Today in History...October 16

On this day in …

1773, the first public statement against the British Parliament's Tea Act was a document printed in the Pennsylvania Gazette on this day in 1773. The document became known as the "Philadelphia Resolutions."
1793, during the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, the queen of France, was beheaded

1854, an obscure lawyer and Congressional hopeful from the state of Illinois named Abraham Lincoln delivers a speech regarding the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which Congress had passed five months earlier. In his speech, the future president denounced the act and outlined his views on slavery, which he called "immoral."

1859, abolitionist John Brown led a group of about 20 men in a raid on Harper's Ferry, Va.

1868, America's first department store opened in Salt Lake City, Utah. ZCMI (Zion's Co-Operative Mercantile Institution) was founded under the direction of Morman leader Brigham Young. The store is still open

1946, 10 Nazi war criminals, ym"sh, condemned during the Nuremberg trials were hanged

1962, the Cuban missile crisis began as President Kennedy was informed that reconnaissance photographs had revealed the presence of missile bases in Cuba

1964, China set off its first atomic bomb, code-named "596," on the Lop Nur Test Ground

1976, "Disco Duck," a satiric send-up of the 1970s disco craze, becomes a No. 1 hit on this day in 1976. The song, by Memphis disk jockey Rick Dees, became a national hit, but Dees was fired for talking about the song on his morning program.

1987, a 58 1/2 hour drama in Midland, Texas, ended happily as rescuers freed Jessica McClure, an 18-month-old girl trapped in an abandoned well

1995, the "Million Man March," led by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan on the Mall in DC, attracted a laughable percentage of its goal