On this date

In 1859, French acrobat Charles Blondin walked back and forth on a tightrope above the gorge of Niagara Falls as thousands of spectators watched.

In 1865, eight people, including Mary Surratt and Samuel Mudd, were convicted by a military commission of conspiring with John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln. (Four defendants, including Surratt, were executed; Mudd was sentenced to life in prison but was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson in 1869.)

In 1892, small frogs rained down on Moseley, England, south of Birmingham. (According to a later report, the frogs had “evidently been absorbed in a small waterspout” during a storm.)

In 1908, the Tunguska event took place in Russia as an asteroid exploded above Siberia, leaving 800 square miles of scorched or blown-down trees.

In 1952, “The Guiding Light,” a popular radio program, began a 57-year television run on CBS. (The soap opera’s final episode aired Sept. 18, 2009.)

In 1963, Pope Paul VI was crowned the 262nd head of the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1966, the National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded in Washington, D.C.

Ten years ago: Two men rammed an SUV loaded with gasoline canisters into the main terminal at Glasgow Airport in Scotland, failing to set off an explosion, but seriously burning one of the suspects; the attack came a day after two cars rigged as bombs were found and defused in London.

Five years ago: Islamist Mohamed Morsi became Egypt’s first freely elected president as he was sworn in during a pair of ceremonies.

One year ago: Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that transgender people would be allowed to serve openly in the U.S. military, ending one of the last bans on service in the armed forces.