The Declaration of Independence was read publicly for the first time and the Liberty Bell was rung in 1776. The last execution by electric chair took place in Florida in 1999. The Wall Street Journal was first published in 1889. Paris celebrated its 2,000th birthday in 1951. The first recorded tornado in the US hit Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1680. The stock market bottomed out during the Great Depression in 1932. The first female recruits enlisted in the US Air Force in 1948. Christian soldiers marched around Jerusalem during the First Crusade in 1099. Soapy Smith, a notorious mobster, was murdered in 1898. John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil Co., was born in 1839.
The Declaration of Independence was read in public for the first time and the Liberty Bell was rung. (1776) The Liberty Bell, which was hanged in June 1753, was rung only for special events and to convene the Pennsylvania Assembly. The first public reading of the Declaration of Independence is considered its most famous chime. The Declaration was adopted on July 4, but returned from the press on July 8. It was read by Colonel John Nixon in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. It was also read publicly on this day in Easton, Pennsylvania and Trenton, New Jersey. A German translation had been published on 9 July.
The last execution by electric chair took place in Florida. (1999) The execution of Allen Lee Davis attracted particular attention because his nose bled during the execution and he was burned on the leg, groin and head. The US Supreme Court ruled that death by electric chair was a cruel and unusual punishment in 2008, ending the practice, which at that point was used only in Nebraska. The chair originated in the United States and was only used in one other country: the Philippines. The first performance by the chair occurred in 1890.
First edition of the Wall Street Journal published. (1889) The newspaper won 33 Pulitzer Prizes and is today the largest newspaper in the United States.
Paris threw her 2,000th birthday party. (1951) The city dates back to 250 BC, actually, to a Gallic tribe called the Parisii. In 987 AD the city was named capital of France.
The first recorded tornado in the United States hit Cambridge, Massachusetts, killing a servant. (1680) Strong gusts of swirling winds that may or may not have been tornadoes had been reported previously, but this one had many witnesses. Reports described trees ripped out of the ground and a roof ripped off a barn. One man, a servant named John Robbins, was killed of broken bones and bruises. The earliest photographic record of a tornado was on August 28, 1884 of a tornado in South Dakota.
The stock market bottomed out during the Great Depression, at 41.22. (1932) Before the Great Depression, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) reached a high of 381.17 on September 3, 1929, a high it would not be reached again until 1954. The Dow’s low point was during the Panic of 1896, when it bottomed out at 28.48.
The first female recruits enlisted in the United States Air Force. (1948) The Air Force program, Women in the Air Force (WAF), was limited to 4,000 women, 300 of whom could be officers. They were mostly assigned to medical and clerical duties and could not be pilots, although the US Army made an exception in April 1943, graduating its first class of female pilots to help during the war.
15,000 starving Christian soldiers marched around Jerusalem during the First Crusade. (1099) The march marked the beginning of the end of the Western Christian military crusade to retake control of the Holy Land from Muslim control. The city was taken on July 15th.
Notorious mobster and con man Soapy Smith has been murdered. (1898) Smith, a crime boss in Skagway, Alaska, was murdered by Frank Reid, a city engineer and vigilante group member who had become increasingly annoyed with Smith’s crimes and scams. Reid shot Smith dead, but was also wounded in the fight and died 12 days later.
John D. Rockefeller is born. (1839) Rockefeller was the founder of Standard Oil Co. and became what is believed to be the richest man in US history. He was the first person in the world to amass a personal fortune equal to $1 billion US dollars, which he did on September 29, 1916. His fortune was equal to about 1.5% of the US economy at the time. He was also a noted philanthropist and donated more than $500 million US dollars to charity during his lifetime.
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