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On a 24 September:
2002 Parliamentary elections in one sector of Indian-occupied Kashmir (Jammu-Kashmir state). Heading the call from moderate independentists for voting abstention and a general strike, and fearful of violence from the extremists, almost no one votes in Srinagar (11% of voters) and the other Moslem-majority areas. The dates of the elections in the other three sectors are 16 September, 01 October, 08 October.
2002 < Not such a close cousin after all. Roy Britten, 83, a biologist at the California Institute of Technology [it is NOT his photo at the left, but at the right >], publishes in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences a study according to which there is a 5% difference between human and chimpanzee genes, rather than the 1.5% believed until now. Britten based this on a computer program that compared 780'000 of the 3 billion base pairs in the human DNA with those of the chimp. The study does not resolve the question of which species is superior, or even whether such a question is meaningful.
2002 The top ten “most beautiful” experiments in physics voted by over 200 responding readers and listed in the September 2002 issue of Physics World [link is to current issue] are: 1. Young's double-slit experiment applied to the interference of single electrons — 2. Galileo's experiment on falling bodies (1600s) — 3. Millikan's oil-drop experiment (1910s) — 4. Newton's decomposition of sunlight with a prism (1665-1666) — 5. Young's light-interference experiment (1801) — 6. Cavendish's torsion-bar experiment (1798) — 7. Eratosthenes' measurement of the Earth's circumference (3rd century BC) — 8. Galileo's experiments with rolling balls down inclined planes (1600s) — 9. Rutherford's discovery of the nucleus (1911) — 10. Foucault's pendulum (1851)
Others experiments that were cited included: 11. Archimedes' experiment on hydrostatics — 12. Roemer's observations of the speed of light — 13. Joule's paddle-wheel heat experiments — 14. Reynolds's pipe flow experiment — 15. Mach & Salcher's acoustic shock wave — 16. Michelson-Morley measurement of the null effect of the ether — 17. Röntgen's detection of Maxwell's displacement current — 18. Oersted's discovery of electromagnetism — 19. The Braggs' X-ray diffraction of salt crystals — 20. Eddington's measurement of the bending of starlight — 21. Stern-Gerlach demonstration of space quantization — 22. Schrödinger's cat thought experiment — 23. Trinity test of nuclear chain reaction — 24. Wu et al.'s measurement of parity violation — 25. Goldhaber's study of neutrino helicity — 26. Feynman dipping an O-ring in water.

2002 Administaff claims improved prospects, depressed stock rises.
     Administaff, the US's leading Professional Employer Organization, announces (in this their press release) that three key measurements of the company's performance have improved in the first two months of the third quarter. The metrics include growth in worksite employees paid per month and gross profit per worksite employee per month, both of which were higher than expected; and operating expenses, which were lower than forecast. The turnaround from the second quarter and first half of 2002 is ahead of schedule, and is expected to cause a favorable impact on third quarter results.
      On 01 August 2002, Administaff had said that, for the third quarter, it expected the addition of an average of 1000 worksite employees per month, a range for gross profit per worksite employee of $187 to $197 per month, and a range for operating expenses of $42.5 million to $43.5 million for the quarter. For July and August, net unit growth exceeded 1000 worksite employees per month, gross profit per employee was ahead of expectations, and operating expenses were lower than forecast. As a result, earnings for the first two months of the quarter were substantially ahead of the turnaround plan at $0.08 per share.
      Administaff experienced a significant gross profit margin squeeze in the first half of 2002, resulting primarily from a revenue shortfall related to a decline in the average payroll cost per worksite employee and the rapid rise in health insurance costs. In response, the company implemented its aggressive turnaround plan focused on four priorities: (1) recalibrating pricing for clients that experienced a decline in average payroll cost per worksite employee; (2) matching price and cost for health insurance on new and renewing client contracts; (3) reducing operating expenses and capital expenditures; and (4) improving liquidity.
      Administaff successfully recalibrated pricing on over 800 accounts in June and renewed over 950 accounts in June, July, and August, eliminating the potential for a gross markup shortfall attributable to a decline in payroll average in the third quarter. As a result, the company made significant progress in matching the price and cost of benefits. The allocation for benefits included in Administaff's service fees to clients was previously reported to be $461 per covered employee per month as of July 1, 2002, and was conservatively expected to increase at a rate of $8 per covered employee per month. This pricing metric has stepped up to over $490 per covered employee per month as of August 31, 2002, more than $13 per covered employee per month ahead of expectations. Because approximately 72% of total worksite employees are covered under the company's health insurance plan, this $29 increase per covered worksite employee equates to a $21 increase in gross markup per worksite employee per month.
      Administaff also moved aggressively to improve liquidity during the period. The company has engaged JPMorgan Chase and L.J. Melody & Company to secure a real estate mortgage on its corporate headquarters, which was recently appraised at approximately $56 million. Proceeds from any mortgage will be used to pay off the existing short-term credit facility with any excess being added to cash balances. Administaff is also in the process of securing commitments for additional financing related to other corporate assets.
      In addition, the company has implemented a plan to reduce operating expenses for the balance of the year and throughout 2003. The plan includes a company-wide focus on cost containment, deferring new sales office openings until at least mid-year 2003, eliminating non-essential initiatives and corresponding job functions, and aggressively limiting capital spending.
      Final third quarter results will primarily depend on the following key metrics for the month of September: (1) the number of worksite employees paid; (2) the average payroll cost per worksite employee; (3) gross markup per worksite employee; (4) direct costs, including payroll taxes, benefits cost and workers' compensation insurance costs; and (5) operating expenses.
      Administaff is scheduled to report full third quarter results on Monday 04 November 2002 prior to the open of the New York Stock Exchange.
      With 2001 revenues of $4.4 billion, Administaff is a leading personnel management company that serves as a full-service human resources department for small and medium-sized businesses throughout the United States. The company currently operates 38 sales offices in 21 major markets: Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New Jersey, New York City, Orlando, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, St. Louis and Washington, D.C.

