Today in History - Historical Events - December 23rd

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Notable Historical Events on December 23rd

19707,511th performance of Agatha Christie's play "The Mousetrap" (record)

1862Union General Ben "Beast" Butler is proclaimed a "felon, outlaw & common enemy of mankind" by Jefferson Davis

1994Fearing arrest by the FBI, Whitey Bulger flees Boston, and successfully hides from law enforcement for the next 16 years

1930Bette Davis arrives in Hollywood under contract to Universal Studios

1987Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, serving a life sentence for attempted assassination of Pres Gerald R Ford escapes from Alderson Prison

1888Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear

1913President Woodrow Wilson signs Federal Reserve Act into law

1997Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson is quickest to reach 500 wins (682 games)

1793Thomas Jefferson warned of slave revolts in West Indies

1776Thomas Paine writes "These are the times that try men's souls"

1997Colorado Avalanche Jari Kurri is 8th NHLer to score 600 career goals

1961Fidel Castro announces Cuba will release 1,113 prisoners from failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion for $62M worth of food & medical supplies

1783General George Washington resigns his military commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Army to Congress

1779Benedict Arnold court-martialed for improper conduct

1921Gangster Carlo Gambino enters the United States as an illegal immigrant on the SS Vincenzo Florio

1933Howie Morenz takes over NHL career goal lead at 251

December 23rd Historical Events
Date Event
619
Boniface V begins his reign as Catholic Pope 
962
Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops stormed the city of Aleppo, recovering the tattered tunic of John the Baptist. 
1482
Peace of Atrecht 
1493
Georg Alt's German translation of Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle is published. 
1620
French huguenots declare war on King Louis XIII 
1672
Giovanni Cassini discovers Rhea, a satellite of Saturn 
1688
English King James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch flees to France and from William of Orange 
1690
English astronomer John Flamsteed observes Uranus without realizing it's undiscovered 
1715
Russian/Prussian troops occupy Stralsund 
1724
Emperor Charles VI names Maria Elisabeth land guardian of Aust Neth 
1728
Prussian Emperor Karel VI signs Treaty of Berlin 
1751
France sets plan to tax clergymen 
1776
Continental Congress negotiates a war loan of $181,500 from France 
1776
Thomas Paine writes "These are the times that try men's souls" 
1779
Benedict Arnold court-martialed for improper conduct 
1783
General George Washington resigns his military commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Army to Congress 
1788
Maryland votes to cede a 10 sqaure mile area for District of Columbia 
1793
Thomas Jefferson warned of slave revolts in West Indies 
1823
"Visit from St Nicholas" by C Moore published in Troy (NY) Sentinel 
1832
Dutch troops in Antwerp surrender 
1834
Joseph Hansom of London receives patent for Hansom cabs 
1852
1st Chinese theater in US, Celestial John, opens in San Francisco 
1862
Union General Ben "Beast" Butler is proclaimed a "felon, outlaw & common enemy of mankind" by Jefferson Davis 
1876
Turkey's 1st constitution proclaimed 
1888
Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear 
1893
Opera "Hansel und Gretel" is produced (Weimar) 
1894
Debussy's ballet "L'aprés-midi d'un faune" premieres in Paris 
1899
British Field Marshall Lord Roberts departs Southampton to South Africa for the 2nd Boer War 
1899
Tentative Turkish & German treaty on construction of Baghdad railway 
1900
As American forces defeat the Filipino insurgents and impose civil authority, some Filipinos form a Federal Party with a platform recognizing US sovereignty 
1907
1st all-steel passengar railroad coach completed, Altoona, Pa 
1909
Albert I becomes the third King of the Belgians 
1911
Frank Wedekind's "Oaha, die Satire der Satire" premieres in Munich 
1911
Opera "I Gioielli Della Madonna" is produced (Berlin) 
1912
1st "Keystone Kops" film, entitled "Hoffmeyer's Legacy" 
