1908: Pima County Sheriff Nabor Pacheco and Undersheriff Henry Meyer accompany Horace J. Groce to the scaffold. Groce has been convicted of murdering his wife, Ida.
After the noose was put around his neck, Grove personally thanked Undersheriff Meyer for the kind treatment he received while he was in jail.
After 1 p.m. — when the factory whistles blew — Sheriff Pacheco cut the cord and eight minutes later Groce was pronounced dead.
1949: El Rancho opens as Tucson’s first supermarket, and 20,000 come to gawk and shop at the 15,000-square-foot grocery store on Speedway almost to Alvernon. Today, Whole Foods is at that location.
1981: President Ronald Reagan nominates Duncan, Ariz.-raised Sandra Day O'Connor — the first woman — to the Supreme Court.
2002: The Rodeo-Chediski fire is contained, but not before the fire destroys more than 468,000 acres — making it the second-largest Arizona wildfire (behind 2011's Wallow Fire) since 1990.
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