      On the New York Stock Exchange, the stock of Administaff (ASF) rises from its previous close of $2.17 to an intraday high of $4.24 and closes at $4.03. It had traded as high as $36.48 as recently as 10 December 2001, and as $44.50 on 18 September 2000. [5~year price chart >]

2001 Le Président Bush congèle les avoirs de groupes qu'il dit terrorristes.
Le Président américain George W. Bush émet un ordre executif pour le gel des avoirs des personnes, associations, ONG et sociétés suivantes:
El Qaïda/Armée islamique pour la libération des Lieux Saints
Groupe Abou Sayyaf (Philippines)
Groupe islamique armé (GIA, Algérie)
Harakat ul Moudjahidine (Pakistan)
Al Djihad (Djihad égyptien)
Mouvement islamique d'Ouzbékistan
Asbat El Ansar
Groupe salafiste pour la prédication et le combat (GSPC, Algérie)
Groupe de combat islamique libyen
Al Ittihad Al Islamiya
Armée islamique d'Aden
Oussama Ben Laden
Mohammed Atif (alias Soubhi Abou Sitta, Abou Hafs Al Masri), chef présumé de l'Armée islamique pour la libération des Lieux Saints
Seïf El Adl
Cheikh Saïd (alias Mustapha Mohammed Ahmad)
Abou Hafs le Mauritanien (alias Mahfouz Ould Al Walid, Khalid Al Shankiti
Ibn Al Cheikh Al Libi
Abou Zoubaïdeh (alias Zeïn Al Abidine Mohammed Hassan, Tarik), un lieutenant de Ben Laden
Abd El Hadi El Iraqi (alias Abou Abdallah)
Ayman El Zawahri, bras droit de Ben Laden
Thirwat Salah Shihata
Tarik Anouar Al Sayed Ahmad (alias Fathi, Amr Al Fatih)
Mohammed Salah (alias Nasr Fahmi Nasr Hassanein)
Makhtab Al Khidamat/Al Kifah
Organisation humanitaire Wafa
Fonds Al Rachid (Pakistan)
Société d'import-export Mamoun Darkazanli.

2000 For the first time, citizens of the Yugoslav federation — Serbia and Montenegro — vote directly for president. Supporters of opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica would declare victory the next day, but the election commission would say that a runoff is needed, prompting massive protests that would topple President Slobodan Milosevic.
1999 Thousands flee as Russia bombs Chechnya for second day (CNN)

1999 Child murderer sentenced for sex assault 3 years later.        ^top^
Teenager given nine years in youth jail sex attack
(Chicago Tribune Saturday 25 September 1999)
      At age 10, Jessie Rankins was the youngest person ever convicted of murder in the United States. On Friday, Rankins, now 15, learned he will spend more years in the Illinois Department of Corrections after a DuPage County judge sentenced him to 9 years in prison for the aggravated criminal sexual assault of another teenager who was incarcerated with him in the Illinois Youth Center in Warrenville. Rankins and another youth “Tony”, 11, were convicted as juveniles of the Oct. 13, 1994, murder of 5-year-old Eric Morse, who was dropped from a window of a Chicago Housing Authority building. Rankins was sent to the Warrenville facility, where on 22 November 1996, he allegedly sexually assaulted another resident.
      Rankins pleaded guilty after DuPage prosecutors won the legal battle to have him tried as an adult in that crime. Because he was charged as a juvenile for the murder, state law requires that Rankins be released anytime before his 21st birthday. But Friday's sentencing by Judge Ronald Mehling requires that Rankins be held in a state facility for a minimum of 4 1/2 years, or until he is nearly 20. In addition, Rankins could be transferred to an adult prison when he is 17. During a lengthy set of Juvenile Court hearings earlier this year, Rankins' attorneys argued, unsuccessfully, that their client was moderately mentally retarded and not fit for trial. Rankins said he did not commit the assault, but admitted participation in the attack. At Friday's sentencing, Rankins declined to make a statement. John Elias, assistant public defender, said Rankins was afraid that if he did not participate in the crime, he would have become a victim. Rankins is being held in the Illinois Youth Center in Joliet, where the state houses many of its more serious juvenile offenders.

1998 The US government begins releasing a new, harder-to-counterfeit $20 bill.
1998 Barnes and Noble’s Web site, barnesandnoble.com, filed for an Initial Public Offering worth $100 million. The site had launched in May 1997 and immediately engaged in a fierce battle with Amazon.com, which the company later sued for claiming to be the world's largest bookstore.

1997 Asians blame US and the West for their economic crisis ^top^
With much of Southeast Asia experiencing serious financial trouble, the region's leaders take time at the IMF and World Bank's annual meeting in Hong Kong to chastise foreign investors for precipitating the crisis. Some fingers were pointed at the use of aggressive "Wall Street-style" trading practices, while Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad railed against the "great powers" — namely the United States — who, in his view, "manipulated" Asian economies as a means to destroy their competitive power in the global marketplace.

1996 The United States, China, France, Russia and Britain become the first signatories to a landmark world treaty banning nuclear tests to end all testing and development of nuclear weapons. .
1996 After years of success as a private company, Avis Rent-A-Car goes public. HFS (formerly Hospitality Franchise Systems), a hospitality franchiser, as well as the owner of Avis, sells 75% of the rental car company's shares. The stock opened at $17 a share, and climbed to $22 by midday.
1993 Sihanouk is reinstalled as king of Cambodia. — Norodom Sihanuk firma la nueva Constitución de Camboya, que le convierte en rey por tercera vez.

1993 Imelda Marcos sentenced to 18 years in prison         ^top^
      Imelda Marcos, wife of the late Ferdinand Marcos, the former dictator of the Philippines, was sentenced to eighteen years imprisonment in the Philippines after being found guilty on charges of widespread corruption. Examples of the vast government funds embezzled by the Marcos regime could be found in their two dozen mansions in the Philippines, their stockpiles of hoarded gold, and Imelda's thousands of pairs of shoes. The US-backed regime of Ferdinand Marcos was also marked by repression, human rights violations, and political murders, most notably of Marcos's political opponent Benigno Aquino in 1983. In early February of 1986, Marcos defrauded a fiercely contested presidential election, declaring himself the victor over Corazon Aquino, the wife of the assassinated politician.
      However, Aquino also declared herself the rightful winner and the public rallied behind her, staging massive anti-Marcos demonstrations across the Philippines. Deserted by his former supporters in the military, the church, and the middle class, Marcos and Imelda fled to exile in Hawaii, where they faced investigation on embezzlement charges. After Ferdinand's death in 1989, Imelda returned to the Philippines, making a presidential bid as she fought charges against her. In 1993, she was sentenced to a prison term for embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars, however, in 1998, the Supreme Court of the Philippines overturned her conviction.

1992 Los bancos centrales italiano, británico y francés, sin reservas de divisas, son incapaces de frenar la depreciación de sus monedas atacadas por la especulación.
1990 Supreme Soviet of USSR gives approval to switch to free market
1990 Sony Digital Audio Tape players Sony Corp. announces that it will begin selling two digital audio tape players, one a car version and the other a walkman version, in December. Sony became the first company to offer an extensive line of DAT products. Although industry experts had long praised the clarity of DAT sound, the technology caught on slowly, partly because the recording industry feared piracy.
1989 El RPR (Rassemblement du Peuple Français) gana las elecciones senatoriales francesas y se convierte en la fuerza mayoritaria.
1989 Los electores de Níger ratifican en referéndum la nueva Constitución del país.
1988 The Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts elected Barbara C. Harris, 58, as a suffragan (assistant) bishop, making her the first woman to be so ordained in the Anglican communion.
1981 Four Armenian gunmen seized the Turkish consulate in Paris, holding 60 hostages for 15 hours before surrendering.
1979 CompuServe system started
1976 Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst sentenced to 7 years for her part in a 1974 bank robbery. Released after 22 months by President Carter.

