Today in HIstory....March 6

On this day in …

* 1836, the Alamo in San Antonio fell to Mexican forces after a 13-day siege

* 1896, Charles B. King tested his automobile on the streets of Detroit, Michigan, becoming the first man to drive a car in the Motor City

* 1899, the Imperial Patent Office in Berlin registers Aspirin, the brand name for acetylsalicylic acid, on behalf of the German pharmaceutical company Friedrich Bayer & Co. Now the most common drug in household medicine cabinets, acetylsalicylic acid was originally made from a chemical found in the bark of willow trees.
In its primitive form, the active ingredient, salicin, was used for centuries in folk medicine, beginning in ancient Greece when Hippocrates used it to relieve pain and fever. Known to doctors since the mid-19thcentury, it was used sparingly due to its unpleasant taste and tendency to damage the stomach

* 1933, a nationwide bank holiday declared by President Roosevelt went into effect

* 1944, U.S. heavy bombers staged the first full-scale American raid on Berlin during World War II

* 1981, Walter Cronkite signed off for the last time as principal anchorman of "The CBS Evening News"

* 1997, a gunman stole a $1 million Picasso portrait ("Tete de
Femme") from a London gallery. (The painting was recovered and two suspects arrested a week later.) ALSO: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II launched the first official royal Web site. AND: China introduced new laws to bolster its campaigns against dissent, ethnic separatism and subversive Western ideals

* 2002, independent Counsel Robert Ray issued his final report in which he wrote that former President Clinton could have been indicted and probably would have been convicted in the scandal involving former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. ALSO: Federal regulators approved the proposed $22 billion merger of Hewlett-Packard Co. and Compaq Computer Corp

* 2006, South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds signed legislation banning most abortions in his state (abortion-rights groups were able to get enough signatures to put the measure to a vote, and the ban was rejected in the November election)