September 24
Today is
National Punctuation Day, promoting the proper use of punctuation.
622 –
Muhammad and his followers completed their
Hijra from Mecca to Medina to escape religious persecution.
1645 –
Battle of Rowton Heath,
Parliamentarian victory over a
Royalist army commanded in person by
King Charles.
1664 – The Dutch Republic surrenders
New Amsterdam to England.
1780 –
Benedict Arnold flees to British Army lines when the arrest of British Major
John André exposes Arnold's plot to surrender West Point.
1846 –
Mexican–American War: General (and future POTUS)
Zachary Taylor captures
Monterrey.
1869 –
"Black Friday": Gold prices plummet after U.S. President
Ulysses S. Grant orders the Treasury to sell large quantities of gold after
Jay Gould and
James Fisk plot to control the market.
1906 – U.S. President
Theodore Roosevelt proclaims
Devils Tower in Wyoming as the nation's first
National Monument.
1911 –
His Majesty's Airship No. 1, the Mayfly, [or in this case, the
Maynotfly] Britain's first
rigid airship, is wrecked by strong winds before her maiden flight at Barrow-in-Furness.
1935 –
Earl and Weldon Bascom produce the first
rodeo ever held outdoors under electric lights at Columbia, Mississippi.
1948 – The
Honda Motor Company is founded.
1950 – Forest fires black out the sun over portions of Canada and New England. A blue moon is seen as far away as Europe.
1957 – President
Dwight D. Eisenhower sends
101st Airborne Division troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation.
The
Elvis Presley classic, ‘
Jailhouse Rock’ was released. It became his ninth US number one single and stayed on the
Billboard chart for nineteen weeks. The film clip from
the movie where he sang the song is considered by many historians to be the first rock video.
1960 –
USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is launched.
1962 – United States court of appeals orders the University of Mississippi to admit
James Meredith.
1968 –
60 Minutes debuts on CBS.
1975 –
Dougal Haston and
Doug Scott on the
Southwest Face expedition become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest by any of its faces.
1979 –
CompuServe launches the first consumer internet service, which features the first public
electronic mail service.
1988 -
Bobby McFerrin started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with '
Don't Worry Be Happy', the first a-cappella record to be a No.1.
2009 – The
G20 summit begins in Pittsburgh with 30 global leaders in attendance. It marks the first use of
Long-Range Acoustic Devices in U.S. history.
2015 – At least 1,100 people are killed and another 934 wounded after
a stampede during the Hajj in Saudi Arabia.
Births
1883 – Franklin Clarence Mars (founded Mars, Incorporated); 1896 – F. Scott Fitzgerald; 1900 – Ham Fisher (created comic strip
Joe Palooka); 1902 – Ruhollah Khomeini; 1912 – Don Porter (
Gidget's father); 1918 – Audra Lindley ('Mrs. Roper' on
Three's Company, and
The Ropers); 1921 – Jim McKay; 1931 – Anthony Newley♪ ♫; 1933 - Mel Taylor

(The Ventures); 1934 – Chick Willis♪ ♫; 1936 – Jim Henson; 1941 – Linda McCartney♪ ♫; 1942 – Gerry Marsden♪ ♫(Gerry & The Pacemakers); 1945 – Lou Dobbs; 1948 – Gordon Clapp (NYPD Blue), Phil Hartman; 1957 – Tod Howarth

(Frehley's Comet); 1958 – Kevin Sorbo; 1961 – Allen Bestwick; 1962 – Nia Vardalos (wrote
My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding); 1965 – Sean McNabb

(Quiet Riot, Dokken); 1969 – Paul Ray Smith (MOH recipient); 1969 – Megan Ward; 1982 – Morgan & Paul Hamm (American gymnasts)
Deaths
1945 – Hans Geiger (co-invented the Geiger counter); 991 – Peter Bellamy♪ ♫; Dr. Seuss