1974 GM has trouble complying with emission standards ^top^
General Motors announces that the release of the "Monza," its rotary-engine sports compact, would be postponed due to problems complying with new EPA emissions standards. Environmental concerns had become an increasingly high priority with the US public, and the government had been responding accordingly. Pressures on the automotive industry had been riding high since the 1970 Clean Air Act, rising even higher with the new National Ambient Air Quality Standards of 1971. With both public opinion and the federal government against them, GM had no choice but to delay the new model's release.

1973 Portuguese Guinea (Guinea-Bissau) declares independence
1971 Ninety Russian diplomats are expelled from Britain for spying following revelations made by a Soviet defector.

1969 Trial of the "Chicago Eight" begins         ^top^
      The trial of the so-called "Chicago Eight," political radicals accused of conspiring to incite the riots that occurred during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, began in the city. Outside the courthouse, demonstrators proclaimed "Days of Rage" in protest of the trial. In August of 1968, the defendants, such as David Dellinger, chairman of the National Mobilization against the War, Tom Hayden, leader of the Students for a Democratic Society, and Jerry Rubin, leader of the Youth International Party, staged demonstrations at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to protest the Vietnam War and its support by the top Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey.
      During the four-day convention, the most violent in US history, police and national guardsmen clashed with antiwar protesters, as hundreds of people, including innocent bystanders and members of the press, were beaten by the Chicago police. In the aftermath, a federal commission investigating the convention described the most brutal confrontation as a "police riot" and blamed Chicago Mayor Richard Daley for inciting his police to violence.
      Nevertheless eight political radicals were arrested on charges of conspiring to incite riots, and on 24 September 1969, their trial began in Chicago as protestors gathered outside the courthouse. The prosecution stressed the defendants' provocative rhetoric and subversive intentions while the defense blamed the violence on official overreaction to demonstrators who were simply expressing views held by many in the US at the time.
      On 09 October the National Guard was called into Chicago again, this time to disperse demonstrators outside the courthouse. One of the Chicago Eight, Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, vocally conducted his own defense to the chagrin of Judge Julius Hoffman, who ordered him bound and gagged for three days. Ironically, Seale was the only member of the Chicago Eight who had played no part in organizing the protest at the Chicago convention.
      Judge Hoffman subsequently declared Seale's case a mistrial, sentenced him to four years in prison for contempt of court, and the Chicago Eight became the Chicago Seven. On 18 February 1970, five of the seven were found guilty of crossing a state line with intent to incite, and two days later were sentenced to five-year prison terms. However, in the fall of 1972, an appeals court overturned the convictions, citing Judge Hoffman's procedural errors and his unconcealed hostility to the defendants.

1967 Vietnam: "US in league with corrupt minority government" ^top^
In Saigon, Hue, and Da Nang, demonstrations are staged against the recent election of President Nguyen Van Thieu and Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky, led by the militant Buddhist faction, who charge that the elections were rigged and demand that the Constituent Assembly cancel the results. In the United States, the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) adopt a resolution against the Johnson administration’s policy and strategy in Vietnam, charging that in Vietnam the United States was “in league with a corrupt and illiberal government supported by a minority of the people.

1963 US Senate ratifies treaty with Britain and USSR to limit nuclear testing

1963 Vietnam: US Defense heads visit Vietnam         ^top^
      Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and General Maxwell Taylor, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrive in Vietnam. At President John F. Kennedy’s request, they were to determine whether South Vietnam’s military situation had deteriorated as a result of the continuing clash between the Ngo Dinh Diem government and the Buddhists over Diem’s refusal to institute internal political reform.
    Earlier in the month, Kennedy had sent Marine Corps General Victor Krulak and State Department official Joseph Mendenhall to Saigon on a fact-finding mission. They returned with a conflicting report that left Kennedy unsure of the actual situation in Saigon. Consequently, Kennedy dispatched McNamara and Taylor in an attempt to clarify the situation. They were accompanied on the eight-day trip by William Bundy of the Defense Department, William Colby of the Central Intelligence Agency, White House advisor Michael Forrestall, and diplomat William Sullivan. Again, the individual perceptions of the group differed.
      General Paul Harkins, commander of the US Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) convinced General Taylor that the war against the Viet Cong was progressing on schedule, even to the point that Harkins thought that 1000 advisors might be sent home by the end of the year. The civilians in the party were not so optimistic, agreeing with Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge’s assessment that the Diem government was very fragile. They were even more convinced when they met with Diem and he rejected any discussion of meaningful political reforms that might have quieted the growing unrest among the Buddhists.
      When the group returned to Washington in October, their report was an amalgamation of their differing views of the situation. While agreeing that some progress was being made in the field against the Viet Cong, they all agreed that the political situation threatened further progress. On the subject of a potential coup, the report said that there was only a slight chance and that the United States should not support any coup attempts “at this time.” They recommended selective economic and psychological measures to convince Diem to institute reforms to redress the political unrest. Unfortunately, when the recommended measures were taken, they had no effect on Diem and his policies. The United States made clear its dissatisfaction with Diem’s refusal to change his domestic policies, giving, in effect the green light to a coup by opposition military officers. A coup was staged on 01 November 1963, in which Diem and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, were murdered by South Vietnamese officers

1962 US Circuit Court of Appeals orders James Meredith admitted to University of Mississippi.
1957 US President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends federal troops into Little Rock, Arkansas, to protect nine black students entering its newly integrated high school.
1955 US President Eisenhower suffers a heart attack on vacation in Denver

1953 Dulles: US will not “cringe” before Soviet nukes.         ^top^
      In a speech that is by turns confrontational and sarcastic, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles declares that the United States will not “cringe or become panicky” in the face of Soviet nuclear weapons. Dulles' speech indicated that although the Korean War had finally reached a peaceful conclusion, the United States would continue its policy of containing communist expansion, by force if necessary.
      Secretary Dulles began his speech to the American Federation of Labor by observing that he believed world peace was within reach, but was threatened by "communist leaders who openly repudiate the restraints of moral law." The United States, he declared, "does not believe that salvation can be won merely by making concessions which enhance the power and increase the arrogance of those who have already extended their rule over one-third of the human race." Acknowledging that the Soviets now possessed a nuclear arsenal, Dulles countered that the United States would not "cringe or became panicky." Turning to the issue of labor, Dulles then spoke at length about what he called the communist "swindle." The secretary spoke derisively of the "hoax" played on Russian workers by their own government. "The Russian worker," Dulles stated, "is the most underpaid, overworked person in any modern industrial state. He is the most managed, checked, spied on, and unrepresented worker in the world today."
     Dulles' speech indicated that although the new administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower had recently finished negotiating a cease-fire in Korea, the United States was not backing off from its stated Cold War commitment to containing communism. The speech also hinted at two points that would become mainstays of the Secretary's Cold War diplomacy. First was the idea that the United States would not back down from the Soviets simply because of the threat of nuclear war. This idea eventually became known as "brinkmanship" — the notion that the Soviets, if pushed to the "brink" of nuclear war, would eventually back down. Second was Dulles' frequently repeated assertion that the people living in communist nations were essentially "captives" of repressive communist regimes. In the years to come, Dulles would expand on both ideas in more detail.

