On this date

In 1915,

a mob in Cobb County in Georgia lynched Jewish businessman Leo Frank, 31, whose death sentence for the murder of 13-yearold Mary Phagan had been commuted to life imprisonment. (Frank, who had maintained his innocence, was pardoned by the state of Georgia in 1986.)

In 1943,

the Allied conquest of Sicily during World War II was completed as U.S. and British forces entered Messina.

In 1969,

Hurricane Camille slammed into the Mississippi coast as a Category 5 storm that was blamed for 256 U.S. deaths, three in Cuba.

In 1978,

the first successful trans Atlantic balloon flight ended as Maxie Anderson, Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman landed their Double Eagle II outside Paris.

In 1985,

more than 1,400 meatpackers walked off the job at the Geo. A. Hormel and Co.’s main plant in Austin, Minn., in a bitter strike that lasted just over a year.

In 1987,

Rudolf Hess, the last member of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle, died at Spandau Prison at age 93, an apparent suicide.

In 1996,

the Reform Party announced Ross Perot had been selected to be its first-ever presidential nominee.

Ten years ago:

At the Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps and three teammates won the 400-meter medley relay for Phelps’ eighth gold medal.

Five years ago:

The attorney for a young man who had testified he was fondled by former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky said his client had reached a settlement, the first among dozens of claims in the Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

One year ago:

A van plowed through pedestrians along a packed promenade in the Spanish city of Barcelona, killing 13 people and injuring 120. (A 14th victim died later from injuries.)

Associated Press