Today in history

Today is Thursday, Aug. 16, the

228th day of 2018. There are 137 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On 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 (SHEE’-an). On this date:

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

1812.

In 1858, a telegraphed message from Britain’s Queen Victoria to President James Buchanan was transmitted over the recently laid trans-Atlantic cable.

In 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.

In 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.

In 1948, baseball legend Babe Ruth died in New York at age 53.

In 1954, Sports Illustrated was first published by Time Inc.

In 1956, Adlai E. Stevenson was nominated for president at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

In 1962, The Beatles fired their original drummer, Pete Best, replacing him with Ringo Starr.

In 1977, Elvis Presley died at his Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 42.

In 1987, people worldwide began a two-day celebration of the “harmonic convergence,” which heralded what believers called the start of a new, purer age of humankind. In 1991, Pope John Paul II began the first-ever papal visit to Hungary.

In 2003, Idi Amin, the former dictator of Uganda, died in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia; he was believed to have been about 80.

Ten years ago: At the Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps touched the wall a hundredth of a second ahead of Serbia’s Milorad Cavic to win the 100-meter butterfly, giving Phelps his seventh gold medal of the Games, tying Mark Spitz’s performance in the 1972 Munich Games. Usain (yoo-SAYN’) Bolt of Jamaica ran the 100-meter dash in a stunning world-record time of 9.69 seconds. Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and actress Portia de Rossi were married at their Beverly Hills home.