1952 Underwater volcano explodes under research vessel Kaiyo-maru-5
1950 "Operation Magic Carpet"—All Jews from Yemen move to Israel
1948 Mildred Gillars (Axis Sally) pleads innocent in Wash DC

1941 9 Allied governments pledge adherence to the Atlantic Charter

1941 Japanese consul to get data on Pearl Harbor         ^top^
      The Japanese consul in Hawaii is instructed to divide Pearl Harbor into five zones and calculate the number of battleships in each zone—and report the findings back to Japan. Relations between the United States and Japan had been deteriorating quickly since Japan's occupation of Indo-China and the implicit menacing of the Philippines, an American protectorate, with the occupation of the Cam Ranh naval base only eight miles from Manila. American retaliation included the seizing of all Japanese assets in the States and the closing of the Panama Canal to Japanese shipping. In September 1941, Roosevelt issued a statement, drafted by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, that threatened war between the United States and Japan should the Japanese encroach any farther on territory in Southeast Asia or the South Pacific.
      The Japanese military had long dominated Japanese foreign affairs. So, although official negotiations between the US secretary of state and his Japanese counterpart to ease tensions were ongoing, Hideki Tojo, the minister of war who would soon be prime minister, had no intention of withdrawing from captured territories. He also construed the American "threat" of war as an ultimatum and prepared to deliver the first blow in a Japanese-American confrontation: the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
      In September 1941, Nagai Kita, the Japanese consul in Hawaii, was told to begin carving up Pearl Harbor into five distinct zones and to determine the number of warships moored in each zone. Little did Japan know that the United States had intercepted the message; unfortunately, it had to be sent back to Washington for decrypting. Flights east were infrequent, so the message was sent via sea, a more time-consuming process. When it finally arrived at the capital, staff shortages and other priorities further delayed the decryption. When the message was finally unscrambled in mid-October—it was dismissed as being of no great consequence. It would be found of consequence on 07 December 1941.

1939 El Gobierno español deroga la Ley de Divorcio y dispone que los bienes incautados a los sindicatos del Frente Popular pasen al sindicato nacional
1929 Lt James H Doolittle guides a Consolidated N-Y-2 Biplane over Mitchell Field in NY in the 1st all-instrument flight
1920 Après la démission de Paul Deschamel, par 695 voix contre 69, Alexandre Millerand, est élu comme nouveau président de la République Française.
1915 Bulgaria mobilizes troops on the Serbian border.— Bulgaria se moviliza contra Serbia.
1914 In the Alsace-Lorraine area between France and Germany, the German Army captures St. Mihiel.
1902 Start of Sherlock Holmes The Adventure of The Red Circle
1895 First round-the-world trip by a woman on a bicycle (took 15 months)

1890 The Mormon Church officially renounces polygamy         ^top^
      Faced with the imminent destruction of their church and way of life, Mormon leaders reluctantly issue the "Mormon Manifesto" in which they command all Latter-Day Saints to uphold the anti-polygamy laws of the nation. The Mormon leaders had been given little choice: If they did not abandon polygamy they faced federal confiscation of their sacred temples and the revocation of basic civil rights for all Mormons.
      Followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had been practicing the doctrine of "plural marriage" since the 1840s. The best available evidence suggests that the church founder, Joseph Smith, first began taking additional wives in 1841, and historians estimate he eventually married more than 50 women. For a time, the practice was shrouded in secrecy, though rumors of widespread polygamy had inspired much of the early hatred and violence directed against the Mormons in Illinois.
      After establishing their new theocratic state centered in Salt Lake City, the church elders publicly confirmed that plural marriage was a central Mormon belief in 1852. The doctrine was distinctly one-sided: Mormon women could not take multiple husbands. Nor could just any Mormon man participate. Only those who demonstrated unusually high levels of spiritual and economic worthiness were permitted to practice plural marriage, and the Church also required that the first wife give her consent. As a result of these barriers, relatively few Mormon men had multiple wives. Best estimates suggest that men with two or more wives made up only 5 to 15% of the population of most Mormon communities.
      Even though only a small minority of Mormons practiced plural marriage, many church leaders were very reluctant to abandon it, arguing that to do so would destroy the Mormon way of life. Ironically, though, the Mormon Manifesto's call for an end to polygamy actually paved the way to greater Mormon-Gentile cooperation and may well have helped ensure the religion's lasting vitality.

1889 In Holland, the Declaration of Utrecht was signed, in opposition to Vatican Council I, and became the doctrinal basis of the Old Catholic Church. ("Old Catholics" reject dogma of the Immaculate Conception, clerical celibacy, papal authority and the Council of Trent decisions.) Today in Europe, Old Catholics are active in Holland, Germany and Switzerland.

1869 "Black Friday", gold's price falls         ^top^
      On this "Black Friday," gold prices plummet, sending the markets into chaos. At the root of the wreckage was an old-fashioned swindle, engineered by flamboyant financier Jay Gould and his robber baron partner, James Fisk. Gould and Fisk conspired to inflate and then corner the gold market, primarily by spreading a rumor that President Grant was about to stop the sale of government gold. Grant, who was better suited to the battlefield than office, initially bought into their logic, due, in part, to his belief that the sale of government gold would hurt farmers and small-time entrepreneurs.
      The president eventually saw through the scheme and, in response, put $4 million worth of gold on the market. The price of gold in specie, which had previously swelled to $163.50, promptly shrank to $133. Investors were ruined and the economy went into a tailspin. The swindle ultimately took a toll on two of its main players. It blemished Grant's record, raising suspicions about the war hero's competency. And Gould surreptitiously dumped his share of the gold before the drop in specie prices, leaving Fisk with a hefty loss on the deal.

1864 Battle of Pilot Knob (Fort Davidson), Missouri
1862 President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus against anyone suspected of being a Southern sympathizer.

