1806 Holy Roman Empire ends; it was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire. Francis II renounces the title, becoming Emperor of Austria.
1890 Future Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young makes his MLB debut, throwing a 3-hitter for the Cleveland Spiders in an 8-1 win over the Chicago Colts at League Park in Cleveland; Young's first career error leads to Chicago's only run
1890 Murderer William Kemmler becomes the first person executed by electric chair at Auburn Prison in New York
1926 American Gertrude Ederle (20) becomes the first woman to swim across the English Channel from Cap Gris-Nez, France, to Kingsdown, England, in 14 hours and 39 minutes, setting a record for males and females
1930 Supreme Court Justice John Force Crater disappears in New York City
1934 US troops leave Haiti, which has been occupied since 1915
1936 American athlete Forrest Towns runs a world record of 14.1 in the semi-finals of the 110 m hurdles at the Berlin Olympics; he can't match the time in the final but wins the gold medal
1936 Jack Lovelock of New Zealand runs a world record time of 3:47.8 to win the gold medal in the 1,500 m at the Berlin Olympics
1937 MLB overturns New York Yankees' 7-6 win over Cleveland Indians due to umpire error(that's important,dammit)
1945 An atomic bomb is dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima by the US B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay"
1952 St. Louis Browns veteran pitcher Satchel Paige, 46, becomes the oldest pitcher to win a complete shutout, 1-0 over the Detroit Tigers in 12 innings
1953 Future Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Ted Williams returns to the Red Sox from military service in Korea and ends the abbreviated season with a .407 batting average
1962 Jamaica becomes independent after 300 years of British rule
1967 Future Baseball Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles hits into an MLB-record fourth career triple play
1980 University administration declares five Pac-10 schools ineligible for conference titles and postseason play due to transcript and curriculum abuses
2024 Kamala Harris picks Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her vice-presidential running mate for the US presidential elections(frightening concept)