This Day in History – September 10, 2011

1509 An earthquake known as “The Lesser Judgment Day” hits Istanbul. 1608 John Smith is elected council president of Jamestown, Virginia. 1776 American Revolutionary War: Nathan Hale volunteers to spy for the Continental Army. 1813 The United States defeats the British Fleet at the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. 1846 Elias Howe is granted a patent for the sewing machine. 1858 George Mary Searle discovers the asteroid 55 Pandora. 1869 Baptist minister invents the rickshaw in Yokohama, Japan 1897 Lattimer massacre: A sheriff’s posse kills 20 unarmed immigrant miners in Pennsylvania, United States. 1899 2nd quake in 7 days hits Yakutat Bay Alaska 1910 Great Idaho Fire destroys 3 million acres of timber 1913 Lincoln Highway opens as 1st paved coast-to-coast highway 1953 Swanson sells its 1st “TV dinner” 1955 “Gunsmoke” premiers on CBS TV 1960 Running barefoot, Ethiopian Abebe Bikila wins Rome Olympic marathon 1963 20 African-American students enter public schools in Alabama. 1972 The United States suffers its first loss of an international basketball game in a disputed match against the Soviet Union at Munich, Germany. 1973 NY Jets trade pro football’s leading receiver Don Maynard to St Louis 1976 2 airliners collide over Yugoslavia, kills all 176 aboard 1978 4th game of the Boston Massacre; Yanks beat Red Sox 7-4. This ties them for 1st place. Yanks out hit ’em 67-21; score 42-9 1979 3 Puerto Rican nationalists who attempted to kill Truman are freed 1984 Sean O’Keefe (11) is youngest to cycle across US (24 days) 1988 Steffi Graf wins US Open, 1st woman Grand Slam since Court (1970) 1989 Boris Becker beats Yvan Lendl for the US Open championship 1990 19 year old Pete Sampras beats Andre Agassi to win the US Open 1990 1st time since 1966 that all 8 grand slam tennis champs are different 1990 George Bush & Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Helsinki 1990 The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire the largest church in Africa is consecrated by Pope John Paul II. 2001 Charles Ingram cheats his way into winning one million pounds on a British version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. 2002 Switzerland, traditionally a neutral country, joins the United Nations.]]]]> ]]>