1934: US Public Enemy #1 (according to J. Edgar Hoover) was shot dead in a north Chicago movie theatre on this day in 1934. Dillinger had escaped from prison on March 3 from a supposed escape-proof cell using a wooden gun he fashioned. He soon resumed his chosen career, even evading an FBI ambush in which two agents were accidentally killed. His run from the law was short lived.
1376: The legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin leading rats out of town is said to have occurred on this date.
1587: A second English colony was established on Roanoke Island off North Carolina. The colony vanished under mysterious circumstances.
1796: Cleveland was founded by Gen. Moses Cleaveland.
1798: The USS Constitution was underway and out to sea for the firs time since being launched on October 21, 1797.
1812: English troops under the Duke of Wellington defeated the French at the Battle of Salamanca in Spain.
1916: 10 people were killed when a bomb went off during a Preparedness Day parade in San Francisco, CA.
1926: Babe Ruth caught a baseball at Mitchell Field in New York. The ball had been dropped from an airplane flying at 250 feet.
1933: Wiley Post ended his around-the-world flight. He had traveled 15,596 miles in 7 days, 18 hours and 45 minutes.
1934: John Dillinger was mortally wounded by FBI agents at the Biograph Theatre in Chicago, IL.
1937: The U.S. Senate rejected President Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court.
1943: American forces led by Gen. George S. Patton captured Palermo, Sicily.
1941: Plans for the Pentagon were presented to the House Subcommittee on Appropriations.
1946: 90 people were killed when Jewish extremists blew up a wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.
1955: U.S. Vice-President Richard M. Nixon chaired a cabinet meeting in Washington, DC. It was the first time that a Vice-President had carried out the task.
1965: "Till Death Us Do Part" debuted on England’s BBC-TV.
1975: Confederate General Robert E. Lee had his U.S. citizenship restored by the U.S. Congress.
1991: Desiree Washington, a Miss Black America contestant, charged she'd been raped by boxer Mike Tyson in an Indianapolis hotel room. Tyson was later convicted of rape and served 3 years in prison.
1991: Police arrested Jeffrey Dahmer after finding the remains of 11 victims in his apartment in Milwaukee. Dahmer confessed to 17 murders and was sentenced to life in prison.
1992: Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escaped from his luxury prison near Medellin. He was killed by security forces in December 1993.
1998: Iran tested medium-range missile, capable of reaching Israel or Saudi Arabia.
2000: Astronomers at the University of Arizona announced that they had found a 17th moon orbiting Jupiter.
2003: In northern Iraq, Saddam Hussein's sons Odai and Qusai died after a gunfight with U.S. forces.
2003: In Paris, France, a fire broke out near the top of the Eiffel Tower. About 4,000 visitors were evacuated and no injuries were reported.
2004: The September 11 commission's final report was released. The 575-page report concluded that hijackers exploited "deep institutional failings within our government." The report was released to White House officials the day before.
2009: The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting up to 6 minutes and 38.8 seconds, occurred over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