1912
Aswan Dam in Nile begins operation 
1912
In Delhi, India, terrorist agitation continues as British Viceroy Lord Hardinge is wounded by a bomb explosion 
1913
President Woodrow Wilson signs Federal Reserve Act into law 
1914
World War I: Australian and New Zealand troops arrive in Cairo, Egypt. 
1915
J Kern/S Greene's musical "Very Good Eddie" premieres in NYC 
1916
World War I: Battle of Magdhaba - Allied forces defeat Turkish forces in Egypt's Sinai peninsula. 
1917
3 British warships come close to Holland 
1919
1st hospital ship built to move wounded naval personnel launched 
1919
Alice H Parker patents gas heating furnace 
1920
Government of Ireland Act / Home Rule Act passed partitioning Ireland 
1921
Visva-Bharati University is inaugurated. 
1921
Gangster Carlo Gambino enters the United States as an illegal immigrant on the SS Vincenzo Florio 
1922
BBC Radio began daily newscasts 
1922
Pope Pius XI pleas for peace: encyclical Ubi arcano 
1923
Yankees pitcher Carl Mays sold to Reds for $85,000 
1925
Sultan Ibn Saud of Nedzjed conquers Djeddah 
1926
KEX-AM in Portland OR begins radio transmissions 
1928
NBC sets up a permanent, coast-to-coast radio network 
1930
Bette Davis arrives in Hollywood under contract to Universal Studios 
1930
Police Bureau of Criminal Alien Investigation started in NYC 
1933
Howie Morenz takes over NHL career goal lead at 251 
1933
Marinus van der Lubbe sentenced to death 
1933
Train crash in Eastern Paris; 230 die 
1936
Colombia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty 
1937
First flight of the Vickers Wellington bomber. 
1938
Margaret Hamilton's costume catches fire in filming of "Wizard of Oz" 
1938
Discovery of the first modern coelacanth in South Africa. 
1939
Finnish counter offensive at Summa 
1939
South Australia score 7-821 against Queensland 
1940
John Van Druten's "Old Acquaintance" premieres in NYC 
1941
American forces on Wake Island surrender to Japanese 
1941
British troops overrun Benghazi Libya 
1941
Japan begins assault on Rangoon Burma 
1942
Allies air attack on Den Helder 
1943
1st telecast of a complete opera (Hansel & Gretel), Schenectady, NY 
1943
Gen Montgomery told he is appointed commandant for D-day 
1944
Beginning of harsh winter 
1945
Frederick Astons "Cinderella" premieres in London 
1945
Pope Pius XII encyclical Orientals omnes, about Rutheense church 
1946
Belgian Council of State forms 
1946
Highest ridership in NYC subway history (8.8 million passengers) 
1946
U of Tenn refuses to play Duquesne U, because they may use a black player in their basketball game 
1947
Transistor invented by Bardeen, Brattain & Shockley in Bell Labs 
1951
Last Belgian communities get electricity 
1951
1st coast-to-coast televised football game (Dumont paid $75,000) LA Rams beat Cleveland Browns 24-17 in NFL championship game 
1952
Alain Bombard arrives in Barbados after 65 days at sea proving his theory that a shipwrecked person could survive with almost no provisions, despite having lost 25 kg (65 lbs)in weight 
1953
Dodgers 2nd baseman Jim "Junior" Gilliam wins NL Rookie of Year 
1954
The first human kidney transplant is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. 
1957
Test Cricket debut for Wally Grout & Bobby Simpson v South Africa 
1958
"Party with Comden & Green" opens at John Golden NYC for 38 perfs 
1958
Abdallah Ibrahim forms government of Morocco 
1960
De Quay's Dutch government falls 
1960
King Saudi of Saudi Arabia takes power 
1961
KICU TV channel 43 in Visalia-Fresno, CA (IND) begins broadcasting 
1961
Train accident in Italy, 70 die 
1961
Fidel Castro announces Cuba will release 1,113 prisoners from failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion for $62M worth of food & medical supplies 
1962
Cuba starts returning US prisoners from Bay of Pigs invasion 
1962
Dallas Texans beat Houston Oilers 20-17 in AFL championship game 
1963
Beach Boys 1st appearance on "Shindig" 
1963
Fire on Greek ship Laconia, 128 die 
1964
India & Ceylon hit by cyclone, about 4,850 killed 
1966
Britain's rock TV show "Ready Steady Go" last program 
1967
Brussels: NATO Council accept "Flexible Response" strategy 
1968
1st US case of space motion sickness 
1968
