Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

July 19

1991
Mike Tyson has sex with 18-year-old beauty pageant contestant Desiree Washington for which he was later convicted of rape.

1989
A United Airlines DC-10 crashes en route from Denver to Chicago, killing 111 with 185 surviving.

1985
Challenger disaster: New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe is chosen from among 11,000 applicants to ride aboard the space shuttle. It exploded on lift-off killing all aboard.

1984
First woman nominated for vice-president by a major political party: Geraldine Ferraro is nominated by the Democratic party.

1961
First regularly scheduled in-flight movie, By Love Possessed, shown on a TWA flight.

1957
First U.S. rocket with a nuclear warhead is fired, at the Nevada proving grounds.

1909
First unassisted triple play in major-league baseball, Neal Ball for Cleveland against Boston.

1900
The Paris Metropolitain opens, the main line of Metropolitain underground railway.

1862
Swift-Tuttle Comet is discovered by Horace Tuttle in Massachusetts. It had been independently spotted by Louis Swift in New York three days earlier. It has a 1 in 10,000 chance of colliding with Earth in the year 2126. If this occurs it will probably end civilization.

1848
Bloomers: According to fashion legend, Amelia Jenks Bloomer introduces the new women's fashion by wearing a pair to the first Women's Rights Convention in New York.

1776
Declaration of Independence: After receiving word of unanimous approval by all 13 colonies, the Continental Congress orders its engrossing and signing, which began on August 2nd.

1692
Salem Witch Trials: Sarah Good, Sarah Wildes, Elizabeth Howe, Rebbecca Nourse, and Sussanah Martin are hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts.

1952
Robert Burden, cartoonist, created Flaming Carrot Comics (1979).

1948
Beverly Archer, American actress. TV: Mama's Family (Iola).

1947
Brian May, English guitarist with Queen.

1947
Bernie Leadon, American guitarist, with The Eagles. Music: Take It Easy (1972), Desperado (1973), and One of These Nights (1975).

1941
Vikki Carr, American singer. Music: It Must Be Him (1967).

1926
Helen Gallagher, American actress. TV: Ryan's Hope (Maeve Ryan).

1922
George McGovern, American politician, U.S. Representative (1957-61, South Dakota), U.S. Senator (1963-81, South Dakota), 1972 Presidential candidate, losing in a landslide to Nixon.

1883     d. 1972
Max Fleischer, Austrian-born American animator. He and his brother Dave created Betty Boop and animated Popeye the Sailor. He also created Out of the Inkwell, which was the first popular animated cartoon series.

1865     d. 1939
Charles Horace Mayo, American surgeon. He and his brother, William James Mayo, co-founded the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (1915).

1860     d. 1927
Lizzie Borden (Lisbeth A. Borden), American murder suspect. She was accused of axing her parents to death in 1892; she was acquitted in 1893.

1834     d. 1917
Edgar Degas, French impressionist painter, sculptor. He is noted for his paintings of ballet dancers and racehorses.

1814     d. 1862
Samuel Colt, American inventor. He patented his revolver in 1836. He also invented the first electrically detonated water mine (1842).

2005     b. 1924
Alain Bombard, French biologist, physician. He made a solo voyage across the Atlantic Ocean (1952) in a 15-foot long boat with almost no provisions. He survived by eating raw fish and plankton. He just wanted to prove that it could be done.

1995     b. ????
Dorothy McHugh, American dancer. An ex-Ziegfeld Follies dancer, she appeared in a medical device commercial proclaiming "I've fallen and I can't get up," for which she was paid $60.

1937     b. 1863
George Stafford Parker, American inventor. He invented an improved fountain pen (1890) and founded The Parker Pen Company.

1850     b. 1810
Sarah Margaret Fuller, American writer, critic, Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845), the first American book on feminism. She was the first American woman foreign correspondent (1846 for the Tribune)

1810     b. 1776
Louise, Queen of Prussia, wife of Frederick William III.

514     b. ????
Saint Symmachus, religious leader, 51st Pope (498-514).

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