On this date

In 1793,

President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol.

In 1850,

Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which created a force of federal commissioners charged with returning escaped slaves to their owners.

In 1851,

the first edition of The New York Times was published.

In 1961,

United Nations SecretaryGeneral Dag Hammarskjold was killed in a plane crash in northern Rhodesia.

In 1994,

tennis star Vitas Gerulaitis, 40, was found dead in the guest cottage of a friend’s home in Southampton, N.Y., of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.

In 2001,

letters postmarked Trenton, N.J., that later tested positive for anthrax were sent to the New York Post and NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw.

In 2007,

O.J. Simpson was charged with seven felonies, including kidnapping, in the alleged armed robbery of sports memorabilia collectors in a Las Vegas casino-hotel room. (Simpson, sentenced to nine to 33 years in prison, was released on parole in October 2017.)

Ten years ago:

President George W. Bush met with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who then asked Congress to give the government power to rescue banks by buying up their bad assets.

Five years ago:

Syrian President Bashar Assad, in a Fox News Channel interview, denied his government had orchestrated a sarin nerve gas attack against rebels in his country.

One year ago:

Toys R Us, the pioneering big box toy retailer, announced that it was filing for bankruptcy protection, but that it would continue its normal business operations. (The company announced in March 2018 that it would liquidate its U.S. business.)