TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY is Tuesday, September 22, the 266th day of 2020. There are 100 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1692 — The last people hanged for witchcraft (eight) during the Salem witch trials are hanged in the US. Altogether, 20 people were hanged for witchcraft.
1882 — The Garden Palace, the large purposebuilt exhibition building constructed to house the Sydney International Exhibition in 1879 in Sydney, and since then housing several government departments, burns down. The fire destroyed many official documents, including papers relating to the convict system, census information and a large number of valuable artworks.
1906 — At a meeting in Wellington, Marianne Tasker and supporters established a domestic workers’ union, hoping to use the Liberal government’s Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act to force employers to improve pay and conditions. Central to their demands was a 68hour working week. The ‘‘domestics’’ worked in more than 15,000 New Zealand homes and often endured harsh conditions such as a 16hour day, 61⁄2 days a week, for low wages.
1914 — The first contingent of the Otago Regiment leaves Port Chalmers for World War 1.
1925 — At Opapa, two people are killed and several others injured when the Wellington to Napier mail train derails as a result of excessive speed entering a curve. The driver is convicted of manslaughter.
1931 — New Zealand prime minister George Forbes heads a coalition of the United and Reform parties, in an attempt to deal with the effects of the Depression.
1934 — An explosion and fire at the Gresford Mine in Wales kills more than 260 miners.
1943 — The German battleship Tirpitz is disabled by British midget submarines in a Norwegian fiord.
1949 — The British, Canadian and American governments jointly announce they have recently detected an atomic explosion in the Soviet Union. The blast, initially denied by Moscow, is later revealed to be the first test of an atomic weapon by the Soviet Union. occurred on August 29.
1975 — An assassination attempt is made on US president Gerald Ford in San Francisco by Sara Jane Moore. It is the second attempt in 17 days.
1980 — The Gulf War breaks out when Iraq invades Iran in an attempt to control the Shatt alArab waterway.
1996 — In Australia, Bob Dent, a cancer sufferer, becomes the first man in the world to commit legally assisted suicide under a voluntary euthanasia law.
2008 — The first excavation of Stonehenge in more than 40 years uncovers evidence that the stone circle drew ailing pilgrims from around Europe for what they believed to be its healing properties, archaeologists say.
Today’s birthdays
James Crowe Richmond, New Zealand politician (18221898); James Benn Bradshaw, New Zealand politician/journalist (18321886); Philip Robertson, New Zealand chemist/writer (18841969); Sir Bernard Ashwin, New Zealand public servant/ economist (18961975); Trevor McKee, New Zealand thoroughbred racehorse trainer (19372019); Jonathan Elsom, New Zealandborn actor (1938); Darcy Lange, New Zealandborn artist (19462005); Debby Boone, US singer (1956); Andrea Bocelli, Italian opera singer/songwriter (1958); Joan Jett, US singer/musician (1958); Scott Baio, US actor (1960); Martin Crowe, New Zealand cricketer (19622016); Rupert PenryJones, English actor (1970); Sala Baker, New Zealand actor/stuntman (1976); Flip Grater, New Zealand singer/songwriter (1981); Laura Vandervoort, Canadian actress (1984); Tom Felton, English actor (1987); Finn Bilous, New Zealand freestyle skier (1999).
Quote of the day:
‘‘Beauty is the first present nature gives to women and the first it takes away.’’ — Fay Weldon, British author, who was born on this day in 1931.