Today in History for Dec. 12, 2014

Stand Watie

Dec. 12, 1787 – Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, five days after Delaware became the first.

Dec. 12, 1792 - In Vienna, 22-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven received one of his first lessons in music composition from Franz Joseph Haydn.

Dec. 12, 1800 - Washington, D.C. was established as the capital of the United States.

Dec. 12, 1806 - Confederate General Stand Watie was born near Rome, Georgia.

Dec. 12, 1822 – Five commissioners were appointed to select the site for the county seat of Covington County, Ala. and Montezuma was their choice.

Dec. 12, 1862 - The Union Army of the Potomac occupied Fredericksburg, Virginia. The Battle of Fredericksburg took placed on December 13.

Dec. 12, 1862 – During the Civil War, the USS Cairo sank on the Yazoo River, becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by an electrically detonated mine.

Dec. 12, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes occurred at Cherokee Station and Little Bear Creek, Ala.

Dec. 12, 1874 – B.M. Burns was commissioned as Monroe County, Ala.’s Sheriff.

Dec. 12, 1877 – John J. Watts was commissioned as Monroe County, Ala.’s Sheriff.

Dec. 12, 1896 - Guglielmo Marconi gave the first public demonstration of radio at Toynbee Hall, London.

Dec. 12, 1901 - The first radio signal to cross the Atlantic was picked up near St. John's Newfoundland, by inventor Guglielmo Marconi. The first signal was the letter "S" [***] in Morse Code.

Dec. 12, 1910 – American socialite Dorothy Arnold, 25, disappeared while walking on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

Dec. 12, 1913 - The "Mona Lisa" painting, missing for two years, turned up under a hotel bed in Florence.

Dec. 12, 1920 – H.P. Lovecraft completed his short story, “The Picture in the House,” which was originally published in Issue No. 6 (July 1919) of “The National Amateur.”

Dec. 12, 1935 – The Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction program, was founded by Heinrich Himmler.

Dec. 12, 1964 – The annual Christmas parade was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. in Frisco City, Ala.

Dec. 12, 1965 - The rookie running back Gale Sayers of the Chicago Bears scored six touchdowns during a single game against the San Francisco 49ers at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, tying the National Football League (NFL) record for most touchdowns in a single game.

Dec. 12, 1968 – The Evergreen Quarterback Club held its annual football banquet at the Evergreen High School cafeteria. Livingston State University head football coach Morris Higgenbotham was the guest speaker, and Livingston sophomore punter (and former EHS standout) Homer “Bubba” Faulkner was also a special guest.

Dec. 12, 1970 - In New Orleans, La., the Doors made their last appearance with Jim Morrison.

Dec. 12, 1976 - Joe Namath played his last game with the New York Jets.

Dec. 12, 1989 - Awakened by a throbbing noise, a Jupille, Belgium man found a large metallic UFO hovering between trees on a nearby road. The witness saw a logo on the craft's surface that resembled ellipses and the next day police found a giant circular impression in a nearby meadow. The incident was part of the massive six-month UFO wave over Belgium and France.

Dec. 12, 1992 - The Nirvana album "Incesticide" was released.

Dec. 12, 2000 - Timothy McVeigh, over the objections of his lawyers, abandoned his final round of appeals and asked that his execution be set within 120 days. McVeigh was convicted of the April 1995 truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Fedal Building in Oklahoma City, Okla. that killed 168 and injured 500.

Dec. 12, 2000 - The Texas Rangers signed Alex Rodriguez to a record breaking 10-year, $252 million contract. The contract amount broke all major league baseball records and all professional sports records.

Dec. 12, 2001 - Former Dallas Cowboy Nate Newton, and two others, were arrested on charges of carrying at least 175 pounds of marijuana. It was his second arrest in six weeks.

Dec. 12, 2010 - The collapse of the inflatable roof at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Mall of America Stadium caused the cancellation of a game between the New York Giants and the Minnesota Vikings. The teams played the next day at Detroit's Ford Field.