August 291828 - A patent was issued to Robert Turner for the self-regulating wagon brake. 1833 - The "Factory Act" was passed in England to settle child labor laws. 1842 - The Treaty of Nanking was signed by the British and the Chinese. The treaty ended the first Opium War and gave the island of Hong Kong to Britain. 1885 - The first prizefight under the Marquis of Queensberry Rules was held in Cincinnati, OH. John L. Sullivan defeated Dominick McCaffery in six rounds. 1886 - In New York City, Chinese Ambassador Li Hung-chang's chef invented chop suey. 1892 - Pop (Billy) Shriver (Chicago Cubs) caught a ball that was dropped from the top of the Washington Monument in Washington, DC. 1944 - During the continuing celebration of the liberation of France from the Nazis, 15,000 American troops marched down the Champs Elysees in Paris. 1945 - U.S. General Douglas MacArthur left for Japan to officially accept the surrender of the Japanese. 1949 - At the University of Illinois, a nuclear device was used for the first time to treat cancer patients. 1957 - Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina set a filibuster record in the U.S. when he spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes. 1962 - The lower level of the George Washington Bridge opened. 1965 - Gemini 5, carrying astronauts Gordon Cooper and Charles ("Pete") Conrad, splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean after eight days in space. 1966 - Mia Farrow withdrew from the cast of the ABC-TV's "Peyton Place." 1967 - The final episode of "The Fugitive" aired. 1971 - Hank Aaron became the first baseball player in the National League to hit 100 or more runs in each of 11 seasons. 1977 - Lou Brock brought his total of stolen bases to 893. The record he beat was held by Ty Cobb for 49 years. 1983 - Two U.S. marines were killed in Lebanon by the militia group Amal when they fired mortar shells at the Beirut airport. 1983 - The anchor of the USS Monitor, from the U.S. Civil War, was retrieved by divers. 1990 - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, in a television interview, declared that America could not defeat Iraq. 1991 - The Communist Party in the Soviet Union had its bank accounts frozen and activities were suspended because of the Party's role in the failed coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev. 1991 - The republics of Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement to stay in the Soviet Union. 1992 - The U.N. Security Council agreed to send troops to Somalia to guard the shipments of food. 1994 - Mario Lemieux announced that he would be taking a medical leave of absence due to fatigue, an aftereffect of his 1993 radiation treatments. He would sit out the National Hockey Leagues (NHL) 1994-95 season. 1998 - Northwest Airlines pilots went on strike after their union rejected a last-minute company offer. 2004 - India test-launched a nuclear-capable missle able to carry a one-ton warhead. The weapon had a range of 1,560 miles. |