82 members of US intelligence ship Pueblo released by North Korea 
1968
Borman, Lovell & Anders become 1st men to orbit Moon 
1970
7,511th performance of Agatha Christie's play "The Mousetrap" (record) 
1970
French author Régis Debray freed in Bolivia 
1970
NY World Trade Center reaches highest point (411 m) 
1970
USSR performs nuclear test 
1970
A Protestant man is shot dead at his home in Belfast, North Ireland 
1971
British Prime Minister Edward Heath visits Northern Ireland and expresses his determination to end the violence 
1972
16 plane crash survivors rescued after 70d, survived by cannabalism 
1972
6.25 Earthquake destroys central Managua Nicaragua, 10,000 die 
1972
Chandrasekhar takes 8-79 India v England at Delhi 
1972
Islanders end 15 games winless streak 
1972
"Immaculate Reception" Steelers turns around a 7-6 defeat with a last second touchdown reception against Raiders to win 13-7 
1973
"Young & Restless" premieres on TV 
1973
6 Persian Gulf nations double their oil prices 
1973
French Caravelle crashes in Morocco, 106 killed 
1974
"Good News" opens at St James Theater NYC for 16 performances 
1974
Leningrad: premier of Dmitri Sjotakovitsj' Michelangelo-liederen 
1975
Congress passes Metric Conversion Act 
1975
Peter Seitz makes Andy Messersmith & Dave McNally free agents 
1978
Islanders scored 7 goals in 1 period against NY Rangers, Trottier scores 8 points vs Rangers, 5 goals-NHL record 6 pts in 1 period 
1979
NY Islanders greatest shutout lose (8-0) vs Chicago Black Hawks 
1979
USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR 
1980
Sam Shepard's "True West" premieres in NYC 
1981
Geoff Boycott becomes leading run-scorer in Test Cricket with 8033 
1982
The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces it has identified dangerous levels of dioxin in the soil of Times Beach, Missouri. 
1983
Journal Science publishes 1st report on nuclear winter 
1984
Viv Richards scores 208 in Test Cricket at MCG 
1986
Experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan & Jeana Yeager, complete 1st nonstop, round-the-world flight without refueling lands 
1987
Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, serving a life sentence for attempted assassination of Pres Gerald R Ford escapes from Alderson Prison 
1990
"Lettice & Lovage" closes at Barrymore Theater NYC after 284 perfs 
1990
Slovenians vote to secede from Yugoslavia 
1991
NY Daily News publisher Kevin Maxwell resigns 
1994
Baseball owners impose salary cap, fiercely opposed by players 
1994
Fearing arrest by the FBI, Whitey Bulger flees Boston, and successfully hides from law enforcement for the next 16 years 
1996
4 women ordained priests in Jamaica, 1st in 330-year Anglican history 
1997
Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson is quickest to reach 500 wins (682 games) 
1997
Colorado Avalanche Jari Kurri is 8th NHLer to score 600 career goals 
1997
Terry Nichols found guilty of manslaughter in Oklahoma bombing 
1997
US Agriculture Dept estimates it costs $149,820 to raise a child to 18 
2002
A MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25, making it the first time in history that an aircraft and an unmanned drone had engaged in combat. 
2003
PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion, Guoqiao, Kai, Chongqing, China, killing at least 234. 
2004
Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean is hit by an 8.1 magnitude earthquake. 
2005
Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 217 from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Aktau, Kazakhstan crashes shortly after takeoff killing 23 people. 
2005
Chad declares a state of war against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead. 
2012
200 civilians are killed by Syrian government warplanes in Helfaya, Syria 
2012
The Seleka rebel coalition takes over Bambari, the third largest town in the Central African Republic 
2015
At least 30 injured in explosion in Cardenas, Mexico 
2016
Ivanka Trump accosted on JetBlue flight by passenger 
2016
Deutsche Bank to Pay $7.2 Billion in Bond Settlement 
2017
32 killed as bus falls into river in western India 
2017
Storm leaves 75 dead, dozens missing in southern Philippines 
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