- 1648: The Treaty of Westphalia was signed. It ended the Thirty
                  Years War, destroyed the Holy Roman Empire and recognized
                  Switzerland as an independent country.
                - 1818: Nine-year-old Felix Mendelssohn performed his first public
                  concert in Berlin.
                - 1861: West Virginia seceded from Virginia. The first U.S.
                  transcontinental telegram was sent from San Francisco by the Chief
                  Justice of California to President Abraham Lincoln in Washington.
                - 1882: Dr. Robert Koch discovered the germ that causes tuberculosis.
                - 1901: Anna Taylor became the first person to go over Niagara Falls
                  in a barrel and live.
                - 1904: The first New York subway opened.
                - 1922: The Irish Parliament adopted a constitution for an Irish Free
                  State.
                - 1929: New York share prices collapsed as nearly 13 million shares
                  changed hands in panic selling on "Black Thursday."
                - 1931: Gangster Al Capone was sentenced to 11 years in jail for tax
                  evasion. The 3,800-foot-long George Washington Bridge connecting
                  New York and New Jersey opened.
                - 1939: Nylon stockings were first sold.
                - 1940: Under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the 40-hour work
                  week went into effect.
                - 1944: U.S. planes sank the Japanese battleship Musashi in the
                  Battle of Leyte Gulf. A U.S. submarine sank the Japanese Arisan
                  Maru with 1,800 American prisoners onboard, killing all but 10,
                  while a Japanese destroyer rescued Japanese military and civilian
                  personnel.
                - 1945: The United Nations Charter, adopted by the San Francisco
                  Conference in June 1945, came into force.
                - 1962: In the Cuban missile crisis, the U.S. blockade of Cuba began.
                - 1980: Poland's communist authorities granted recognition to the new
                  independent trade union "Solidarity."
                - 1991: "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry died at age 70.

                *Happy Birthday*
                ----------------
                - F. Murray Abraham, 57, actor, "Amadeus," "Mighty Aphrodite"
                - Marshall Goldberg, 81, NFL halfback, two-time All-American, played
                  with NFL champion Chicago Cardinals
                - Kevin Kline, 51, actor, "The Big Chill," "In & Out"
                - Kweisi Mfume, 50, NAACP President, CEO
                - David Nelson, 62, actor/producer/director, Ozzie & Harriet's son
                - Y. A. Tittle, 72, former NFL quarterback, MVP '61,'63
                - Bill Wyman, 62, ex-bassist of The Rolling Stones