DAILY ALMANAC
Today is Friday, Sept. 24, the 267th day of 2021. There are 98 days left in the year.
On this date in:
1789: President George Washington signed a Judiciary Act establishing America’s federal court system and creating the post of attorney general.
1869: Thousands of businessmen were ruined in a Wall Street panic known as “Black Friday” after financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk attempted to corner the gold market.
1929: Lt. James H. Doolittle guided a Consolidated NY-2 Biplane over Mitchel Field in New York in the first all-instrument flight.
1934: Babe Ruth made his farewell appearance as a player with the New York Yankees in a game against the Boston Red Sox. (The Sox won, 5-0.)
1955: President Dwight D. Eisenhower
suffered a heart attack while on vacation in Denver.
1960: The USS Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was launched at Newport News, Virginia. “The Howdy Doody Show” ended a nearly 13-year run with its final telecast on NBC.
1969: The trial of the Chicago Eight (later seven) began. (Five were later convicted of crossing state lines to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic convention, but the convictions were ultimately overturned.)
1976: Former hostage Patricia Hearst was sentenced to seven years in prison for her part in a 1974 bank robbery in San Francisco carried out by the Symbionese Liberation Army. (Hearst was released after 22 months after receiving clemency from President Jimmy Carter.)
1996: The United States and 70 other countries became the first to sign a treaty at the United Nations to end all testing and development of nuclear weapons. (The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty has yet to enter into force because of the refusal so far of eight nations – including the United States – to ratify it.)
2001: President George W. Bush ordered a freeze on the assets of 27 people and organizations with suspected links to terrorism, including Islamic militant Osama bin Laden, and urged other nations to do likewise.
2015: A stampede and crush of Muslim pilgrims occurred at an intersection near a holy site in Saudi Arabia; The Associated Press estimated that more than 2,400 people were killed, while the official Saudi toll stood at 769.
Singer Sonny Turner of The Platters is 82. News anchor Lou Dobbs is 76. Singer Phyllis “Jiggs” Allbut Sirico of The Angels is 79. Actor Gordon Clapp (“NYPD Blue”) is 73. Actor Harriet Walter (“The Crown”) is 71. Actor Kevin Sorbo (“Hercules: Legendary Journeys”) is 63. Singer Cedric Dent (Take 6) is 59. Actor-writer Nia Vardalos (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) is 59. Drummer Shawn Crahan of Slipknot is 52. Drummer Marty Mitchell (Ricochet) is 52. Singer-guitarist Marty Cintron of No Mercy is 50. Guitarist Juan Devevo of Casting Crowns is 46. Actor Ian Bohen (“Yellowstone,” TV’S “Teen Wolf”) is 45. Actor Spencer Treat Clark (“Animal Kingdom”) is 34. Actor Ben Platt is 28.