On this date in history:

In 1648, the Treaty of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War in Europe.

In 1861, the first telegram was transmitted across the United States from California Chief Justice Stephen Field to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in Washington.

In 1901, daredevil Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

In 1929, $5 billion in market values were swept away in the greatest selling wave in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 would mark the beginning of a 10-year Depression which would affect the entire Western world.

In 1931, New York City's George Washington Bridge opened to public traffic.

In 1962, the blockade of Cuba was in effect, with a ring of U.S. warships and planes under orders to block by whatever means, further aggressive arm deliveries to Fidel Castro.

In 1992, the Toronto Blue Jays become the first Major League Baseball team based outside the United States to win the World Series.

In 2002, police arrested two suspects in a three-week series of Washington-area sniper attacks that killed 10 people and wounded three others. John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, were found sleeping in a car at a rest stop near Frederick, Md. Both were convicted. Muhammad was executed and Malvo sentenced to life in prison.

In 2003, an era in aviation history ended when the supersonic Concorde took off from New York to London on its final flight.

In 2005, civil rights icon Rosa Parks died at age 92. Parks gave new impetus to the rights movement in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., bus.

In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama declared a national emergency related to the outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus, also known as swine flu, to aid local authorities in dealing with the pandemic. Medical officials put the American death toll at 530 with thousands hospitalized.

In 2012, a 41-mile final stretch of Texas Highway 130, a toll road from Mustang Ridge, south of Austin, to Seguin, opened with the highest speed limit in the United States -- 85 mph.

In 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall for the first time, in Jamaica, killing two people there. The storm would go on to cause tens of billions of dollars in the northeast United States and kill more than 200 people along its path.

In 2021, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady made his record 600th touchdown pass during a game against the Chicago Bears. During the game, the ball was given to a fan, who returned it to the team in exchange for a replacement game ball and a $1,000 gift certificate to the team store. Experts told UPI the original ball was likely worth $500,000 to $1 million.

In 2022, silent movie actor Anna May Wong became the first Asian American to be featured on U.S. currency as part of the U.S. mint's American Women Quarters Program. Brady retired in 2022 with 649 touchdown passes.

In 2023, a former attorney for Donald Trump, Jenna Ellis, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting false statements in the former president's alleged conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

Copyright 2024 by United Press International