In 1897, Thomas Edison was awarded a patent for his movie camera, the Kinetograph.
In 1888, prostitute Mary Ann Nichols became the first reported victim of the notorious London serial killer known as “Jack the Ripper.”
In 1903, a Packard automobile completed a 52-day journey from San Francisco to New York, becoming the first car to cross the nation under its own power.
In 1986, an Aeromexico DC-9 collided with a single-engine plane over Cerritos, Calif., killing 82 people, including 15 on the ground.
In 1991, the Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Kirghizia declared independence, leaving five republics in the Soviet Union.
Also in 1991, Serbia accepted a European Community proposal that included international observers to oversee a cease-fire in Croatia.
In 1992, white separatist Randy Weaver surrendered, ending an 11-day siege of his Idaho mountain cabin that cost the lives of his wife and teenage son
and a U.S. marshal.
In 1993, the Israeli government agreed in principle a plan for interim Palestinian self-rule of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho.
In 1994, the Irish Republican Army declared a cease-fire following six months of secret talks with Britain.
In 1997, Britain’s Princess Diana died of injuries a few hours after a car accident in Paris that killed her companion, Dodi Fayed, and their driver.
In 2003, a Russian K-159 nuclear-powered submarine was lost in the Barents Sea, claiming the lives of nine of its 10-member crew. Russian authorities blamed
negligence by navy officials.
In 2004, in the first major attacks inside Israel in nearly six months, Palestinian suicide bombers blew up two buses almost simultaneously in Beersheba,
killing at least 16 passengers and themselves and wounding more than 80.
In 2005, close to 1,000 people, largely Shiite pilgrims, died in a stampede and the partial collapse of a bridge over the Tigris River in northern Baghdad.
Also in 2005, in New Orleans, martial law was declared amid reports of looters running wild, food and drinking water dwindling and bodies floating in floodwaters.
In 2006, Norwegian authorities recovered the world famous painting “The Scream” by Edvard Munch, stolen at gunpoint, along with Munch’s “Madonna,” from
an Oslo museum nine days earlier.
In 2007, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called for a cease-fire by all armed militias.
In 2008, while the U.S. economy continued to show signs of distress overall, stocks and commodities on Wall Street were showing some promise as August
ended. The Dow Jones industrial average, Standard and Poor’s index and the Nasdaq composite all closed up better than 1 percent and crude oil prices fell
almost 7 percent. But, initial claims for unemployment insurance averaged nearly 35 percent higher than the previous August.
In 2009, the Dow Jones industrial average had its best August in nine years, closing at 9,496.28, a 1-month gain of 3.5 percent. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq
also showed gains.
