Today in History....September 4

On this day in …

* 1888, George Eastman received a patent for his roll-film box camera, and registered his trademark: "Kodak"

* 1893, English author Beatrix Potter first told the story of Peter Rabbit in the form of a "picture letter" to Noel Moore, the son of Potter's former governess

* 1917, the American Expeditionary Forces in France suffered their first fatalities during World War I when a German plane attacked a British-run base hospital

* 1951, President Truman addressed the nation from the Japanese peace treaty conference in San Francisco in the first live, coast-to-coast television broadcast

* 1971, an Alaska Airlines jet crashed near Juneau, killing 111 people

* 1987, a Soviet court convicted West German pilot Mathias Rust of charges stemming from his daring flight to Moscow's Red Square, and sentenced him to four years in a labor camp. (Rust served about 14
months.)

* 1997, a triple suicide bombing by practitioners of that "religion of peace" in the heart of Jerusalem killed 4 Jews and the three bombers

* 2002, President Bush promised to seek congressional approval for "whatever is necessary" to oust Saddam Hussein, including using military force. Secretary of State Colin Powell was heckled by dozens of activists on the closing day of the World Summit in South Africa

* 2006, "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, 44, died after a stingray's barb pierced his chest. ALSO: The Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger jet, took off from Toulouse, France, with a full load of passengers for the first time