Tuesday, May 24

This Day In History

• 1819   Queen Victoria was born in London.
• 1830   The first passenger railroad in the United States began service between Baltimore and Elliott's Mills, Md.
• 1844   Samuel F.B. Morse transmitted the message, "What hath God wrought!" from Washington to Baltimore as he opened America's first telegraph line.
• 1935   The first major-league baseball game played at night took place at Cincinnati's Crosley Field as the Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1.
• 1941   The German battleship Bismarck sank the British dreadnought Hood in the North Atlantic.
• 1958   United Press International was formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.
• 1976   Britain and France opened trans-Atlantic Concorde service to Washington.
• 1992   Al Unser Jr. became the first second-generation winner of the Indianapolis 500.
• 1994   Four men convicted of bombing New York's World Trade Center in 1993 were each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
• 1995   ''Hollywood Madam'' Heidi Fleiss was sentenced to three years in prison and fined $1,500 for running a call girl ring that catered to the rich and famous.
• 1995   Former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson died at age 79.
• 2000   Israeli troops pulled out of southern Lebanon, ending 18 years of occupation.
• 2001   Democrats gained control of the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1994 when Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont abandoned the Republican Party and declared himself an independent.

Happy Birthday To

• 1686   Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (physicist: developed system for cleaning mercury to keep it from sticking to glass; inventor: alcohol thermometer [1709], mercury thermometer [1714]; created measure of temperature which bears his name [1724]; died Sep 16, 1736)
• 1938   Tommy Chong (comedian: half of comedy team: Cheech and Chong)
• 1941   Bob Dylan
• 1943   Gary Burghoff (Emmy Award-winning actor: M*A*S*H)
• 1945   Priscilla Beaulieu Presley (Priscilla Ann Wagner)