August 19




1692 - Five women and a clergyman were executed after being convicted of witchcraft in Salem, MA.

1812 - "Old Ironsides" (the USS Constitution) won a battle against the British frigate Guerriere east of Nova Scotia.

1848 - The discovery of gold in California was reported by the New York Herald.

1856 - The process of processing condensed milk was patented by Gail Borden.

1871 - Orville Wright was born. Orville and his brother Wilbur were the first people to have a successful sustained and controlled flight of an aircraft with a motor.

1883 - The French dress designer Gabrille "Coco" Chanel was born.

1909 - The first car race to be run on brick occurred at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

1917 - Team managers John McGraw and Christy Matthewson were arrested for breaking New York City's blue laws. The crime was their teams were playing baseball on Sunday.

1919 - Afghanistan gained independence from Britain.

1921 - Gene Roddenberry was born in El Paso, Texas. Roddenberry's first career was as an airline pilot. Later, he created the TV series Star Trek.

1929 - "Amos and Andy," the radio comedy program, made its debut on NBC starring Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll.

1934 - Adolf Hitler was approved for sole executive power in Germany as Fuehrer.

1940 - The new Civil Aeronautics Administration awarded honorary license #1 to Orville Wright.

1942 - About 6,000 Canadian and British soldiers launched a raid against the Germans at Dieppe, France. They suffered about 50 percent casualties.

1955 - Severe flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Diane, in the Northeast United States, claimed 200 lives.

1960 - Francis Gary Powers, an American U-2 pilot, was convicted of espionage in Moscow.

1960 - Two dogs were launched in a satellite into Earth's orbit by the Soviet Union.

1962 - Homero Blancas shot a 55 at the Premier Invitational Golf Tournament held in Longview, TX. It was the lowest score in U.S. competitive golf history.

1974 - During an anti-American protest in Nicosia, Cyprus, U.S. Ambassador Rodger P. Davies was fatally wounded by a bullet while in the American embassy.

1978 - 400 people were killed in a theater in Abadan, Iran. Moslem extremist set the fire.

1980 - 301 people died in a fire aboard a Saudi Arabian airliner.

1981 - Two Libyan SU-22s were shot down by two U.S. Navy F-14 fighters in the Gulf of Sidra.

1981 - The final episode of "Charlie's Angels was aired on ABC-TV.

1986 - 20 people were killed in a car bomb explosion in Tehran. Iran initially accused "American agents", however they later executed an "Iraqi agent."

1987 - David Horowitz, consumer reporter in Burbank, CA, was held at gunpoint while on camera and forced to read the assailants note. The program went off the air while police removed the gunman.

1987 - 16 people were killed by gunman Michael Ryan in Britain. It was the countries worst mass killing.

1991 - Soviet hard-liners announced that President Mikhail Gorbachev had been removed from power. Gorbachev returned to power two days later.

1993 - "Cheers" ended an 11-year run on NBC-TV. The show debuted on September 30, 1982.

1995 - Three U.S. diplomats were killed in an accident in their armored vehicle in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

1996 - A judge sentenced former Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker to four years probation for his Whitewater crimes.

1998 - Daniel Arizmenid Lopez, known as the "ear lopper", was arrested in Mexico. Lopez was accused of heading a gang of kidnappers that are responsible for 21 kidnappings.

1998 - The first piece of the 351 foot bronze statue of Christopher Columbus arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

1999 - Lorne Michaels received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - In Belgrade, thousands of Serbs attended a rally to demand the resignation of Yugoslavia's President Slobodan Milosevic.

2002 - A Russian military helicopter crashed after being shot by rebels in Chechnya. 119 people were killed.

2004 - Google Inc. stock began selling on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The initial price was set at $85 and ended the day at $100.34 with more than 22 million shares traded.