas More resigns as English Lord Chancellor
1547 - Protestant German monarch surrenders to Karel in Wittenberg
1568 - Mary Queen of Scotland flees to England
1571 - Johannes Kepler, by his own calculations, is conceived at 4:37 AM
1584 - 7 Westfriese towns divide monasteries of Egmond/Blokker/St-Pietersdal
1605 - Camillo Borghese elected to succeed Pope Leo XI becomes Paul V
1606 - 2,000 foreigners murdered in Russia
1648 - Battle at Z�lty Wody: Bohdan Chmielricki's cosacks beat John Casimir
1691 - Jacob Leisler, becomes 1st American colonist hanged for treason
1747 - Prince Willem V sworn in as admiral-general of Neth
1763 - James Boswell's 1st meeting with Samuel Johnson
1763 - Samuel Johnson meets his future biographer James Boswell in London
1770 - Marie Antoinette (14) marries future King Louis XVI (15) of France
1777 - Button Gwinnet, US revolutionary leader, dies from wounds
1792 - Denmark abolishes slave trade
1795 - Hedges Treaty: Bataafse Republic becomes French vassel state
1796 - Lombardije Republic forms
1803 - Peace of Amiens ends
1804 - Senate and Tribune declare Napolean leader of France
1811 - Peninsular War-Allies defeat French at Albuera
1817 - Mississippi River steamboat service begins
1860 - -18] Chicago: Republican convention selects Abraham Lincoln candidate
1861 - Confederate government offers war volunteers $10 premium
1861 - Kentucky proclaims its neutrality
1862 - Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir builds 1st automobile
1863 - Battle of Champion's Hill, MS-bloodiest action of Vicksburg Campaign
1864 - Atlanta Campaign-battle of Resaca, ends (since May 13)
1864 - Battle of Bermuda Hundred, VA
1864 - Last battles at Drewry's Bluff, Virginia (6,666 casualties)
1864 - Lean Bear, Cheyenne chief, murdered
1866 - Charles Elmer Hires invents root beer
1866 - Congress authorizes nickel 5� piece (replaces silver half-dime)
1866 - US Treasury Dept authorizes nickel
1868 - By one vote, Senate fails to impeach President Andrew Johnson
1869 - Cincinnati Reds play their 1st baseball game, win 41-7
1872 - Metropolitan Gas Company lamps lit for 1st time
1874 - 1st recorded dam disaster in US (Williamsburg Mass)
1875 - Quake in Venezuela and Colombia kills 16,000
1879 - Antonin Dvor k's "Slavic Dancing," premieres
1879 - Treaty of Gandamak to set up Afghan state between Russia and English
1881 - World's 1st elec tram goes into service in Lichterfelder (near Berlin)
1882 - 8th Kentucky Derby: Babe Hurd aboard Apollo wins in 2:40�
1884 - 10th Kentucky Derby: Isaac Murphy aboard Buchanan wins in 2:40�
1888 - CPR opens Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver, BC
1891 - George A Hormel and Co introduce Spam
1894 - Fire in Boston destroys baseball stadium and 170 other buildings
1901 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Priory School" (BG)
1902 - 2 deaf-mutes face each other for 1st time as Dummy Hoy leads off for the Reds against Dummy Taylor of the Giants, Reds win 5-3
1903 - 1st transcontinental motorcycle trip begins at SF (George Wymann)
1903 - George Wyman makes 1st motorcycle trip across the US
1910 - US Bureau of Mines forms
1911 - Remains of a neanderthal man found in Jersey UK
1911 - Zeppelin "Deutscheland" wrecked at Dusseldorf
1914 - American Horseshoe Pitchers Assn organizes in Kansas City
1914 - Ewing Field, near Masonic Street, opens
1916 - 41st Preakness: Linus McAtee aboard Damrosch wins in 1:54.8
1920 - Joan of Arc (Jean D'arc) canonized a saint
1920 - Spanish bullfighter Joselito is fatally gored fighting his last bull
1921 - 47th Preakness: F Coltiletti aboard Broomspun wins in 1:54.2
1922 - White Star Line Majestic completes 5� day maiden voyage
1925 - 51st Kentucky Derby: Earl Sande aboard Flying Ebony wins in 2:07.6
1927 - NY Yankee Bob Meusel steals 2nd, 3rd and home
1927 - Supreme Court ruled bootleggers must pay income tax
1929 - 1st Academy Awards - "Wings," Emil Jennings and Janet Gaynor wins
1930 - 6th Walker Cup: US, 10-2
1931 - 57th Kentucky Derby: Charley Kurtsinger on Twenty Grand wins 2:01.8
1932 - Yanks 4th straight shutout to equal record set by Cleveland and Boston
1933 - Cecil Travis becomes 1st player to get 5 hits in his 1st game
1936 - 1st British air hostess (Daphne Kearley) flight to France
1936 - 62nd Preakness: George Woolf aboard Bold Venture wins in 1:59
1938 - 1st animal breeding society forms (NJ)
1938 - 38 die in Terminal Hotel fire (Atlanta Ga)
1939 - 1st AL night game, Phila Shribe Park (Indians 8, Athletics 3 in 10)
1939 - Food stamps are 1st issued
1940 - Nazi's forbid non-professional auto workers
