TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Saturday, August 30, the 242nd day of 2014. There are 123 days left in the year.

On this date

1861 — Union Gen. John C. Fremont instituted martial law in Missouri and declared slaves there to be free. (However, Fremont’s emancipation order was countermanded by President Abraham Lincoln).

1862 — Confederate forces won victories against the Union at the Second Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Virginia, and the Battle of Richmond in Kentucky.

1905 — Ty Cobb made his major-league debut as a player for the Detroit Tigers, hitting a double in his first at-bat in a game against the New York Highlanders. (The Tigers won, 5-3.)

1945 — Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrived in Japan to set up Allied occupation headquarters.

1963 — The “Hot Line” communications link between Washington and Moscow went into operation.

1984 — The space shuttle Discovery was launched on its inaugural flight.

1989 — A federal jury in New York found “hotel queen” Leona Helmsley guilty of income tax evasion, but acquitted her of extortion. (Helmsley ended up serving 18 months behind bars, a month at a halfway house and two months under house arrest.)

1991 — Azerbaijan declared its independence, joining the stampede of republics seeking to secede from the Soviet Union.