On this day in...

On this day in...
1803 – Lewis and Clark start their expedition to the west by leaving Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at 11 o clock in the morning.
1864 – During the American Civil War, Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta, Georgia.
1888 – Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She is the first of Jack the Ripper's known victims.
1897 – Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector.
1997 – Diana, Princess of Wales, her companion Dodi Al-Fayed and driver Henri Paul die in a car crash in Paris.

Births
12 – Gaius Caligula, Roman Emperor (d. 41)
1949 – Richard Gere, American actor
1968 – Hideo Nomo, Japanese baseball player
1971 – Pádraig Harrington, Irish golfer
1972 – Chris Tucker, American actor
1975 – Gabe Kapler, American baseball player and manager
1983 – Larry Fitzgerald, American football player

Well, that 100 years in between the movie projector and Princess Di's death was pretty boring. Trinidad and Tobago became a country but I didn't really think that cut the mustard. It is Richard Gere's birthday though, so today is a sad day for gerbils everywhere.