1940 - Premier Winston Churchill returns to London from Paris
1941 - Germans made their last major air attack on Britain
1941 - Italian army under Aosta surrenders to Britain at Amba Alagi Ethiopia
1941 - Last great German air attack on Great Britain (Birmingham)
1941 - Nazis forbid Dutch Organization of Actors (NOT)
1942 - 1st transport of British/Dutch prisoners to South Burma
1943 - -17th] RAF bombs M�hne and Eder (Battle of Ruhr)
1943 - German troops destroy synagogue of Warsaw
1943 - Jewish resistance in the Warsaw ghetto ends after 30 days of fighting
1944 - 1st of 180,000+ Hungarian Jews reach Auschwitz
1944 - German military police attack gypsies
1945 - Violent battles around Sugar Loaf/Half Moon Okinawa
1948 - Botvinnik wins 5-player tournament to determine world chess champion
1948 - CBS news correspondent George Polk's body is found in Greece
1948 - Chaim Weizmann elected 1st president of Israel
1948 - Egyptians enter the Gaza
1948 - George Polk, CBS news correspondant, body found
1948 - Israel issues its 1st postage stamps
1953 - Phillies Curt Simmons gives up a single, then retires next 27 in a row
1954 - Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA National Capital Golf Open
1954 - Ted Williams gets 8 hits in 1st game (DH) since breaking collarbone
1955 - Heavyweight Rocky Marciano KOs Don Cockell in SF
1955 - King Baudouin of Belgium visits Congo
1955 - Rocky Marciano TKOs Don Cockell in 9 for heavyweight boxing title
1956 - Egypt recognizes People's Republic of China
1956 - Great Britain performs nuclear Test at Monte Bello Is Australia
1956 - Kraft Theater presents an act from "Profiles in Courage"
1956 - Laker takes 10-88 for Surrey v Australians at the Oval
1957 - Maj Irwin, USAAF flies a Lockheed Starfight to a record 1,404.18 MPH
1957 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Invicti Athletae
1957 - US launches its 3rd atomic submarine, USS Skate, at Groton Conn
1957 - Yanks involved in Copacabana Incident, leads to Billy Martin trade
1958 - Eli Beeding experiences 83 g deceleration on a rocket sled, New Mex
1958 - Walter Irwin flies 2,259 KPH in F-104A Starfighter
1959 - 85th Preakness: William Harmatz aboard Royal Orbit wins in 1:57
1960 - Big 4 summit in Paris collapses as USSR levels spy charges against US
1961 - 13rd Emmy Awards: Jack Benny Show, Raymond Burr and Barbara Stanwyck
1963 - Gordon Cooper completes 22 orbits in Faith 7, ends US Proj Mercury
1964 - 90th Preakness: Bill Hartack aboard Northern Dancer wins in 1:56.8
1964 - USSR performs nuclear Test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1964 - Verne Gagne beats Mad Dog Vachon in Omaha, to become NWA champ
1965 - Balt Oriole Jim Palmer's pitching debut, beats Yankees 7-5 and homers
1965 - Bomb destroys USAF base Bien Hoa South Vietnam
1965 - Spaghetti-O's 1st sold
1965 - Susie Maxwell wins LPGA Muskogee Civitan Golf Open
1966 - Beach Boys' "Pets Sounds" is released
1966 - National Welfare Rights Organization organizes
1966 - Stokely Carmichael named chairman of Student Nonviolent Coordinating
1967 - Phila voters approve a $13 million bond issue to build a new stadium
1968 - Earthquake kills 47 in Japan
1969 - Barbra Streisand appears at a Friars Club Tribute
1969 - Students occupies Magden House Amsterdam
1969 - US nuclear sub Guitarro sinks off SF
1969 - USSR performs nuclear Test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1969 - Venera 5 lands on Venus, returns data on atmosphere
1969 - Who's Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey charged with assault
1970 - 96th Preakness: Eddie Belmonte aboard Personality wins in 1:56.2
1970 - Grover Henson Feels Forgotten by Bill Cosby hits #70
1971 - 1st class postage now costs 8� (was 6�)
1971 - Bulgaria adopts it's constitution
1972 - "Don't Play Us Cheap" opens at Barrymore Theater NYC for 164 perfs
1972 - Greg Luzinski's 500' HR hits Liberty Bell monument in Phila Vet
1972 - Jane Blalock wins LPGA Suzuki Golf Internationale
1973 - ABC Masters Bowling Tournament won by Dave Soutar
1973 - AC Milan wins 13th Europe Cup II in Saloniki
1974 - Helmut Schmidt becomes West German chancellor
1974 - USSR performs nuclear Test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1975 - India annexes Principality of Sikkim
1975 - Japanese Junko Tabei became 1st woman to reach Mt Everest's summit
1975 - Muhammad Ali TKOs Ron Lyle in 11 for heavyweight boxing title
1975 - Wings release "Listen to What the Man Said" in UK
1976 - Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens sweep Phila Flyers in 4 games
