On this date
In 1776, members of the Second Continental Congress began attaching their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.
In 1876, frontiersman “Wild Bill” Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker at a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, by Jack McCall, who was later hanged.
In 1921, a jury in Chicago acquitted several former members of the Chicago White Sox baseball team and two others of conspiring to defraud the public in the “Black Sox” scandal.
In 1923, the 29th president of the United States, Warren G. Harding, died in San Francisco; Vice President Calvin Coolidge became president.
In 1934, German President Paul von Hindenburg died, paving the way for Adolf Hitler’s complete takeover.
In 1939, Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program.
In 1939, President Roosevelt signed the Hatch Act, which prohibited civil service employees from taking an active part in political campaigns.
Ten years ago: A mystery from the 1991 Gulf War was finally solved as the Pentagon announced that the remains of missing Navy pilot Michael “Scott” Speicher had been found.
Five years ago: Kent Brantly, a doctor who was the first Ebola victim to be brought to the United States from Africa, was safely escorted into a specialized isolation unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where he recovered from the disease.
One year ago: Apple became the world’s first publicly-traded company to be valued at $1 trillion.
Associated Press