On this date
In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years War and effectively destroyed the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph message was sent by Chief Justice Stephen J. Field of California from San Francisco to President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C., over a line built by Western Union Telegraph Co.
In 1939, DuPont began publicly selling its nylon stockings in Wilmington, Del.
In 1945, the United Nations officially came into existence as its charter took effect.
In 1972, Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, who’d broken Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947, died in Stamford, Conn., at age 53.
In 1980, the merchant freighter SS Poet departed Philadelphia, bound for Port Said, Egypt, with a crew of 34 and a cargo of grain; it disappeared en route and has not been heard from since. In 2002, authorities apprehended Army veteran John Allen Muhammad and teenager Lee Boyd Malvo near Myersville, Md., in the Washingtonarea sniper attacks. (Malvo was later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole; Muhammad was sentenced to death and executed in 2009.) Ten years ago: Rapidly rising internet star Facebook Inc. sold a 1.6% stake to Microsoft Corp. for $240 million, spurning a competing offer from online search leader Google Inc.
Five years ago: Hurricane Sandy roared across Jamaica and headed toward Cuba, before taking aim at the eastern United States.
One year ago: Pop idol Bobby Vee, 73, died in Rogers, Minn.