1986—A meltdown at Chernobyl lowers Ukrainian real estate values, contaminates much of the northern hemisphere to some degree, and condemns thousands to death.
1970—The Senate Chamber of Louisiana State House and the Baton Rouge Country Club are damaged by dynamite bombs.
1953—Radioactive rain falls on Troy and Albany, N.Y.
1952—The captain of the U.S.S. Hobson, disregarding an underling’s advice, takes his destroyer across the bow of the U.S.S. Wasp. Cut in half, the Hobson sinks with more than half its crew, captain included.
1946—Edna Rose Ritchings, 21, a Caucasian-Canadian, marries Father Divine, 65, an African-American religious figure.
1944—The U.S. takes over Montgomery-Ward after it defies the National Labor Relations Board.
1937—German and Italian planes destroy Guernica, Spain.
1931—Lou Gehrig hits a home run but is called out for passing another runner on the basepath.
1901—“I’ll be in Hell before you start breakfast!” says train-robber Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum, whose head flies off after the hangman drops him.
1865—Boston Corbett, a hatter-turned-cavalryman who had earlier castrated himself with scissors to better resist prostitutes, shoots and kills John Wilkes Booth.