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- 1384 The Hongwu Emperor of Ming China hears a case of a couple who tore paper money bills while fighting over thema case considered equal to the act of destroying stamped government documents, which by law necessitated one hundred floggings by a bamboo rod. However, the Hongwu Emperor decided to pardon them, seeing as how their intention was not to tear up the money.
- 1513 Battle of Guinegate (Battle of the Spurs) - King Henry VIII of England defeats French Forces who were forced to retreat.
- 1665 The arrival of 12 mares and 2 stallions; gift of Louis XlV to start a new breed of Canadian horse.
- 1743 Earliest boxing code of rules formulated in England (Jack Broughton)
- 1777 Americans defeat British in Battle of Bennington, Vt
- 1780 British decisively defeat Americans in Battle of Camden, SC
- 1792 Maximilien Robespierre presents the petition of the Commune of Paris to the Legislative Assembly, which demanded the formation of a revolutionary tribunal.
- 1812 Gen Hull surrenders Detroit and Michigan territory to England
- 1812 War of 1812: American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit without a fight to the British Army.
- 1819 Eleven people die and 400 are injured by cavalry charges at the Peterloo Massacre at a public meeting at St. Peter's Field, Manchester, England.
- 1819 Manchester Massacre; English police charge unemployed demonstrators
- 1829 Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker arrive in Boston to be exhibited
- 1841 U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.
- 1858 Britain's Queen Victoria telegraphs President James Buchanan
- 1858 U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. However, a weak signal will force a shutdown of the service in a few weeks.
- 1861 Pres Lincoln prohibits Union states from trading with Confederacy
- 1863 Emancipation Proclamation signed
- 1865 Restoration Day in the Dominican Republic: The Dominican Republic regains its independence after 4 years of fighting against the Spanish Annexation.
- 1868 Arica, Peru (now Chile) is devastated by a tsunami which followed a magnitude 8.5 earthquake in the Peru-Chile Trench off the coast. The earthquake and tsunami killed an estimated 25,000 people in Arica and perhaps 70,000 people in all.
- 1869 Battle of Acosta u: A Paraguay battalion made up of children is massacred by the Brazilian Army during the War of the Triple Alliance.
- 1870 Fred Goldsmith demonstrates curve ball isn't an optical illusion
- 1876 The opera "Siegfried" is produced (Bayreuth)
- 1896 Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.
- 1898 Roller coaster patented
- 1913 Thoku Imperial University of Japan (modern day Thoku University) admits its first female students.
- 1915 World War I: Should victory be achieved over the Central Powers, the Triple Entente promises the Kingdom of Serbia: the Austro-Hungarian territories of Baranja, Srem, Slavonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina; and the eastern of Dalmatia (from the river of Krka to the city of Bar).
- 1917 Prv. Harry Brown (10th Cdn. infantry Batt.) wins the Victoria Cross at Hill 70, France
- 1920 Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit in the head by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees, and dies early the next day. To date, Chapman is the only player to die from injuries sustained in a Major League Baseball game.
- 1920 The congress of the Communist Party of Bukhara opens. The congress would call for armed revolution.
- 1930 The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, is made by Ub Iwerks.
- 1931 Near Valentine, Texas a 5.8 quake was the largest historical earthquake in Texas.
- 1934 The Post office issues 2 cent stamp to commemorate 150th anniversary of founding of New Brunswick
- 1934 US ends occupation of Haiti (been there since 1915)
- 1934 US explorer William Beebe descends 3,028' (1922 m) in Bathysphere
- 1936 11th Olympic games close in Berlin
- 1940 World War II: The Communist Party is banned in German-occupied Norway.
- 1942 World War II: The two-person crew of the U.S. naval blimp L-8 disappears without a trace on a routine anti-submarine patrol over the Pacific Ocean. The blimp drifts without her crew and crash-lands in Daly City, California.
- 1944 First flight of the Junkers Ju 287.
- 1944 U.S. War Department issues a statement that bombing Auschwitz would divert air power from "decisive operations elsewhere."
- 1945 An assassination attempt was made on Japan's prime minister, Kantaro Suzuki.
- 1945 Puyi, the last Chinese emperor and ruler of Manchukuo, was captured by Soviet troops.
- 1946 The Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, is established, and Ichir Ishikawa is appointed its representative.
