DAY IN HISTORY

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Today is the 254th day of 2019 and the 83rd day of summer. TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1857, Mormon militiamen and Paiute Indians massacred 120 pioneers in Mountain Meadows, Utah.

In 2001, hijacked planes crashed into New York City’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Virginia and a Pennsylvania field in terrorist attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives.

In 2007, Russia announced that it had successfully tested the world’s most powerful nonnuclear bomb, a thermobaric weapon nicknamed the “father of all bombs.”

In 2012, a heavily armed militia attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: O. Henry (1862-1910), short-story writer; D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930), author; Paul “Bear” Bryant (1913-1983), football coach; Tom Landry (19242000), football coach; Brian De Palma (1940- ), film director; Tony Gilroy (1956- ), filmmaker;

Virginia Madsen (1961- ), actress; Moby (1965- ), singer-songwriter; Harry Connick Jr. (1967- ), actor/singer-songwriter; Ludacris (1977- ), rapper/ actor; Ed Reed (1978- ), football player.

TODAY’S FACT: John Tyler was the first vice president to assume the presidency because of a sitting president’s death. During the term he served, after William Henry Harrison’s monthlong presidency, Tyler was often referred to slightingly as “His Accidency” or “Acting President.”

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1985, Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb’s record with his 4,192nd career hit.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “I wanted to paint a picture someday that people would stand before and forget that it was made of paint. I wanted it to creep into them like a bar of music and mushroom there like a soft bullet.” — O. Henry, “The Gold That Glittered”

TODAY’S NUMBER: 4,256 — total career hits for Pete Rose, which remains the Major League Baseball record.

TODAY’S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Sept. 5) and full moon (Sept. 13).