MONDAY IN HISTORY

Today is Monday, Aug. 17, the 229th day of 2015. There are 136 days left in the year.

Highlight in History:

On Aug. 17, 1915, a mob in Cobb County, Ga., lynched Jewish businessman Leo Frank, 31, whose death sentence for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan had been commuted to life imprisonment.

On this date:

In 1863, Federal batteries and ships began bombarding Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor during the Civil War.

In 1943, the Allied conquest of Sicily during World War II was completed as U.S. and British forces entered Messina.

In1962, East German border guards shot and killed 18-yearold Peter Fechter, who had attempted to cross the Berlin Wall into thewestern sector.

In 1969, Hurricane Camille slammed into the Mississippi coast as a Category 5 storm that was blamed for 256 U.S. deaths, three in Cuba.

In 1998, President Bill Clinton gave grand jury testimony via closed-circuit television from the White House concerning his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

In 1999, more than 17,000 people were killed when a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Turkey.

Ten years ago: Israeli security forces poured into four Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, beginning the forcible removal of protesters who’d refused orders to leave the area ahead of a deadline.

Five years ago: A mistrial was declared on 23 corruption charges against ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was accused of trying to sell President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat.

Oneyear ago: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder ordered a federal medical examiner to perform another autopsy on the remains of Michael Brown.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Maureen O’Hara is 95. Actor Robert DeNiro is 72. Actor Sean Penn is 55. Singer Donnie Wahlberg is 46. College Basketball Hall of Famer and retired NBA All-Star Christian Laettner is 46.

Thought for Today: “It is not love that is blind, but jealousy.” — Lawrence Durrell, Britishborn author (1912-1990).