1853 La France s'approprie la Nouvelle~Calédonie.         ^top^
      Le contre-amiral Febvrier~Despointes prend comme prétexte, le massacre de douze marins français en novembre 1850, pour prendre officiellement possession de la Nouvelle~Calédonie au nom de l’empereur Napoléon III. C'est l'époque où la France reconstitue son empire colonial pour remplacer celui qu'elle avait perdu un siècle plus tôt.
      La Nouvelle~Calédonie est un archipel de l'Océan Pacifique, deux fois plus étendu que la Corse. Elle avait été abordée en 1774 par l'explorateur James Cook, qui la baptisa ainsi en souvenir de son Ecosse natale (Calédonie est l'autre nom de l'Ecosse).
      Les habitants de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, des Mélanésiens (à peau noire) dénommés Kanaks (ou Canaques), furent ensuite évangélisés par des missions protestantes anglaises, puis par des missions concurrentes, catholiques, venues de France.
      En mai 1864, le gouvernement français crée faute de mieux une colonie pénitentiaire sur l'archipel. Il va y envoyer des déportés algériens (musulmans) et pas moins de 4500 communards, dont l'institutrice Louise Michel. Jusqu'à sa suppression en 1897, la colonie pénitentiaire accueillera 22'000 «transportés». En même temps qu'arrivent les premiers déportés, un ingénieur découvre sur l'archipel des gisements de nickel.
      Bientôt vont affluer des immigrants libres originaires d'Alsace~Lorraine, pour cultiver les terres ou exploiter les mines, de sorte que les immigrants deviendront plus nombreux que les Kanaks. En 1998, en signe de réconciliation avec leur histoire, certains indépendantistes kanaks ont renoncé à faire du 24 septembre une journée de deuil.

1841 Sarawak obtained by Britain from Sultan of Brunei
1838 Anti-Corn-Law League forms to repeal English Corn Law
1833 Entrada en Lisboa del emperador Pedro I de Brasil, que reinó en Portugal un año como Pedro IV.
1829 Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Peace Treaty of Adrianople
1810 Comienzan sus trabajos las Cortes de Cádiz, reunidas en la isla de León.
1789 Congress creates the Post Office
1789 Congress' 1st Judiciary Act, Attorney General & Supreme Court
1788 After having been dissolved, the French Parliament of Paris reassembles in triumph.
1782 Inglaterra reconoce la independencia de EE.UU.
1683 Jews are expelled from all French possessions in America
1625 Dutch attack San Juan, Puerto Rico.
1493 Columbus' 2nd expedition to the New World
0787 The Second Nicene Council opened under Pope Hadrian I. The empress reads an address to open the council. 7th of the Church's 21 ecumenical councils, Nicea II condemned iconoclasm (belief that the veneration of Christian images and relics is idolatry). The Eastern Orthodox churches considered this the last of the ecumenical councils.
0673 Synod of Hertford opens; canons made for English Church

0622 Mohammed's Hegira         ^top^
      Mecca is the holy center of Islam and the birthplace of Mohammed, the religion's great prophet and founder. In 610, in a cave in Mount Hira north of Mecca, Mohammed had a vision in which God commanded him to become the Arab prophet of the "true religion." He gained numerous followers in Mecca, leading the city's authorities to plot his death. On 24 September 622, Mohammed and his followers commenced the Hegira, or "flight," to Medina. There, Mohammed founded Islam as a religion and an organized community, and in 629, he returned to Mecca as a conqueror.
     The prophet Muhammad completes his Hegira, or "flight," from Mecca to Medina to escape persecution. In Medina, Muhammad set about building the followers of his religion — Islam — into an organized community and Arabian power. The Hegira would later mark the beginning (year 1) of the Muslim calendar.
      Muhammad, one of the most influential religious and political leaders in history, was born in Mecca around 570. His father died before he was born, and Muhammad was put under the care of his grandfather, head of the prestigious Hashim clan. His mother died when he was six, and his grandfather when he was eight, leaving him under the care of his uncle Abu Talib, the new head of the clan. When he was 25, Muhammad married a wealthy widow 15 years his senior. He lived the next 15 years as a merchant, and his wife gave birth to six children: two sons, who died in childhood, and four daughters.
      From time to time, Muhammad spent nights in a cave in Mount Hira north of Mecca, ruminating on the social ills of the city. Around 610, he had a vision in the cave in which he heard the voice of a majestic being, later identified as the angel Gabriel, say to him, "You are the Messenger of God." Thus began a lifetime of religious revelations, which he and others collected as the Qur'an, or Koran. Muhammad regarded himself as the last prophet of the Judaic-Christian tradition, and he adopted aspects of these older religions' theologies while introducing new doctrines. Muhammad's monotheistic religion came to be called Islam, meaning "surrender [to God]," and its followers were Muslims, meaning "those who have surrendered." His inspired teachings would bring unity to the Arabian peninsula, an event that had sweeping consequences for the rest of the world.
      By 615, Muhammad had gained about 100 converts in Mecca. He spoke out against rich merchants, who he criticized as immoral in their greed, and he denounced the worshipping of idols and multiple gods, saying, "There is no god but God." City leaders became hostile to him, and in 619 his uncle Abu Talib died and was succeeded as head of the Hashim clan by another one of Muhammad's uncles, Abu Lahib. Abu Lahib refused to protect Muhammad, and persecution of the prophet and his Muslims increased.
      In the summer of 621, an entourage of 12 men came to Mecca from Medina, an oasis community 200 miles to the north. They were ostensibly making a pilgrimage to Mecca's pagan shrines, but they had actually come to meet with Muhammad and profess themselves as Muslims. In 622, a larger group of converts from Medina came to Mecca and took an oath to Muhammad to defend him as their own kin. Muhammad immediately encouraged his Meccan followers to make their way to Medina in small groups. When city authorities learned that the Muslims had begun an exodus, they plotted to have the prophet killed. Under this threat, Muhammad slipped away unnoticed with a chief disciple and made his way to Medina, using unfrequented paths. He completed the celebrated Hegira (Hijrah in uncorrupted Arabic) on 24 September 622. The history of Islam had begun.
      At Medina, Muhammad built a theocratic state and led raids on trading caravans from Mecca. Attempts by Meccan armies to defeat the Muslim forces failed, and several leading Meccans immigrated to Medina and became Muslims. Muhammad later become more conciliatory to Mecca, and in 629 he was allowed to lead a pilgrimage there in exchange for a peace treaty. Shortly after, he was attacked by allies of the Meccans, and Muhammad denounced the treaty. In January 630, he returned to his birthplace with 10'000 men, and the Meccans swore allegiance to its Muslim conquerors. He was now the strongest man in Arabia. During the next few years, most of the peninsula's disparate Arab tribes came to him to ask for alliance and to convert to his religion. By his death, on 08 June 632, Muhammad was the effective ruler of most of Arabia, and his rapidly growing empire was poised for expansion into Syria and Iraq.
      Within 20 years, the Byzantine and Persian empires had fallen to the prophet's successors, and during the next two centuries vast Arab conquests continued. The Islamic empire grew into one of the largest the world has ever seen, stretching from India, across the Middle East and Africa, and up through Western Europe's Iberian peninsula. The spread of Islam continued after the fragmentation of the Arab empire, and many societies in Africa and Asia voluntarily adopted Muhammad's religion. Today, Islam is the world's second-largest religion.

