On this day in 1822, Brazil declared its independence from Portugal. On this day in 1940, Germany turned its attention to Great Britain. In what became known as "The Blitz" German bombers would strike targets in England for 56 of the next 57 days. On this day back, back, back, back in 1979, ESPN was launched, starting with what would become its anchor program, SportsCenter, followed by a slow pitch softball game.
On this day in 1935, Louisiana Senator and former Governor Huey P. Long is shot in a first floor corridor of the state capitol. He died two days later. The official account is that Long was killed by Carl Weiss, a Baton Rouge doctor, as an act of vengence over Long getting Weiss' father in law bounced out of a south LA judicial seat. Long's bodyguards immediately shot and killed Weiss, but there's a conspiracy theory that says Weiss only punched Long, at which point the bodyguards opened fire, and Long was accidentally hit. The guards then planted a gun on Weiss. A 1990 review of the case by LA State Police found numerous problems with the 1935 investigation by its own agency, but not enough to cause it to change the official finding that Long was killed by Weiss. On this day in 1900, a hurricane estimated to be Category 4 by today's standards, made landfall at Galveston, TX. An estimated 12,000 are killed, making it the deadliest natural disaster in US history. On this day in 1966, "Star Trek" makes its debut on NBC. William Shatner dropped a LKF in his book, Star Trek Memories, that ST was actually Gene Roddenberry's second attempt at an outer space series. Shatner claims Roddenberry pitched his first idea to CBS executives, who stole it and developed it into "Lost In Space."
On this day in 1839, English astronomer John Herschel produced this picture of his telescope, on a glass plate through a process he called cyanotype. He also has a name for the product, calling it a "photograph." On this day in 1850, California is formally granted statehood by the USA. Ironically, on the very same date in 1948, another communist state, North Korea, came into existence. On this day in 1971, nearly 1300 inmates of the Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, NY, rioted over living conditions and political rights, taking 42 staff members hostage. State police were able to contain the rioters to a single outside exercise yard within a few hours, but the suppression stalled at that point. On the morning of Sept. 13, after a final call for surrender was ignored, police dropped teargas in the yard and stormed in behind a hail of gunfire. 29 prisoners were killed - some after they had surrendered - along with 10 hostages, and another 89 people injured. One prison guard and 3 inmates were killed during the previous days' standoff. In 2000, a NY state court awarded 500 surviving inmates $8 million in damages in a class-action settlement.
