TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

August 16, 1987

156 people were killed when Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed while trying to take off from Detroit; the sole survivor was 4-year-old Cecelia Cichan. ALSO ON THIS DATE

1812

Detroit fell to British and Indian forces in the War of 1812.

1858

A telegraphed message from Britain’s Queen Victoria to President James Buchanan was transmitted over the recently laid trans-Atlantic cable.

1861

President Abraham Lincoln issued Proclamation 86, which prohibited the states of the Union from engaging in commercial trade with states that were in rebellion _ i.e., the Confederacy.

1920

Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians was struck in the head by a pitch thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees; Chapman died the following morning.

1948

Baseball legend Babe Ruth died in New York at age 53.

1962

The Beatles fired their original drummer, Pete Best, replacing him with Ringo Starr.

1977

Elvis Presley died at his Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 42.

2003

Idi Amin, the former dictator of Uganda, died in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia; he was believed to have been about 80.