It Happened This Day in History

1782	The United States and Britain signed preliminary peace articles in Paris, ending the Revolutionary War.
1804	Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase went on trial, accused of political bias. He was acquitted by the Senate.
1835	Author Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida, Mo.
1900	Author Oscar Wilde died at age 46.
1962	U Thant of Burma was elected secretary-general of the United Nations, succeeding the late Dag Hammarskjold.
1966	The former British colony of Barbados became independent.
1979	The album “The Wall” by Pink Floyd was released.
1981	The United States and the Soviet Union opened negotiations in Geneva aimed at reducing nuclear weapons in Europe.
1993	President Bill Clinton signed into law the Brady bill, which requires a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks of prospective buyers.
AP Photo Marcy Nighswander
1993	Authorities in California arrested Richard Allen Davis, who confessed to abducting and killing 12 year-old Polly Klaas of Petaluma.
1995	President Bill Clinton became the first U.S. chief executive to visit Northern Ireland.
1999	The opening of a 135-nation trade gathering in Seattle was disrupted by at least 40,000 demonstrators, some of whom clashed with police.
AP Photo/Peter Dejong
2001	Robert Tools, the first person to receive a fully self-contained artificial heart, died in Louisville, Ky., after living with the device for 151 days.
2007	A man took hostages at a Hillary Clinton campaign office in Rochester, N.H.; Leeland Eisenberg surrendered about five hours later.