On Sept. 18, 1709, Samuel Johnson, author of the first English dictionary, was born in Lichfield, England.
In 1759 the French surrendered Quebec to the British in the French and Indian War.
In 1793 President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the Capitol.
In 1810 Chile declared its independence from Spain.
In 1850 Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which allowed slave owners to reclaim slaves who had escaped to other states.
In 1851 the first edition of The New York Times was published.
In 1905 actress Greta Garbo was born in Stockholm.
In 1927 the Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System, later called CBS, made its debut with a network of 16 radio stations.
In 1963 “The Patty Duke Show” premiered on ABC.
In 1970 rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix died in London of a drug overdose at age 27.
In 1975 newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was captured by the FBI in San Francisco, 19 months after being kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
In 1996 the O.J. Simpson civil trial opened in Santa Monica, Calif. Also in 1996 the FDA declared the French abortion pill RU-486 safe and effective but withheld approval.
In 2004 celebrity divorce lawyer Marvin Mitchelson, who pioneered “palimony,” died in Los Angeles at 76.
