2016—A cargo jet linked to the CIA lands in Harare, Zimbabwe carrying 67 tons of South African currency and the decomposing body of a Black man.
2016—With wind blowing 20 m.p.h., and the thermometer at -13°, the wind chill in Portsmouth falls to -38°.
2015—Another 18 inches of snow fall on Portsmouth, making nearly eight feet in under three weeks.
2004—The White House releases some of George W.[MD] Bush’s military records, but they fail to prove he was present for duty.
1973—The first American POWs released from North Vietnam arrive at Travis AFB, Calif. [See tomorrow.]
1971—Nixon’s secret taping system is installed in the White House.
1945—Forty U.S. B-17s intending to firebomb Dresden miss by 90 miles and hit Prague instead. Death toll: 701. Bomb weight per death: 433 lbs.
1929—On St. Valentine’s Day in Chicago, a cop asks Frank “Tight Lips” Gusenberg who shot him. “Nobody,” he says, then dies.
1879—Born into slavery, later escaping, Blanche K. Bruce [R-Miss.] presides over the U.S. Senate.
1873—Erie Co. Sheriff and future President Grover Cleveland picks up a $10 fee for hanging a man in Buffalo, N.Y. He botches the job, though: it takes John Gaffney 23 minutes to die.
1349—A power struggle between gentile factions in Strasbourg results in a pogrom against Jews.