Today in History(July 14)

              By The Associated Press

              - Today is Wednesday, July 14, the 195th day of 1999. There are 170
                days left in the year.

              - On July 14, 1789, during the French Revolution, citizens of Paris
                stormed the Bastille prison and released its seven prisoners.
              - In 1798 Congress passed the Sedition Act, making it a federal crime
                to publish false, scandalous or malicious writing about the United
                States government.
              - In 1853 Commodore Matthew Perry relayed to Japanese officials a
                letter from former President Fillmore, requesting trade relations.
              - In 1881 outlaw William H. Bonney Jr., alias "Billy the Kid," was
                shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, N.M.
              - In 1933 all German political parties except the Nazi Party were
                outlawed.
              - In 1958 the army of Iraq overthrew the monarchy.
              - In 1965 the American space probe Mariner 4 flew by Mars, sending
                back photographs of the planet.
              - In 1965 U.S. Ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson Jr. died in London at age
                65.
              - In 1966 eight student nurses were murdered by Richard Speck in a
                Chicago dormitory. (Speck died in prison in 1991, a day short of his
                50th birthday.)
              - In 1976 Jimmy Carter won the Democratic presidential nomination at
                the party's convention in New York.
              - In 1978 Soviet dissident Anatoly (later Natan) Sharansky was
                convicted of treasonous espionage and anti-Soviet agitation, and
                sentenced to 13 years at hard labor. (He was released in 1986.)

              - Ten years ago leaders of the seven richest nations opened a summit
                in Paris, which was also celebrating the bicentennial of the French
                Revolution with pomp and pageantry.
              - Five years ago a tidal wave of Hutu refugees from Rwanda's civil war
                flooded across the border into Zaire, swamping relief organizations.
              - One year ago the city of Los Angeles sued 15 tobacco companies for
                $2.5 billion over the dangers of secondhand smoke.
 

              *Happy Birthday*
              ----------------
              - Actress Gloria Stuart is 89.
              - Animator William Hanna is 89.
              - Former President Gerald R. Ford is 86.
              - Movie and stage director Ingmar Bergman is 81.
              - Actor Dale Robertson is 76.
              - Actor Harry Dean Stanton is 73.
              - Actress Nancy Olson is 71.
              - Actress Polly Bergen is 69.
              - Former football player Rosey Grier is 67.
              - Country singer Del Reeves is 67.
              - Actor Jerry Houser is 47.
              - Actor-director Eric Laneuville is 47.
              - Movie producer Scott Rudin ("The Truman Show") is 41.
              - Actor Jackie Earle Haley is 38.
              - Actor Matthew Fox is 33.
              - Rock singer-musician Tonya Donelly (Belly) is 33.
              - Actress Missy Gold is 29.
              - Rhythm-and-blues singer Tameka Cottle (Xscape) is 24.