This Day in History – September 19, 2011

1676 Jamestown is burned to the ground by the forces of Nathaniel Bacon during Bacon’s Rebellion. 1692 Giles Corey is pressed to death after refusing to plead in the Salem witch trials. 1778 The Continental Congress passes the first budget of the United States. 1796 George Washington’s farewell address is printed across America as an open letter to the public. 1846 Elizabeth Barrett & Robert Browning elope 1848 Bond (US) & Lassell (England) independently discover Hyperion, moon of Saturn 1849 1st commercial laundry established, in Oakland, California 1862 Battle of Luka, Miss 1863 Battle of Chickamauga, Tenn (near Chattanooga) begins; Union retreat 1870 Having invaded the Papal States a week earlier, the Italian Army lays siege to Rome, entering the city the next day, after which the Pope described himself as a Prisoner in the Vatican. 1881 U.S. President James A. Garfield dies of wounds suffered in a July 2 shooting. 1928 Mickey Mouse’s screen debut (Steamboat Willie at Colony Theater NYC) 1934 Bruno Hauptmann is arrested for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr.. 1940 Witold Pilecki is voluntarily captured and sent to Auschwitz in order to smuggle out information and start a resistance. 1952 The United States bars Charlie Chaplin from re-entering the country after a trip to England. 1957 First American underground nuclear bomb test. 1959 Nikita Khrushchev is barred from visiting Disneyland. 1961 Betty and Barney Hill claim that they saw a mysterious craft in the sky and that it tried to abduct them. 1968 Baby born on Golden Gate Bridge 1970 “Mary Tyler Moore” show premiers 1970 Kostas Georgakis, a Greek student of Geology, sets himself ablaze in Matteotti Square in Genoa, Italy as a protest against the dictatorial regime of Georgios Papadopoulos. 1973 Pirate Radio Free America (off Cape May NJ) goes on the air 1978 The Solomon Islands join the United Nations. 1980 Titan II missile explosion (Damascus, AR) 1982 New Orleans Saints 1st road shutout victory beating Chic Bears 10-0 1982 Scott Fahlman posts the first documented emoticons 🙂 and 🙁 on the Carnegie Mellon University Bulletin Board System. 1985 A strong earthquake kills thousands and destroys about 400 buildings in Mexico City. 1985 Tipper Gore and other political wives form the Parents Music Resource Center as Frank Zappa and other musicians testify at U.S. Congressional hearings on obscenity in rock music. 1989 Appeals court restores America’s Cup to US after NY Supreme Court gave it to New Zealand (NZ protested US’s use of a catamaran) 1989 A terrorist bomb explodes UTA Flight 772 in mid-air above the Tùnùrù Desert, Niger, killing 171. 1991 Ötzi the Iceman is discovered by German tourists. 1995 The Washington Post and The New York Times publish the Unabomber’s manifesto. 2006 The Thai military stages a coup in Bangkok. The Constitution is revoked and martial law is declared.]]]]> ]]>