This Day in History – August 23, 2011

79 Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. 1617 1st one-way streets established (London) 1784 Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee) declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; it wasn’t accepted into the United States, and only lasted for four years. 1833 Britain abolishes slavery in colonies; 700,000 slaves freed 1864 The Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico. 1869 1st carload of freight (boots & shoes) arrives in SF, from Boston 1872 1st Japanese coml ship visits SF, carrying tea 1889 1st ship-to-shore wireless message received in US (SF) 1904 Automobile tire chain patented 1923 Capt. Lowell Smith and Lt. John P. Richter performed the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours. 1924 Mars’ closest approach to Earth since the 10th century 1947 Pres Truman’s daughter, Margaret’s 1st public singing concert 1948 World Council of Churches formed by 147 churches from 44 countries 1958 Marie Ashton completes playing piano a female record 133 hours 1961 US lunar probe Ranger 1 reaches 190 km from Earth, falls back 1966 Lunar Orbiter 1 takes 1st photograph of Earth from Moon 1977 1st man-powered flight of a mile (Bryan Allen in Gossamer Condor) 1979 Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the United States. 1988 Mike Tyson & Mitch Green brawl at 4 A.M. in Harlem 1989 Hungary: the last communist government opens the Iron curtain and causes the exodus of thousands of Eastern Germans to West Germany via Hungary (September 11). 1989 Singing Revolution: two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius-Tallinn road, holding hands (Baltic Way). 1990 Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western “guests” (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War. 1996 Osama bin Laden issues message entitled ‘A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places.’ 2006 Natascha Kampusch, who is abducted at the age of 10, managed to escape from her captor Wolfgang Priklopil, after 8 years of captivity.]]]]> ]]>