0312 Start of Imperial Indiction

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Deaths which occurred on a 24 September:
2002:: 27 civilians, two policemen, one commando, and two attackers, armed with grenades and AK-47 guns at the Akshardham Hindu temple in Gandhinagar (new city built after the 1960 creation of Gujarat state to be its capital), India. The attack ends the next morning when the attackers are killed. 74 persons are injured, including 23 policemen. Akshardham Temple is a 9-hectare Hindu religious and cultural complex visited by some two million people annually, according to the Web Site of the Swaminarayan sect which runs it. The imposing 10-story temple was inaugurated on 30 October 1992. It houses a 2-meter-tall goldleafed idol of Lord Swaminarayan, an 18th century Hindu monk who started the sect. Swaminarayan's followers believe him to be an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the Hindu god of preservation. The 33 m high, 73 m long, 40 m wide temple [photo >] is made entirely of 6000 tons of pink sandstone, with no steel or cement used at all, to ensure it will last for a thousand years. In it are three exhibitions on Indian Culture with light and sound shows, a multimedia show and an animatronic show. Games, rides, and food refreshments are other attractions of Akshardham. The sect has 450 temples in 45 countries.
Following is the rough sequence of events of the siege of the temple that ended at 07:10 on 25 September after a standoff that began at about 16.55 on 24 September.
— 24 September:

16:55: Two terrorists enter temple complex from Gate No. 3 and start firing when guards ask them to stop. They quickly move towards Exhibition Hall No.1, lob grenades and fire at random. A woman of the staff of the temple is shot dead.

17:30: Security forces arrive on the scene.

18:10: The elite commandos of the National Security Guards (NSG) ordered to rush to Ahmedabad and told about a hostage like crisis.

18:40: The NSG team leaves for Ahmedabad.

19:30: Terrorists break two-hour silence after the initial firing and target police forces.

19:50: NSG team arrives in Ahmedabad. Holds strategy sessions.
— 25 September:

00:30: Back-up team of BSF, RAF and ATF and generator crew move in, lighting up the complex.

01:00: NSG commandoes enter complex through gate numbers one and three with sniffer dogs and anti-mine gadgets.

01:00 to 03:00: NSG commandos make reconnaissance missions and a shot is fired at Task Force commander Brig. Raj Seethapathy while examining a body of a killed Gujarat commando. The line of fire gives clues about the terrorists' location.

03:00 onwards: A decision is taken to wait for the first daylight to avoid any risk to lives of commandos after terrorists fire indiscriminately and lob grenades.

05:15 a.m: Dawnbreak and NSG commandos make a final offensive and go in hot pursuit of the terrorists.

07:10 a.m: Authorities announce the killing of two terrorists hiding in a bathroom of the temple complex [photo >] and the end of the siege of the temple.

1991 Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss), 87.         ^top^
      Dr. Seuss dies in La Jolla, California. He was born Theodor Geisel in Springfield, Massachusetts on 02 March 1904. After attending Dartmouth College and Oxford University, he began a career in advertising. His advertising cartoons, featuring Quick, Henry, the Flit!, appeared in several leading US magazines.Dr. Seuss's first children's book, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, hit the market in 1937, and the world of children's literature was changed forever! In 1957, Seuss's The Cat in the Hat became the prototype for one of Random House's best-selling series, Beginner Books. This popular series combined engaging stories with outrageous illustrations and playful sounds to teach basic reading skills.
      Brilliant, playful, and always respectful of children, Dr. Seuss charmed his way into the consciousness of four generations of youngsters and parents. In the process, he helped kids learn to read. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 and three Academy Awards, Seuss was the author and illustrator of 44 children's books, some of which have been made into audiocassettes, animated television specials, and videos for children of all ages. Even after his death in 1991, Dr. Seuss continues to be the best-selling author of children's books in the world. He was the author of Land Before Time, The Cat in the Hat, The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, Dr. Seuss's ABC, Fox in Socks, Green Eggs and Ham, Hop on Pop, I Am NOT Going to Get Up Today!, I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!, I Wish That I Had Duck Feet, Oh Say Can You Say?, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Ten Apples Up on Top!, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, The Butter Battle Book, Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?, Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, Happy Birthday to You, Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!, Horton Hatches the Egg, Horton Hears a Who!, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Hunches in Bunches, I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! and Other Stories, I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew, If I Ran the Circus, If I Ran the Zoo, The King's Stilts, The Lorax, McElligot's Pool, My Book About Me, My Many Colored Days, Oh, the Places You'll Go!, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super!, The Sneetches and Other Stories, Thidwick the BigHearted Moose, Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories, You're Only Old Once!, Great Day for Up I, Myself Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!, Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?, The Shape of Me and Other Stuff, There's a Wocket in My Pocket, Did I Ever Tell You How High You Can Count?: Learn About Counting Beyond 100.

1944 Aristide Joseph Bonaventure Maillol, French Art Nouveau / Nabi sculptor born on 08 December 1861 — LINKS
1938 Shnirelman, mathematician
1930 Otto Müller, German artist born on 16 October 1874.
1928 Carl Wilhelm Wilhelmson, Swedish artist born on 12 November 1866.
1924 Manuel Estrada Cabrera, político y abogado guatemalteco.
1895 Ernest Meisel (or Meissel), German artist born on 08 March 1838.
1892 Jan Willem van Borselen, Dutch artist born on 20 September 1825.
1871 Thomas Roscoe, translator of Pellico's My Ten Years' Imprisonment
1868 Henry Hart Milman, editor of Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume I, Volume II, Volume III, Volume IV, Volume V, Volume VI
1852 Francisco Javier Castaños y Aragoni, general español, vencedor de los franceses en la batalla de Bailén.
1848 Patrick Branwell Brontë, 31, of tuberculosis. He was the author of The Poems of Patrick Branwell Brontë. He also was a painter. He became addicted to alcohol and to opium. He was the brother of the Brontë sisters and the model for Hindley Earnshaw in Emily's novel Wuthering Heights. Emily (30 July 1818 — 19 December 1848) and Anne (17 January 1820 — 18490528) also died of tuberculosis, within less than a year. Charlotte (18160421 — 18550331) lived six more years and, pregnant, died of pneumonia, after nine months of marriage. The two older sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, had died of tuberculosis aged 10 and 9, in 1824. The mother of the six, Maria (Branwell) Brontë, had died in 1821.
1822 Achille Etna Michallon, French artist born on 22 October 1796. .— MORE ON MICHALLON AT ART “4” SEPTEMBER — The Fallen Branch, Fontainebleau
1651 Étienne Pascal, mathematician
1541 Phillippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim "Paracelsus", 48, German-Swiss physician and alchemist who established the role of chemistry in medicine. He published Der grossen Wundartzney in 1536 and a clinical description of syphilis in 1530.
1180 Manuel I Comnenus Byzantine emperor (1143-80)
1143 Pope Innocent II. During his troubled papacy a rival pope ruled Rome more often than he. He excommuniated Roger of Sicily but was forced to rescind it and invest Roger with additional privileges.
1054 Hermann of Reichenau, mathematician
0768 Pépin le Bref. Avant de mourir il avait partagé ses États entre ses deux fils. A Charles vont l'Austrasie, la Neustrie, la Gascogne, la Frise et la Thuringe. Carloman reçoit le Languedoc, la Provence, l'Alsace, l'Alémanie, l'Ile-de-France et le centre de la France. Il est inhumé à Saint-Denis.
0366 Liberius Pope

