BIBLE VERSE

On This Day in:

1783 – George Washington returned home to Mount Vernon, after the disbanding of his army following the Revolutionary War.

1788 – Maryland voted to cede a 100-square-mile area for the seat of the national government. About two-thirds of the area became the District of Columbia.

1823 – The poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement C. Moore (“ ‘Twas the night before Christmas…”) was published.

1834 – English architect Joseph Hansom patented his ‘safety cab’, better known as the Hansom cab.

1852 – The Theatre of Celestial John opened on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, CA. It was the first Chinese theatre in the U.S.

1856 – Ralph Collier was issued a U.S. patent for the first rotary egg beater with rotating parts.

1880 – Thomas Edison incorporated the Edison Electric Light Company of Europe.

1888 – Following a quarrel with Paul Gauguin, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh cut off part of his own earlobe.

1893 – The Engelbert Humperdinck opera “Hansel und Gretel” was first performed, in Weimar, Germany.

1913 – The Federal Reserve Bill was signed into law by U.S.

President Woodrow Wilson. The act established 12 Federal Reserve Banks.

1919 – The first ship designed to be used as an ambulance for the transport patients was launched. The hospital ship was named USS Relief and had 515 beds.

1922 – The British Broadcasting Corporation began daily news broadcasts.

1930 – Ruth Elizabeth Davis, an unknown actress, arrived in Hollywood, under contract to Universal Studios. Universal changed her name to Bette Davis for the movies.

1941 – During World War II, American forces on Wake Island surrendered

to the Japanese.

1942 – Bob Hope agreed to entertain U.S. airmen in Alaska. It was the first of the traditional Christmas shows.

1943 – “Hansel and Gretel,” the opera, was televised on New York’s WRBG. It was the first complete opera to be televised.

1947 – John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain and William Shockley invented the transistor.

1948 – Former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed in Tokyo. They had been found guilty of crimes against humanity.

1951 – A National Football League (NFL) championship game was televised nationally for the first time. The Los Angeles Rams beat the Cleveland Browns 24-17. The DuMont Network had paid

$75,000 for the rights to the game.

1953 – Soviet secret police chief Lavrenti Beria and six of his associates were shot for treason following a secret trial.

1954 – The movie “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” was released.

1968 – The crew of the U.S. Navy ship, Pueblo, was released by North Korea. The Captain of the Pueblo, Commander Lloyd M.

Bucher, and 82 of his crew were held for 11 months after the ship was seized by North Korea because of suspected spying by the Americans.

1970 – In New York, the topping out ceremony for original One World Trade Center (North Tower) took place. The South Tower’s ceremony took place on July 19, 1971.

1972 – The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders 13-7 in an NFL playoff game on a last-second play that was dubbed the “Immaculate Reception.” Pittsburgh’s Franco Harris caught a deflected pass and ran it in for the winning touchdown.

1981 – NASA approved a plan to continue the Voyager II spacecraft on a trajectory that would take it within 66,000 miles of Uranus on July 24, 1986.

1986 – The experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first non-stop, around-the-world flight without refueling, landing safely at Edwards Air Force Base.

1987 – Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, serving a life sentence for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ford in 1975, escaped from the Alderson Federal Prison for Women in West Virginia. She was recaptured two days later.

“And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.”

— Matthew 2:11 (ESV)