Today:
1756: A British garrison is imprisoned in the “Black Hole of Calcutta” in India, resulting in many deaths.
1782: The U.S. Congress officially adopts the Great Seal of the United States.
1789: In Versailles, France, the deputies of the Third Estate take the Tennis Court Oath, vowing not to disperse until a written constitution had been established.
1837: Queen Victoria ascends the British throne at the age of 18, beginning a reign that would last over 63 years.
1863: West Virginia is admitted into the Union as the 35th U.S. state.
1877: The world’s first commercial telephone service is installed by Alexander Graham Bell in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
1893: Lizzie Borden is acquitted by a jury of the axe murders of her father and stepmother.
1900: The Boxer Rebellion reaches Peking (Beijing) as Chinese nationalists besiege foreign legations in the diplomatic quarter.
1947: Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, an organized crime leader, is shot and killed at his mistress’s home in Beverly Hills, California.
1963: To lessen the threat of accidental nuclear war, the United States and the Soviet Union agree to establish a “hot line” communication system.