This Week In History

October 24   1901: Annie Edson Taylor (1838-1921) rode in a barrel over Niagara Falls and survived, becoming the first person to do so. 1939:…

October 17   1888: Thomas Edison filed a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie). 1931: Gangster and murderer Al Capone was convicted of…

October 10   1911: Whisky distiller Jack Daniel died from blood poisoning as a result of an infection in one of his toes. (The toe…

October 3   1863: President Abraham Lincoln declared that  Thanksgiving Day is the last Thursday in November. 1942: The first successful launch of a V-2…

September 26   1580: Sir Francis Drake returned to London after circumnavigating of the Earth. 1933: Irish-American gangster George “Machine Gun Kelly” Barnes was captured…

September 19   1902: The congregation of Shiloh Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., stampeded to the exit, thinking the church on fire, trampling or suffocating…

September 5       1698: Seeking to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposed a tax on beards for all men except clergy members…

August 29   1786: The United States negotiated with Spain for free navigation of the Mississippi River. 1831: Michael Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction, in London,…

August 22         1654: Jacob Barsimson became the first Jewish immigrant to America when he  arrived in New Amsterdam. 1902: Theodore Roosevelt became the…

August 8   1863: After his defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg, Gen. Robert E. Lee sent a letter of resignation to Confederate President Jefferson…