This Day in History – October 6, 2011

1683 13 German families arrive in present day Philadelphia 1781 Americans & French begin siege of Cornwallis at Yorktown; last battle of the Revolutionary War 1857 American Chess Assn organized; 1st major US chess tournament (NYC) 1863 Dr Charles H Sheppard opens the 1st public bath, in Brooklyn 1866 1st train robbery in US 1876 American Library Association organized in Philadelphia 1884 The Naval War College of the United States Navy is founded in Newport, Rhode Island. 1889 Thomas Edison shows his 1st motion picture 1927 “Jazz Singer,” 1st movie with a sound track, premieres (NYC) 1939 World War II: The last Polish army is defeated. 1939 Hitler announces he has no intention of war with Britain & France 1945 Baseball: Billy Sianis and his pet billy goat are ejected from Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the 1945 World Series (see Curse of the Billy Goat). 1949 Iva Toguri D’Aquino (Tokyo Rose) sentenced to 10 years & $10,000 fine 1949 Pres Truman signs Mutual Defense Assistance Act (for NATO) 1959 Single game World Series (World Series #56) attendance record set (92,706 in LA) 1973 Yom Kippur War begins as Syria & Egypt attack Israel 1976 John Hathaway completes a bicycle tour of every continent in the world & cycling 50,600 miles 1976 Pres Ford says there is “no Soviet domination in Eastern Europe” 1979 Pope John Paul II is 1st Pope to visit the White House 1981 Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat was assassinated. 1990 US 67th manned space mission STS 41 (Discovery 11) launches into orbit 1991 Elizabeth Taylor weds for the 8th time (Larry Fortensky) 1995 51 Pegasi is discovered to be the first major star apart from the Sun to have a planet (and extrasolar planet) orbiting around it. 2007 Jason Lewis completes the first human-powered circumnavigation of the globe.]]]]> ]]>