2004—Portsmouth’s Leftist Marching Band debuts before a surprised and delighted audience in Market Square.
1977—In the wee hours of a convention, hard-liners take over the NRA.
1968—The nuclear sub Scorpion, two nuclear torpedos, and all 99 crew members are lost at sea.
1962—Thomas G. Doty buys dynamite and flight insurance, then boards Flight 11, which explodes. Instead of $300K, his wife gets a $3.00 refund.
1957—A 10-megaton H-bomb is accidentally dropped near Albuquerque. Its non-nuclear explosives leave a crater 12 feet deep and 25 across.
1949—Ex-Defense Secretary James Forrestal ambiguously defenestrates from a 16th floor hospital window.
1944—Life publishes a photo of an American girl at her desk with a souvenir sent by her boyfriend in the Pacific—the skull of Japanese soldier.
1920—Henry Ford’s newspaper, the Dearborn Independent, begins publishing anti-semitic articles based on the bogus Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
1884—Hugh Daily fans 13 for the Chicago Browns pitching with his right hand — the only one he has.
1856—Rep. Preston Brooks (D-SC) visits the floor of the Senate and beats Sen. Charles Sumner (R-Mass.) nearly to death with a cane.
1622—English settlers at Jamestown serve the Powhatans a barrel of poisoned wine, killing 200. They shoot another 50, and scalp the dead.