TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

1613

London’s original Globe Theatre, where many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed, was destroyed by a fire sparked by a cannon shot during a performance of “Henry VIII.”

1520

Montezuma II, the ninth and last emperor of the Aztecs, died in Tenochtitlan under unclear circumstances (some say he was killed by his own subjects; others, by the Spanish).

1767

Britain approved the Townshend Revenue Act, which imposed import duties on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper and tea shipped to the American colonies. (Colonists bitterly protested, prompting Parliament to repeal the duties — except for tea.)

1776

The Virginia state constitution was adopted, and Patrick Henry was made governor.

1927

The first trans-Pacific airplane flight was completed as U.S. Army Air Corps Lt. Lester J. Maitland and Lt. Albert F. Hegenberger arrived at Wheeler Field in Hawaii aboard the Bird of Paradise, an Atlantic-Fokker C-2, after flying 2,400 miles from Oakland, California, in 25 hours, 50minutes.

1933

Actor-director Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle died in New York at age 46.

1946

Authorities in British-ruled Palestine arrested more than 2,700Jews in an attempt to stamp out extremists.

1970

The United States ended a two-month military offensive into Cambodia.

1995

The space shuttle Atlantis and the Russian Mir space station linked in orbit, beginning a historic five-day voyage as a single ship. A department store in Seoul, South Korea, collapsed, killing at least 500 people.