This Day In History
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1504 - Christopher Columbus uses a lunar eclipse to frighten hostile Jamaican Indians
1644- Abel Tasman sets out on his second exploratory expedition for the VOC to the southern Pacific from Banda, in the Moluccas, with three ships (will chart northern coast of New Holland / Australia)
1692 - First people are accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts - Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba, a West Indian slave
1696 - English ex-premier Earl Danby accused of corruption
1704 - French & Indians attack Massachusetts, kill 50, abduct 100
1768 - Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski joins the Bar Confederation to defend the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth against Russian influence
1892 - Britain & US sign treaty on seal hunting in Bering Sea
1904 - Theodore Roosevelt, appoints 7-man Panama Canal Commission to proceed with completing a canal at the Isthmus
1936 - US President FDR signs 2nd Neutrality Act 1940 - Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations
1944 - 5 leaders of Indonesia Communist Party sentenced to death
1944 - US troop land on Los Negros, Admirality Islands
1952 The island of Heligoland is restored to German authority.
1956 - Islamic Republic forms in Pakistan
1956 - US President Eisenhower announces he will seek a 2nd term
1960 - Agadir earthquake in Morocco kills a third of the population (12,000-15,000)
1964 - Cincinnati's Jerry Lucas and Oscar Robertson combine for a rare 40-40 performance as the Royals beat host Philadelphia 76ers, 117-114; NBA MVP Robertson has 43 points; Rookie of the Year Lucas, 40 rebounds
1964 - Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser records the fastest 100m freestyle of her brilliant career; smashes her own world record 58.9s in Sydney; goes on to win her 3rd straight gold in the event at the Tokyo Olympics flights with nuclear bombs
1968 - National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Comm) reports against racism & demands aid given to blacks
1972 - Future Baseball Hall of Fame right fielder Hank Aaron becomes first player to earn $200,000 average annual salary; signs 3-year deal with Atlanta Braves after one of his best seasons – .327 average, 47 HRs and 118 RBIs
1976 American driver Richard Petty wins the only Winston Cup race run on Leap Day, taking the Carolina 500 at Rockingham by 2 laps over Darrell Waltrip
1984 - Pierre Trudeau announces he is stepping down after 15 years as Canadian Prime Minister
1984 - Swedish center Patrik Sundström scores a goal and adds 6 assists as Vancouver Canucks beat the Penguins 9-5 in Pittsburgh; just the 3rd player in NHL history to record 6 assists in a road game
1988 - New Zealand cricket batsman Mark Greatbatch scores an unbeaten 107 on debut to rescue a draw in 2nd Test v England at Eden Park, Auckland
1988 - Nazi document implicates Waldheim in WW II deportations
1992 - Boston’s Ray Bourque becomes just the 3rd defenseman in NHL history to score 1,000 career points with a goal and 2 assists in the Bruins' 5-5 tie with Washington Capitals at Boston Garden
1996 - Soyuz TM-23, lands
1996 - Serb forces withdraw from Sarajevo, ending the siege after 1,425 days, the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare
2004 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as President of Haiti following popular rebel uprising.
2020- US and Taliban sign deal to end 18-year war in Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar. US and NATO allies will withdraw their troops after 14 months if deal kept.
Deerfield,