1982—FEMA pledges that even in a nuclear war, the mail will get through.
1979—The White Sox forfeit after explosives damage the field during Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park.
1973—A fire in St. Louis, Mo. destroys the service records of 16 to 18 million Army and Air Force veterans.
1917—After 30 hours in cattle cars without food or water, 1,286 striking copper miners are left stranded in the New Mexico desert. No relief comes until the next day.
1908—Birth of Milton Berle, first American transvestite on TV.
1892—The Pennsylvania militia arrives at Homestead, Pa. to protect Andrew Carnegie’s right to make a buck.
1872—Orangemen avoid casualties by refraining from marching through Irish tenements in New York.
1871—Orangemen are attacked as they march through Irish tenements in New York; 60 die this time.
1870—Orangemen are attacked by an Irish mob as they march through Irish tenements in New York; eight die.
1864—The Natchez [Miss.] Courier reports that Jones County has seceded from the Confederacy.
1817—Pencil maker and troublemaker Henry David Thoreau is born.
1626—Soon to be hanged in Boston, pirate William Fly calmly mocks the executioner’s noose-tying skills. Informed by Fly’s critique of nautical injustice, Cotton Mather admonishes ship captains to be less brutal.