In 188, Robert Louis Stevenson published his adventure novel “The Black Arrow.”

In 1859, Frenchman Jean Francois Gravelet, known professionally as the Great Blondin, became the first daredevil to walk across Niagara Falls on a tight
rope.

In 1870, Ada Kepley became the first woman to graduate from an accredited law school in the United States, Union College of Law in Chicago.

In 1905, theory of relativity introduced by Albert Einstein in “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies.”

In 1908, a spectacular explosion occurred over central Siberia, probably caused by a meteorite. The fireball reportedly could be seen hundreds of miles
away.

In 1923, jazz pioneer Sidney Bechet made his first recording. It included “Wild Cat Blues” and “Kansas City Blues.”

In 1934, German leader Adolf Hitler ordered a bloody purge of his own political party, assassinating hundreds of Nazis whom he feared might become political
enemies.

In 1936, Margaret Mitchell’s Civil War novel “Gone With the Wind” was published.

In 1950, U.S. troops were moved from Japan to help defend South Korea against the invading North Koreans.

In 1982, the extended deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment expired, three states short of the 38 needed for passage.

In 1971, three Soviet Cosmonauts, crewmembers of the world’s first space station, were killed when their spacecraft depressurized during re-entry.

Also in 1971, 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing voting age lowered to 18 years, ratified.

In 1986, Hugh Hefner, calling his Playboy Bunny a “symbol of the past,” closed Playboy Clubs in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

In 1992, Fidel Ramos was inaugurated as the eighth Philippine president in the first peaceful transfer of power in a generation.

In 1998, a casualty of the Vietnam War buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington, Va., was identified as Air Force Lt. Michael Blassie of St. Louis.

In 1999, Clinton crony Webster Hubbell, a former associate U.S. attorney general, pleaded guilty to reduced charges in the Whitewater land deal scandal.

In 2000, the Clinton administration said Iraq restarted its missile program and flight-tested a short-range ballistic missile.

In 2002, published reports said fugitive terrorist leader Osama bin Laden wrote his operations chief in late December saying he survived the U.S. assault
on his cave complex in Afghanistan.

Also in 2002, Israel announced it had killed a top Hamas bomb-maker, responsible for the deaths of more than 100 Israelis in suicide attacks and had begun
work on an electronic fence designed to block off three sides of Jerusalem from the West Bank.

In 2003, after agreeing on a cease-fire with the Palestinians, Israel pulled out of most of the Gaza Strip, ending for the time being a blockade on the
main highway that began in 2000.

In 2004, the Federal Reserve, for the first time in four years, raised its benchmark interest rate from a record low 1 percent to 1.25 percent for overnight
loans.

Also in 2004, the Cassini spacecraft, in space on a U.S.-European mission, became the first device to orbit the planet Saturn.

In 2005, Israel declared the Gaza Strip a closed military zone. All Israelis, except for residents, service providers and reporters, were barred from entering.

Also in 2005, Spain became the third country to legalize same-sex marriage.

In 2006, a joint U.S.-Canadian investigation grounded a group accused of using helicopters and planes to ferry drugs from British Columbia across the border.
Agents reported arresting 46 people and seizing 4 tons of marijuana, 800 pounds of cocaine, aircraft and $1.5 million in cash.

In 2007, a car blew up at Glasgow airport in Scotland after two British bomb threats the day before prompted authorities to raise the security level to
“critical.”

In 2008, stocks reported a staggering loss of $2.1 trillion in value for the first half of the year — $1.4 trillion in June alone. The Dow Jones industrial
average closed on June 30 at 11,350.01, down 14.4 percent since the start of the year.

In 2009, the U.S. military completed its withdrawal from Baghdad and other Iraqi cities and towns, as planned. Nearly 130,000 American troops remained
on duty at forward-operating bases.

Also in 2009, Yemenia Airways Flight IY626, which had taken off from Sanaa, Yemen, crashed into the Indian Ocean while trying to land at Moroni, the capital
of Comoros, killing152 of 153 people aboard. The lone survivor was a 14-year-old girl.

In 1613, the Globe Theatre in London burned down.

In 1853, the U.S. Senate ratified the $10 million Gadsden Purchase from Mexico, adding more than 29,000 square miles to the territories of Arizona and New
Mexico and completing the modern geographical boundaries of the contiguous 48 states.

In 1933, Fatty Arbuckle, the silent film comedian and one of Hollywood’s most beloved personalities until a manslaughter charge ruined his career, died
while preparing a comeback. He was 46.

In 1941, Isabella Peron took office as president of Argentina, succeeding her husband.

In 1946, two years before Israel became a nation, British authorities arrested more than 2,700 Jewish Zionists in an effort to stop terrorism in Palestine.

In 1970, the last U.S. troops were withdrawn from Cambodia into South Vietnam.

In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment, as then administered by individual states, was unconstitutional.

In 1991, the European Community announced $1.4 billion in aid for the Soviet Union.

In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court left intact the important aspects of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion but upheld most of Pennsylvania’s
new restrictions on a woman’s right to abortion.

Also in 1992, doctors in Pittsburgh reported the world’s first transplant of a baboon liver into a human patient. The recipient, a 35-year-old man, survived
for three months.

And in 1992, the president of Algeria, Mohammed Boudiaf, was assassinated during a speech.

In 1994, the Japanese Diet elected Tomiichi Murayama prime minister.

Also in 1994, in a taped interview aired on British TV, Prince Charles admitted he had been unfaithful to his estranged wife, Princess Diana.

In 1995, the U.S. shuttle Atlantis docked with the Russian space station Mir.

In 1999, a Turkish court convicted Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan of treason and sentenced him to death.

In 2003, Hollywood legend Katherine Hepburn died at the age of 96 after a six-decade career in which she won a record four Oscars for best actress.

In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled U.S. President George W. Bush didn’t have authority, under military law or the Geneva Conventions, to set up military
tribunals for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed course and agreed to hear the appeals of detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison on Cuba.

Also in 2007, the American bald eagle, declared endangered in 1967, is flourishing and no longer imperiled, the U.S. Interior Department announced.

In 2008, incumbent President Robert Mugabe declared victory in Zimbabwe’s runoff election, a contest denounced by African observers as “not credible.”
Mugabe was the only candidate left in the race after his opponent pulled out for fear of further violence.

In 2009, Bernard Madoff, architect of a multibillion-dollar Ponzi investment scheme, was sentenced to 150 years in prison.