Births which occurred on a 24 September:

1996 Desperation, and The Regulators, 2 Stephen King novels         ^top^
      Bestselling author Stephen King publishes two new novels at once, Desperation under his own name, The Regulators under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman.
      King was born in Portland, Maine, in 1947. His father abandoned the family when King was two, and his mother struggled to support her two children. King was sickly as a child and developed a love for books. He studied English at the University of Maine, where he met his wife, Tabitha.
      After college, the couple lived in a trailer while King taught school, worked in a laundry, and churned out four novels, which were rejected. Discouraged, he gave up on his fifth novel until his wife encouraged him to try again. In 1973, Doubleday paid him $2500 for the book Carrie, about the bloody revenge of a high school outcast. A few months later, he earned $420'000 for the paperback rights. The book was a huge bestseller, as were his subsequent 30 novels. He also wrote six novels under the name Richard Bachman, and 14 collections of short stories or nonfiction. King's books have sold 300 million copies to date.
      Despite his success, King has struggled with his own demons. In 1988, he joined Alcoholics Anonymous, stating "I never met a drink or drug I don't like." In June 1999, he was taking a walk near his Maine home when he was hit and critically injured by a car. Six operations were required to repair his hips, pelvis, ribs, and other broken bones. Meanwhile, he managed to write a novella, several short stories, and a memoir. In March 2000, he released a new novel, Riding the Bullet, available only over the Internet.

1960 AID: UN Agency for Internationl Development comes into existence
1960 The Enterprise, the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, is launched at Newport News, Virginia.
1955 US President Eisenhower suffered a heart attack while on vacation in Denver.

1948 Honda Motor Company ^top^
The Honda Motor Company, one of the world's leading automobile manufacturers, began as a research institute founded by engineer Honda Soichiro. The institute focused on creating small, efficient internal-combustion engines, before it began incorporating these engines into motorcycles under the Honda name. On this day that the Honda Technical Research Institute officially becomes the Honda Motor Company, establishing a corporation that would become the leading producer of motorcycles in the world. Still, while Honda is the unchallenged leader in motorcycle production, the bulk of the company's revenue comes from its automobiles. Popular models like the Civic and Accord, and its dedication to lightweight, fuel-efficient cars, have made Honda a leader in the automotive industry.

1945 Juan Pablo Fusi Aizpurua, historiador español.
1934 John Brunner Britain, sci-fi author (Sheep Look Up)
1929 Lt. James H. Doolittle guided a Consolidated NY2 Biplane over Mitchel Field in New York in the first all-instrument flight.
1919 Francisco García Pavón, escritor español.
1911 Konstantin Chernenko, Soviet politician. He took over as Soviet president for Yuri Andropov in 1984 and died the following year, to be succeeded by Mikhail Gorbachev.

1908 The first factory-built Ford Model T is completed, just one more step in Ford's affordable revolution. Affectionately known as the "tin Lizzy," the Model T revolutionized the automotive industry by providing an affordable, reliable car for the average person. Ford was able to keep the price down by retaining control of all raw materials, and by employing revolutionary mass production methods. When it was first introduced, the "tin Lizzy" cost only $850 and seated two people.

1905 Severo Ochoa, bioquímico español, Premio Nobel 1959.
1904 Davies, mathematician
1898 Baron Florey Aust, pathologist; purified penicillin (Nobel '45)
1896 Tadeusz Wazewski, mathematician
1896 Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, in St. Paul, Minnesota, author. (The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night). Fitzgerald died on December 21, 1940, leaving his final novel, The Last Tycoon, unfinished. — FITZGERALD ONLINE: This Side of Paradise
1890 Sir Alan Herbert England, journalist/writer (Punch, Helen)
1870 Georges Claude , French engineer, inventor of the neon light.
1869 Thousands of businessmen were ruined in a Wall Street panic after financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk attempted to corner the gold market.
1852 The dirigible is demonstrated
1844 Max Noether, mathematician
1843 Samuel Augustus Duffield, DUFFIELD ONLINE: A Farewell Sermon Delivered in the First Presbyterian Church, Ann Arbor, Michigan
1836 Pablo Arosemena, político panameño.

1827 House of Mercy, precursor to Sisters of Mercy         ^top^
      Even before the famine which began in 1845, Ireland had its share of poverty. Orphans and waifs did not find the kind of governmental support which is now common everywhere in the western world. Although antipathy between Protestants and Catholics existed then as now, it did not prevent one Catholic orphan girl of Dublin from finding Protestant foster parents. Catherine McAuley was taken into the home of Surgeon Conway. Catherine refused to attend his Protestant church. When Catherine was 18 another couple, the Callahans, adopted her. She converted both of them to Roman Catholicism. When Mr. Callahan died in 1822, he left her a great fortune.
      Catherine McAuley was then about 35. Perhaps because she had lost her own parents, Catherine wanted to do work among the poor. She had already engaged in relief efforts for the needy and by 1824 contemplated plans for a center for the charitable works she planned.
      On 24 September 1827 she opens her House of Mercy. It consists of a school and a home for working mothers. Because the need for jobs was great, she soon tacked on an employment agency and before long an orphanage.
      Catherine was not thinking of becoming a nun. Many of her helpers were inclined to religious vocations, but, except for a daily routine which included spiritual exercises and a uniform adopted for convenience sake, her House of Mercy made no effort to become a religious order.
     However the archbishop of Dublin, under whose care Catherine had placed her funds, counseled her to bring her work officially into the Catholic church. Catherine agreed to receive religious instruction and develop her work into a charitable order. She adopted the Augustinian rule commonly used by the Sisters of Presentation, adding chapters on the care of distressed women and visitation of the sick. On 12 December 1831, she took her own vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Thus came into being the Sisters of Mercy. Even in her lifetime the order grew and spread. She established a second house in London "to educate poor little girls, to lodge and maintain poor young ladies who are in danger and to visit the sick poor." After she died in November 1841, the Sisters of Mercy grew to be the largest order ever founded in an English speaking country.

