Thurs, July 16

1991—The Trump Taj Mahal files for bankruptcy 467 days after opening.

1979—A dam, badly built on shaky ground, collapses in Church Rock, N.M., spilling 1,100 tons of radioactive mill waste, 93 million gallons of effluent, and as much radioactivity as Three Mile Island.

1973—Al Butterfield reveals he’s been bugging the Oval office at the behest of The Man himself.

1964—A white cop shoots James Powell, black and 15, dead. The Harlem riots begin.

1963—In NYC, Tom Cornell and Chris Kearns stage the first anti-Vietnam War demonstration.

1945—The Atomic Age begins with a bang at Alamagordo, N.M.

1934—Workers in San Francisco conduct a four-day General Strike.

1877—B&O RR firemen in Martinsburg, W.Va. strike against wage cuts.

1860—In San Francisco, Emperor Norton I issues a declaration calling for the dissolution of the U.S.A.

1858—To bolster his ability to resist the allure of prostitutes, Thomas P. “Boston” Corbett uses a pair of scissors to castrate himself. Seven years later he will kill John Wilkes Booth.

1854—A conductor in New York City tells Elizabeth Jennings Graham to get off his streetcar, since she’s black. She refuses. In court, she wins desegregation, $250, and court costs.

1790—Congress votes to build the nation’s capitol in a swamp.

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