Chief Writing Wolf

1607 – Some 100 English colonists arrived on the west bank of what is now the James River in present-day Virginia and founded Jamestown.

1821 – Samuel Rust of New York City patented the first practical printing press built in the U.S.

1842 – Opera composer Arthur Sullivan (H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado, Pirates of Penzance) was born in London.

1846 – President James K. Polk declared war on México in a dispute over Texas.

1898 – Thomas Edison sued the American Mutoscope Company, claiming they infringed on his patent for the Kinetograph movie camera.

1907 – Writer Daphne du Maurier (Rebecca, The Loving Spirit) was born in London.

1949 – The first gas turbine to pump natural gas was installed in Wilmar, AR.

1958 – Vice-President Richard Nixon was attacked in Caracas, Venezuela, during his Latin America goodwill trip, nearly overturning the car in which he was riding.  The mob was angry about U.S. Cold War policy.

1981 – Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded in St. Peter’s Square in Rome by Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca.

1812 – Poet and artist Edward Lear was born in Highgate, England.

1820 – Health activist and nurse Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy.

1828 – Writer and artist Dante Rossetti was born in London.

1831 – The first indicted bank robber in the U.S., Edward Smith, was sentenced to five years hard labor on the rock pile at Sing Sing Prison.

1847 – Mormon pioneer William Clayton invented the odometer.

1900 – Captain Mildred McAfee, 1^st Director of the U.S. Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service; Distinguished Service Medal, 1945, was born in Parkville, MO.

1903 – While visiting San Francisco, President Theodore Roosevelt became the first U.S. president to be photographed using moving picture film.

1907 – Actress Katharine Hepburn was born in Hartford, CT.

1914 – Journalist and TV anchorman Howard K. Smith was born in Ferriday, LA.

1932 – The body of Charles Lindbergh’s baby was found in a wooded area near the family home in Hopewell, NJ.

1937 – Prince George VI was crowned king of England after his older brother, King Edward VIII, abdicated the throne to marry an American divorcee.

1950 – The American Bowling Congress abolished its White males-only membership restriction after 34 years.