Today in history

On June 9, A.D. 68,

Roman Emperor Nero committed suicide.

In 1672

Russian Czar Peter I, who later became known as Peter the Great, was born in Moscow.

In 1870

author Charles Dickens died in Gad’s Hill, England; he was 58.

In 1903

the White Sox were incorporated under Illinois law with $5,000 in capital.

In 1915

Lester Polfus, who became known as guitarist Les Paul, was born in Waukesha, Wis.

In 1930

Jake Lingle, a Chicago Tribune police reporter who had been a middleman for those seeking favors from Al Capone and the city’s police commissioner, was killed at the Illinois Central train station at Randolph Street.

In 1939

college basketball analyst Dick Vitale was born in East Rutherford, N.J.

In 1940

Norway surrendered to the Nazis during World War II.

In 1941

singer Jackie Wilson was born in Detroit.

In 1953

about 100 people died when a tornado struck Worcester, Mass.

In 1954

Army counsel Joseph Welch confronted Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the Senate-Army Hearings over McCarthy’s attack on a member of Welch’s law firm, Frederick Fisher. Said Welch: “Have you no sense of decency, sir?”

In 1969

the Senate confirmed Warren Burger to succeed Earl Warren as chief justice of the United States.

In 1973

Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths to become horse racing’s first Triple Crown winner in 25 years.

In 1978

leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints struck down a 148-year-old policy of excluding African-American men from the Mormon priesthood.

In 1980

comedian Richard Pryor suffered near-fatal burns at his Southern California home when a mixture of “free-base” cocaine exploded.