1844, America’s first telegraph line formally opened with inventor Samuel F. B. Morse transmitting the words “What hath God wrought!” in Morse code from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore.
1878, The first bicycle race is held in America, in Boston.
1883, the Brooklyn Bridge, linking Brooklyn to Manhattan over New York City’s East River, was opened to traffic.
1935, the first major-league baseball game to be played at night under lights saw the Cincinnati Reds defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.
1964, in the worst soccer disaster on record, over 300 fans were killed and 500 injured in Lima, Peru, during rioting and panic following an unpopular ruling by a referee in a Peru vs. Argentina match.
1982, Mrs. Christina Samane of South Africa gave birth to the heaviest baby ever born — a 22-pound, 8-ounce son.
1983, New Yorkers marked the 100th birthday of the Brooklyn Bridge with a parade and a massive fireworks display.
1985 The movie A View To A Kill, starring Roger Moore in his final outing as James Bond, opens.
1989 The movie Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, starring Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott and River Phoenix, opens.
1991 The movie Backdraft, starring Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Robert De Niro, Donald Sutherland, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Scott Glenn, Rebecca De Mornay, Jason Gedrick, and J.T. Walsh, opens.
1991 The movie Thelma & Louise, starring Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Christopher McDonald, and Brad Pitt, opens.
1994, four men convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center were each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
1995, Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss was sentenced to three years in prison and fined $1500 for running a call-girl ring that catered to the rich and famous.
1995 The movie Braveheart, starring Mel Gibson, opens.
1997, Home Improvement star Tim Allen was arrested for drunk driving in Michigan.
1999, boxer Mike Tyson left jail after serving three-and-a-half months behind bars for assaulting two motorists after a fender-bender.
2000, Israeli troops pulled out from south Lebanon, ending 18 years of occupation.
2000, Gunmen killed five people in a robbery attempt at a Wendy’s restaurant in Queens, New York.
2000, the state of Maryland dismissed its wiretapping case against Linda Tripp for taping her conversations with Monica Lewinsky without Lewinsky’s knowledge, after a judge disallowed most of Lewinsky’s testimony.
2001, Democrats gained control of the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1994 when Senator James Jeffords of Vermont left the Republican Party and declared himself an independent. In explaining his move, Jeffords said the Republicans had become too extreme.