1976 - Sue Roberts wins LPGA American Defender Golf Classic
1977 - 5 die as NY Airway helicopter topples on Pan Am bldg in NYC
1977 - Muhammad Ali beats Alfredo Evangelist in 15 for heavywgt boxing title
1979 - FC Barcelona wins 19th Europe Cup II in Basel
1979 - NL approves Astros sales from Ford Motors to John J McMullen for $19M
1980 - 34th NBA Championship: LA Lakers beat Phila 76ers, 4 games to 2
1980 - Brian May of rock group Queen collapses on stage with hepatitis
1980 - Paul McCartney releases "McCartney II" album
1980 - Former Buggles members Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn replace Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman in Yes
1981 - "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes hits #1 for next 9 weeks
1981 - 107th Preakness: Jorge Velasquez aboard Pleasant Colony wins in 1:54.6
1981 - Houston Astro Craig Reynolds hits 3 triples beating Cubs 6-1
1981 - Pretenders' Martin Chambers weds Tracy Atkinson
1982 - Columbia moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating in preparation for STS-4
1982 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Lady Michelob Golf Tournament
1982 - Salvador Jorge Blanco wins presidential election in Dominican Rep
1982 - Stanley Cup: NY Islanders sweep Vancouver Canucks in 4 games
1983 - Lebanese parliament accept peace accord with Israel
1984 - Andy Kaufman, comedian (Latka-Taxi), dies of cancer at 35
1984 - Irwin Shaw, US writer (Rich Man, Poor Man), dies at 71
1984 - Guinea-Bissau adopts constitution
1984 - Juventus wins 24th Europe Cup II in Basel
1984 - Phillie pitcher Steve Carlton hits a grand slam homer
1984 - US performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site
1984 - Mackay pays $218,718 for 44,166 tickets to keep Twins in Minn Twins sell 51,863 tickets but only 6,346 fans show up for the game
1985 - Michael Jordan named NBA Rookie of Year
1985 - Pope John Paul II arrives in Belgium
1986 - Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) comes back from dead on Dallas
1986 - Joaqu�n Balaguers PRSC wins Dominican Rep parliamentary election
1986 - South African Pres P W Botha sends Coetsee to visit Mandela
1987 - 113th Preakness: Chris McCarron aboard Alysheba wins in 1:55.8
1987 - Rocker David Crosby weds Jan Dance in LA
1987 - Weird Al Yankovic performs live at 72nd National Orange Show
1987 - "Bobro 400," a barge carrying 3,200 tons of garbage, set sail from NY, beginning an unsuccesful 8-week search for a dumping site
1988 - Surgeon Gen C Everett Koop reports nicotine as addictive as heroin
1988 - US Supreme Court rules trash may be searched without a warrant
1989 - Soviet president Mikhail S Gorbachev and Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping ended a 30-year rift when they formally met in Beijing
1990 - Sammy Davis Jr, singer/actor (Golden Boy), dies at 64
1990 - Jim Henson, puppeteer (Sesame Street, Muppet Show), dies at 53
1990 - Dominican Republic President Joaqu�n Ricardo Balaguer re-elected
1990 - Juventus wins 19th UEFA Cup in Avellino
1991 - Daily Planet fires cub reporter Jimmy Olson (Superman character)
1991 - Queen Elizabeth becomes 1st British monarch to address US congress
1992 - "Smells Like Nirvana," by Weird Al Yankovic hits #35
1992 - 118th Preakness: Chris McCarron aboard Pine Bluff wins in 1:55.6
1992 - Polls show Perot, Bush and Clinton could be in a deadlock
1992 - US space shuttle STS-49 lands (maiden voyage of Endeavour)
1993 - Farmer Sugeng finds 1.2 million year old Pithecanthropus IX skull
1993 - Judd Nelson pleads no contest to kicking Kim Evans in the head
1993 - Laura Davies wins LPGA McDonald's Golf Championship
1993 - Soleyman Demirel elected president of Turkey
1994 - Jacqueline Onassis admitted to the hospital for cancer treatment
1994 - Joaqu�n Balaguer (86) elected president of Dominican Republic
1994 - Tennis star Jennifer Capriati arrested on possession of marijuana
1995 - Japanese police arrest cult leader Shoko Asahara and charged him with Nerve-gas attack on Tokyo's subways two months earlier
1996 - Sammy Sosa is 1st Chic Cub to hit 2 HRS in 1 inning
1997 - Atlanta Braves beat St Louis Cardinals, 1-0 in 13 innings
1997 - Brandi Sherwood, (Idaho) replaces Brook Lee (Miss Univ) as Miss USA
1997 - Brook Mehealani Lee, 26, of US crowned 46th Miss Universe
1997 - Expos trailing SF Giants by 9 runs comeback to win 14-13
1997 - St Louis Cards Gary Gaetti records his 2,000th hits
1998 - 124th Preakness
1999 - 125th Preakness

© Copyright 2002-2008 by Magic City Morning Star