#Middlebury
On Feb. 28, 1844, President John Tyler cruises the Potomac with 400 others aboard the U.S. Navy’s new steam frigate USS Princeton. The Princeton carried a new 12-inch, 27,000-pound cannon called the Peacemaker. During a test firing, the cannon exploded, killing several aboard, including two members of Tyler’s cabinet.- On March 3, 1875, the first indoor game of ice hockey is played in Quebec. Prior to the move indoors, ice hockey was a casual outdoor game, with no rules regarding the number of players per side. For the 1875 Montreal game, the ball was replaced with a wooden disc, now known as a puck.
- On March 2, 1929, The Jones Act, the last gasp of the Prohibition, is passed by Congress. The act strengthened the federal penalties for bootlegging.
- On Feb. 27, 1936, Shirley Temple receives a new contract from 20th Century Fox that will pay the 7-year-old star $50,000 per film, equal to $910,264.49 in today’s dollars. The studio also altered her birth certificate, making it appear that she was a year younger.
- On Feb. 26, 1949, from Carswell AFB in Texas, the Lucky Lady II, a B-50 Superfortress, takes off on the first nonstop round-the-world flight. The Lucky Lady II was refueled four times in the air and returned after 94 hours.
- On Feb. 25, 1964, Cassius Clay shocks the odds-makers by dethroning world heavyweight boxing champ Sonny Liston in a seventh-round technical knockout. Later that year, Clay took the Muslim name of Muhammad Ali.
- On March 1, 1971, a bomb explodes in the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., destroying a bathroom and barber shop but injuring no one. A group calling itself the “Weather Underground” claimed credit for the bombing, done in protest of the ongoing U.S.-supported Laos invasion.
© 2019 Hearst Communications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
You must be logged in to post a comment.