Today in history: Nov. 14
In 1910, Eugene B. Ely became the first aviator to take off from a ship as his Curtiss pusher rolled off a sloping platform on the deck of the scout cruiser USS Birmingham, and more events that happened on this day in history.
1862: Ambrose Burnside
In 1862, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln gave the go-ahead for Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s plan to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond; the resulting Battle of Fredericksburg proved a disaster for the Union.
1881: Charles J. Guiteau
In 1881, Charles J. Guiteau went on trial for assassinating President James A. Garfield. (Guiteau was convicted and hanged the following year.)
1910: Eugene B. Ely
In 1910, Eugene B. Ely became the first aviator to take off from a ship as his Curtiss pusher rolled off a sloping platform on the deck of the scout cruiser USS Birmingham off Hampton Roads, Virginia.
1915: Booker T. Washington
In 1915, African-American educator Booker T. Washington, 59, died in Tuskegee, Alabama.
1940: Coventry
In 1940, during World War II, German planes destroyed most of the English town of Coventry.
1970: Plane Crash
In 1970, a chartered Southern Airways DC-9 crashed while trying to land in West Virginia, killing all 75 people on board, including the Marshall University football team and its coaching staff.
2011: Jerry Sandusky
In 2011, former Penn State football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, in a telephone interview with NBC News, denied allegations he’d sexually abused eight boys and said any activities in a campus shower with a boy were just horseplay.
2013: James "Whitey" Bulger
In 2013, former Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger was led off to prison to begin serving a life sentence at 84 for his murderous reign in the 1970s and ’80s. (Bulger was killed Oct. 30, 2018, hours after arriving at a federal prison in West Virginia.)
2016: Barack Obama
In 2016, in his first extended remarks on the election, President Barack Obama abandoned his dire warnings and dark predictions about his newly elected successor and urged Americans to give President-elect Donald Trump time to rise to the daunting responsibilities of the office.
2016: Corey Seager
In 2016, Corey Seager of the Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League Rookie of the Year award unanimously and Detroit’s Michael Fulmer took the American League honor.
2016: Gwen Ifill
In 2016, Gwen Ifill, co-anchor of PBS’ “NewsHour,” died in Washington at age 61.
2020: Donald Trump
In 2020, Donald Trump supporters unwilling to accept Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory gathered in cities across the country including Washington, D.C., where thousands rallied; after night fell in the nation’s capital, demonstrators favoring Trump clashed in the streets with counterprotesters, resulting in injuries to demonstrators and police officers and charges against nearly two dozen people.
2021: Astroworld
In 2021, a 9-year-old Dallas boy became the youngest person to die from injuries sustained during a crowd surge at the Astroworld music festival in Houston nine days earlier; a family attorney said Ezra Blount died at a Houston hospital, where he’d been placed in a medically induced coma after he suffered serious injuries in the crush of fans during a performance by rapper Travis Scott.
2017: Paul Ryan
House Speaker Paul Ryan said the House would require anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training for all members and their staffs; the announcement came hours after two female lawmakers spoke about sexual misconduct involving sitting members of Congress.
2012: David Price
Baseball’s Cy Young Awards went to Tampa Bay’s David Price in the American League and R.A. Dickey of the New York Mets in the National League.
2017: John Schnatter
In 2017, Papa John’s Pizza apologized for comments made by CEO John Schnatter (SHNAH’-tur), who had blamed sluggish pizza sales on NFL players kneeling during the national anthem.
2021: Moammar Gadhafi
Libya’s election agency said Seif al-Islam, the son and one-time heir apparent of late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, had announced his candidacy for the country’s December presidential election.