Today in History for March 18, 2015

Edgar Cayce, circa 1910.

March 18, 1314 – Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was burned at the stake.

March 18, 1541 - Hernando de Soto observed the first recorded flood of the Mississippi River.

March 18, 1760 – American Revolutionary War soldier William Hillhouse was born (some sources say 1752) in South Carolina. One of the founders of the Greensboro, Ala. Presbyterian Church, he served as a private, sergeant and lieutenant in the South Carolina militia. He died on April 28, 1848 in Oktibbeha County, Miss. and was buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Starkville, Miss.

March 18, 1766 – During the American Revolution, after four months of widespread protest in America, the British Parliament voted to repeal the Stamp Act of 1765, which was passed on March 22, 1765 to raise raise revenues for a standing British army in America. Parliament also passed a Declaratory Act that asserted the British government's total legislative control over the colonies.

March 18, 1774 - Lord North brought up the Port Bill (The Boston Port Act).

March 18, 1778 - British Loyalists and Hessian mercenary forces assaulted the local New Jersey militia at Quinton's Bridge in New Jersey.

March 18, 1783 - General George Washington wrote a letter to Congress to assure them that the unrest with army officers was over.

March 18, 1790 – John Greene Sr. was born in Abbeville District, S.C. He moved to Conecuh County in 1816 and later established the first school in Conecuh County. He was selected as a State Representative in 1824 and 1828 and represented Conecuh County at the Secession Convention in 1861 and at the Constitutional Convention in 1875.

March 18, 1813 - David Melville patented the gas streetlight.

March 18, 1825 – During his tour of the United States, the Marquis de Lafayette arrived in Beaufort, South Carolina to a 13-gun salute and speaks to citizens from the John Mark Verdier House.

March 18, 1830 – Scottish author and newspaperman James Stuart, who was traveling by stage from Montgomery to Mobile, wrote in his book “Three Years in North America” that on this day he “proceeded on the stage from Greenville to Price’s Hotel, 15 miles. Price himself had driven me from Greenville; his wife had an excellent breakfast prepared… She had lived a long time in South Carolina, but liked Alabama quite as well, were it not for the want of schools for her children, the climate was more healthy, and her husband better paid… The population in this neighborhood is still very thin; but there are patches here and there of corn crops. The wheat is already in the ear on the 18th of March.”

March 18, 1834 - The first railroad tunnel in the U.S. was completed in Pennsylvania.

March 18, 1835 - Charles Darwin left Santiago Chile on his way to Portillo Pass.

March 18, 1837 - Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th presidents of the United States, was born in Caldwell, N.J.

March 18, 1837 – William Lawrence Locklin passed away at Claiborne, Ala. at the age of 62. He moved to Georgia to Claiborne in 1812 and established Alabama’s first cotton gin there in 1817. He was buried in Claiborne Cemetery in Monroe County, but his gravestone no longer exists.

March 18, 1842 – French poet Stephane Mallarme was born in Paris.

March 18, 1862 – Butler County native Thomas H. Watts began serving as the Confederate States Attorney General. His term ended on Oct. 1, 1863, two months before he began serving as Alabama’s Confederate governor.

March 18, 1864 - In Washington, DC, the U.S. Sanitary Commission Fair closed.

March 18, 1865 – During the Civil War, the Congress of the Confederate States adjourned for the last time.

March 18, 1877 – Former Selma resident Edgar Cayce was born in Hopkinsville, Ky. Known as the "sleeping prophet," he was considered the most documented psychic of the 20th century, giving readings to thousands of seekers while in a trance state. He lived in Selma, Ala. from 1912 to 1925.

March 18, 1893 – Poet Wilfred Owen was born in Shropshire, England. Two years after his death at the age of 25 in World War I, the “Poems of Wilfred Owen” was published in 1920.

March 18, 1909 - Einar Dessau of Denmark used a short wave transmitter to become the first person to broadcast as a "ham" operator.

March 18, 1911 - Theodore Roosevelt opened the Roosevelt Dam in Arizona. It was the largest dam in the U.S. at the time.

March 18, 1915 – Miss Christine J. Tinling of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union spoke at the Conecuh County Courthouse n Evergreen, Ala. at 8 p.m.

March 18, 1918 - Alabama author and Poet Laureate Morton D. Prouty was born in Illinois.

March 18, 1919 - The Order of DeMolay was established in Kansas City.

March 18, 1927 – Writer and editor George Plimpton was born in New York City.

March 18, 1932 – Writer John Updike 1932 was born in Reading, Pa.

March 18, 1936 – “These Three,” a movie version of Alabama author Lillian Hellman's play “The Children's Hour,” with a screenplay written by Hellman, was released.

March 18, 1940 – During World War II, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini held a meeting at the Brenner Pass in the Alps. The Italian dictator agreed to join in Germany's war against France and Britain during the meeting.

March 18, 1942 - The third military draft began in the U.S. because of World War II.

March 18, 1953 - National League owners approved the move of the Braves from Boston to Milwaukee. It was the first major league franchise shift since 1903.

March 18, 1959 - U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Hawaii statehood bill.

March 18, 1964 – Evergreen city councilman and major pro tem W.H. “Henry” Sessions qualified to run for the mayor’s seat in the upcoming municipal election. Sessions was the owner of Conecuh Quick Freeze, led the ticket for council in his first political race in 1960 and was serving on Governor George C. Wallace’s Committee of 100.

March 18, 1970 - The NFL selected Wilson to be the official football and scoreboard as official time.

March 18, 1970 - A movie version of Alabama author Jesse Hill Ford's book, “The Liberation of Lord Byron Jones,” was released.

March 18, 1974 – NFL quarterback Brian Griese was born in Miami, Fla. He would go on to play for Michigan, the Denver Broncos, the Miami Dolphins, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Chicago Bears.

March 18, 1981 - The first episode of "The Greatest American Hero" aired on ABC.

March 18, 1989 - A 4,400-year-old mummy was discovered at the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.

March 18, 1990 - The 32-day lockout of Major League Baseball players ended.

March 18, 1990 - In Tampa, Fla. a little league player was killed after being hit with a pitch.

March 18, 1990 – The “Gardner Heist,” the largest art theft in U.S. History, occurred at the Isabella Stewart Garnder Museum in Boston, Mass.

March 18, 1994 – Episode No. 18 of “The X-Files” – entitled “Miracle Man” – aired for the first time.

March 18, 1994 - Four guns and 25 boxes of ammo were confiscated from Kurt Cobain after his wife, Courtney Love, called police fearing he was going to commit suicide. He did commit suicide about three weeks later.

March 18, 1997 – Conecuh County’s “Mystery Crack” appeared sometime between 5 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. on Conecuh County Road 73, 4.8 miles east of Repton, in the Springhill community. The crack grew to 300 yards in length and as much as 60 feet wide in some places with varying depths of up to five to 23 feet.  A thick, slippery layer of clay was blamed.

March 18, 1974 – NFL quarterback Brian Griese was born in Miami, Fla. He would go on to play for Michigan, the Denver Broncos, the Miami Dolphins, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Chicago Bears.

March 18, 1981 - The first episode of "The Greatest American Hero" aired on ABC.

March 18, 2004 – Gov. Bob Riley vetoed House Joint Resolution No. 100, which proposed making Conecuh Ridge Alabama Fine Whiskey the state spirit, saying that Alabama “should not set a precedent of endorsing a commercially sold product.” In response, the Alabama Legislature acted quickly and in a rare move overrode Riley’s veto by a vote of 54-7 in the House on March 18 and 19-8 in the Senate on April 6.