1827 Henry Warner Slocum, future Union General.
      Slocum is born in Delphi, New York. In 1852, Slocum graduated from the US Military Academy, seventh in his class of 42. He remained in the military for just four years, serving in Florida and South Carolina. In 1856, he left the service to study law, and by 1858 he had established a practice in Syracuse. After serving in the New York State assembly, Slocum became a lieutenant colonel in the New York State militia.
      When the US Civil War broke out, Slocum received command of the 27th New York Infantry and was commissioned colonel. Slocum fought at the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. Although he was wounded and his regiment suffered 130 casualties out of about 800 present, his star rose rapidly in the Army of the Potomac. He was promoted to brigadier general after Bull Run, and by the time the army embarked on the Peninsular campaign in May 1862, he was a major general. In October 1862, Slocum received command of the army's XII corps.
      During the Chancellorsville campaign of May 1862, Slocum had developed an intense dislike for General Joseph Hooker, who was commander of the Army of the Potomac at the time. After the Yankees were dealt a humiliating defeat at the hands of an outnumbered Confederate army, Slocum participated in a movement to have Hooker removed. Although he played a key role at the Battle of Gettysburg in July, Slocum's corps was placed under Hooker's command in September in order to reinforce Union troops in Chattanooga, Tennessee, after the Battle of Chickamauga. Rather than serve under Hooker, Slocum resigned. However, his resignation was not accepted, and he was sent to command forces at Vicksburg, Mississippi.
      After Hooker left the army, Slocum returned to command his old corps, which was now part of General William T. Sherman's army. Selected to command one wing of the Federal army during Sherman's famous "March to the Sea," Slocum remained with Sherman as the Yankees pacified the Carolinas, and was present at the surrender of General Joseph Johnston's army at the end of the war.
      Slocum resigned his commission in 1865 and returned to New York. He practiced law in New York City and served in the US House of Representatives from 1868 to 1873 and again from 1883 to 1885. He died in Brooklyn, New York, on 14 April 1894.

1817 Ramón de Campoamor, poeta español.
1807 Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Theodor Hosemann, German artist who did on 15 October 1875.
1801 Ostrogradski, mathematician

1789 The first US Supreme Court         ^top^
      The Judiciary Act of 1789 is passed, establishing the Supreme Court of the United States as a tribunal made up of six justices who would to serve on the court until death or retirement. According to the Constitution, the size of the court is set by Congress, and the number of justices varied during the 19th century before stabilizing in 1869 at nine.
      The same day, President George Washington appoints John Jay to preside as chief justice, and John Rutledge of South Carolina, William Cushing of Massachusetts, John Blair of Virginia, Robert Harrison of Maryland, and James Wilson of Pennsylvania as associate justices. Two days later, all six appointments would be confirmed by the US Senate.
      The US Supreme Court was established by Article Three of the US Constitution, which took effect on 04 March 1789. The Constitution granted the Supreme Court ultimate jurisdiction over all laws, especially those in which their constitutionality was at issue. The high court was also designated to oversee cases concerning treaties of the United States, foreign diplomats, admiralty practice, and maritime jurisdiction. On 01 February 1790, in New York City's Royal Exchange Building, the first session of the US Supreme Court was held. The US Supreme Court later grew into the most important judicial body in the world in terms of its central place in the American political order, and in times of constitutional crisis, for better or worse, always played a definitive role in resolving the great issues of the time.

1762 William Lisle Bowles, poet. BOWLES ONLINE: Fourteen Sonnets, Elegiac and Descriptive
1756 Bénigne Gagnereaux, French artist who died on 18 August 1795 [on the guillotine?]
1755 Robert Jacques François Faust Lefèvre, French painter who died on 03 October 1830. — LINKS — Woman with a Lyre — Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot
1755 John Marshall Va, attorney, 4th Supreme Court Chief Justice (1801-35) and US secretary of state.

1739 (13 September Julian) Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin, Prince (Knyaz) Tavrichesky, Imperial Prince (Reichsfürst) Russian army officer and statesman, for two years Empress Catherine II's lover and for 17 years the most powerful man in the empire. An able administrator, licentious, extravagant, loyal, generous, and magnanimous, he was the subject of many anecdotes. Catherine's 1787 tour of southern Ukraine was a triumph for Potemkin, its governor general, for he disguised all the weak points of his administration — hence the apocryphal tale of his erecting stage-set villages to be seen by the empress in passing. (Potemkin village came to denote any pretentious façade designed to cover up a shabby or undesirable condition.) He died on 16 October 1791.

1724 La nouvelle Bourse de Paris s'installe à l'Hôtel de Nevers, rue Vivienne. Les agents de change en reçoivent le monopole. Quatre ans plus tôt, la chute de la banque royale, créée par Law, faisait chanter à tout Paris ce doux refrain : "Lundi je pris des actions, mardi je gagnai des millions, mercredi je pris équipage, jeudi j'agrandis mon ménage, vendredi je m'en fus au bal, et samedi à l'hôpital." On espère secrètement que cette bourse conjurera la déroute financière du royaume.
1717 Horace Walpole, 4th earl of Oxford, England, writer, creator of the Gothic novel genre. WALPOLE ONLINE: The Castle of Otranto
1625 John de Witt, mathematician + — A Dordrecht, naissance de Jean de Witt . Homme de loi à La Haye, puis plus tard "Grand Pensionnaire" de Hollande, il sera souverain virtuel des Provinces Unies. Promoteur de solides alliance entre l'Angleterre et la Hollande, il combat la France. Son opposition à l'accession de Guillaume III au trône provoquera des émeutes au cours dequelles il sera tué, en 1672.
1623 Joris van Son, Dutch artist who died on 25 June 1667.
1501 Girolamo Cardano, Italy, mathematician/astrologer (Ars Magna-1545), author of Games of Chance, the first systematic computation of probabilities.

Holidays Pennsylvania Dutch : Schwenkenfelder Thanksgiving Day (1734) / US : Gold Star Mother's Day (Last Sunday in September) / US : Good Neighbor Day (4th Sunday in September) / US : Press Sunday

Religious Observances RC-Dominican Republic : Our Lady of Ransom / Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes. Santos Esteban, Félix, Gerardo, Pacífico, Roberto y Rufo. / Sainte Thècle: Cette jeune fille fut martyrisée avec quatre compagnes en 347 près de la ville de Mossoul, au nord de l'Irak actuel.

Thoughts for the day: “Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea.”
“Tea and sympathy are the best sweeteners of love.”
“The movie Tea and Sympathy is not the best sweetener of love.”
"History is mostly guessing, the rest is prejudice." — Will (1885-1981) and Ariel Durant (1898-1981), US historians. [I guess the Durants were right... but then I'm prejudiced.]
“Guessing is mostly prejudice, the rest is history.”

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