TODAY IN HISTORY

On May 24, 1775, John Hancock was unanimously elected President of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.

In 1844, Samuel F.B. Morse transmitted the message “What hath God wrought” as he formally opened America’s first telegraph line.

In 1935, the first Major League Baseball game to be played at night took place at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field as the Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1.

In 1974, American jazz composer and bandleader Duke Ellington, 75, died in New York.

In 1976, Britain and France opened transatlantic Concorde supersonic transport service to Washington.

In 1994, four Islamic fundamentalists convicted of bombing New York’s World Trade Center in 1993 were each sentenced to 240 years in prison.