- 1948 The Israeli pound becomes legal tender
- 1954 Sports Illustrated publishes it's first issue
- 1955 Fiat Motors orders first private atomic reactor
- 1956 Adlai E Stevenson nominated as Democratic presidential candidate
- 1958 Madonna's Birthday
- 1959 USSR introduces installment buying
- 1960 Britain grants independence to crown colony of Cyprus
- 1960 Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
- 1960 Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,330 m), setting three records that still stand today: High-altitude jump, free-fall, and fastest speed by a human without an aircraft.
- 1961 Visitor posting - August 16, 1961 Eggs was born to Sonny and Peggy
- 1963 Independence is restored to Dominican Republic
- 1964 Vietnam War: A coup d'tat replaces Duong Van Minh with General Nguyen Khanh as President of South Vietnam. A new constitution is established with aid from the U.S. Embassy.
- 1966 Vietnam War: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong. The committee intends to introduce legislation making these activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 people are arrested.
- 1969 Visitor posting - Aug 16 1969 George Dekeles born
- 1970 Visitor posting - Jennifer Allen was born - USA
- 1972 The Royal Moroccan Air Force fires upon, in an unsuccessful coup d'tat attempt, Hassan II of Morocco's plane while he is traveling back to Rabat.
- 1975 Number one hit on UK music charts - Stylistics - Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)
- 1976 In the Mindanao area of the Philippines, a 7.9 earthquake occurred near the west coast of Mindanao, about 950 kilometers south of Manila. A tsunami was generated in the Moro Gulf causing considerable damage and loss of life. It is estimated that the earthquake and tsunami killed 5,000 to 8,0000 people
- 1977 Elvis Presley dies
- 1978 Visitor posting - Richard L. Shehorn Jr. is born in Dover Delaware - USA
- 1984 LA federal jury acquits auto maker John Z DeLorean on cocaine charges
- 1985 Singer Madonna weds actor Sean Penn
- 1986 Madonna's "True Blue," album goes #1 for 5 weeks and her single "Papa Don't Preach," goes #1 for 2 weeks
- 1987 156 die as Northwest Flight 255 crashes at take off in Detroit
- 1987 A McDonnell Douglas MD-82 carrying Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes on take-off from Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Michigan (Detroit), killing 155 passengers and crew. The sole survivor is four-year-old Cecelia Cichan.
- 1988 IBM introduces software for artificial intelligence
- 1988 Jailed black nationalist Nelson Mandela struck with tuberculosis
- 1988 Visitor posting - Jessicka Anne Marie (Jenereaux-Cameron) Keretschko is born - Canada
- 1990 Iraq orders 4000 Britons and 2500 Americans in Kuwait to Iraq
- 1991 Pres Bush declares the recession is near an end
- 1991 Visitor posting - MarShay A. Carter was born in St. Louis, MO. - USA
- 1992 In response to an appeal by President Fernando Collor de Mello to wear green and yellow as a way to show support for him, thousands of Brazilians take to the streets dressed in black.
- 1993 The Debian distribution was first announced by Ian Murdock, then a student at Purdue University. Murdock initially called his system the "Debian Linux Release"
- 1994 Visitor posting - Vincent Davenport was born in Ukiah, CA. to Monique Davenport
- 1994 Visitor posting - latrese mcleod was born to tamelia mcleod and charles grossman sr - USA
- 1996 Visitor posting - August 16 1996 Victoria Bass's Birthday!
- 2000 Heather breaks up with Wayne for good after 5 years and she says, " I'M FINALLY FREE!! "
- 2003 U.S. Representative from South Dakota Bill Janklow hits and kills a motorcyclist with his car at a rural intersection near Trent, South Dakota; he will eventually be convicted of manslaughter and will resign from Congress.
- 2005 West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashes near Machiques, Venezuela, killing the 160 aboard.
- 2009 A 6.9 magnitude earthquake occurs near Siberut Island, Sumatra, Indonesia, at 14:38 local time, injuring at least seven people.
- 2009 Police clash with hundreds of protesters in Peru demonstrating over the failure of President Alan García's government to rebuild the city of Pisco two years since it was devastated by a powerful earthquake.
- 2009 Tropical Storm Claudette becomes the first tropical cyclone to affect the U.S. mainland in 2009.
- 2009 Two Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets collide during a training flight southeast of Moscow, killing the commander of the Russian Knights demonstration team.
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