TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS SATURDAY, JUNE 10, 2017. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY:

1770 - Lieutenant James Cook’s “The Endeavour” runs aground and nearly sinks on the Great Barrier Reef. 1793 - The Jardin des Plantes zoo opened in Paris. It was the first public zoo.

1838 - 28 Aborigines are massacred by vengeful stockmen at Myall Creek. 1909 - The SOS distress signal was used for the first time. The Cunard liner SS Slavonia used the signal when it wrecked off the Azores. 1916 - Mecca, under control of the Turks, fell to the Arabs during the Great Arab Revolt. 1920 - The Republican convention in Chicago endorsed woman suffrage. 1933 - Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were in a car accident on a rural road in north Texas. The third-degree burns suffered by Parker resulted in a pronounced limp for the rest of her life. 1935 - Alcoholic Anonymous was founded by William G. Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith. 1940 - Italy declared war on France and Britain. In addition, Canada declared war on Italy.

1943 - Laszlo Biro patented his ballpoint pen. Biro was a Hungarian journalist.

1943 - The Allies began bombing Germany around the clock.

1946 - Italy established a republic replacing its monarchy.

1948 - Chuck Yeager exceeded the speed of sound in the Bell XS-1.

1967 - Israel and Syria agreed to a cease-fire that ended the Six-Day War.

1985 - The Israeli army pulled out of Lebanon after 1099 days of occupation.

1990 - The Civic Forum movement won Czechoslovakia’s first free elections since 1946. The movement was founded by President Vaclav Havel. 1990 - Bulgaria’s former Communist Party won the country’s first free elections in more than four decades. 1996 - Britain and Ireland opened Northern Ireland peace talks. The IRA’s political arm Sinn Fein was excluded.