On this date...

Judith Catchpole All Female Jury

In 1656, All-female jury hears the case of Judith Catchpole, accused of killing her child, and acquits her in Patuxent County, Maryland

In 1692, In what was to be the last executions during the Salem witch trials, eight people were hanged.

In 1776, Patriot Captain Nathan Hale was executed for spying.

In 1788, Losantville, Ohio (now Cincinnati) is founded by land speculators Mathias Denman and Colonel Robert Patterson, and surveyor John Filson; the first settlers arrive in December.

In 1817, John Quincy Adams becomes US Secretary of State

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issues preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

In 1864, Battle of Fisher's Hill, Virginia: Confederate General Jubal Early retreats to Brown's Gap after an advance by the Union army under General Philip Sheridan

In 1888, The first issue of National Geographic Magazine was published, and it became famous for its richly illustrated articles on the various geographic regions of the world. The magazine has so few subscribers that editor Gilbert H. Grosvenor personally addresses each copy and carries the whole pile of them to the post office.

In 1906, Atlanta papers report four separate assaults on white women by Black men, none of which are ever substantiated by hard evidence. Inflamed by these fabrications, and resentful of the city’s growing African American population, white Atlantans riot. Over the next few days, the race massacre will claim the lives of at least 12 Black Atlantans—the total may be more than twice as high—and devastate the city’s Black community.

In 1911, Boston Rustlers' future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young defeats the Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0 at Forbes Field for his final career victory, number 511

In 1915, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, holds its first class

In 1933, the notorious Barker gang robs a Federal Reserve mail truck in Chicago, Illinois, and kills Officer Miles Cunningham.

In 1945, Gen. George S. Patton tells reporters that he does not see the need for “this denazification thing” and compares the controversy over Nazism to a “Democratic and Republican election fight.”

In 1950, Omar Bradley is promoted to the rank of 5-star general in the United States Army

In 1953, the first four-level (or “stack”) interchange in the world opens in Los Angeles, California, at the intersection of the Harbor, Hollywood, Pasadena, and Santa Ana freeways.

In 1961, Peace Corps formally authorized by Congress.

In 1971, Captain Ernest Medina is acquitted of all charges relating to the My Lai Massacre of March 1968.

In 1973, Henry Kissinger is sworn in as America's first Jewish Secretary of State, succeeding William Rogers

In 1975, Sara Jane Moore aims a gun at President Gerald Ford as he leaves the Saint Francis Hotel in San Francisco, California.

In 1985, rock and country music artists participated in “Farm Aid,” a concert staged in Champaign, Illinois, to help the nation’s farmers.

In 1994, “Friends” debuts on NBC.

In 1999, The dramatic series The West Wing, which was created by Aaron Sorkin, debuted on American television; it enjoyed high ratings with its depiction of the inner workings of the administration of a fictional U.S. president.