This day in history: 5 August
A look at what happened on this day in history.
5 August is the 217th day of the year (218th in Leap Years) in the Gregorian calendar and there are 148 days remaining until the end of the year.
Some significant historic events took place on 5 August – so let’s take a look at a few:
• In 1735 – Freedom of the press: New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he had published was true.
• In 1816 – The British Admiralty dismisses Francis Ronalds’ new invention of the first working electric telegraph as “wholly unnecessary”, preferring to continue using the semaphore.
• In 1861 – American Civil War: In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government levies the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3 per cent of all incomes over US $800. The Act was rescinded in 1872).
• In 1884 – The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe’s Island (now Liberty Island) in New York Harbour.
• In 1914 – World War I: The German mine-layer SS Königin Luise lays a minefield about 40 miles (64 km) off the Thames Estuary (near Lowestoft). She is intercepted and sunk by the British light cruiser HMS Amphion.
• In 1944 – World War II: The Nazis begin a week-long massacre of between 40 000 and 50 000 civilians and prisoners of war in Wola, Poland.
• In 1962 – Apartheid in South Africa: Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.
• In 2015 – The Environmental Protection Agency at Gold King Mine waste water spill releases 3 million gallons of heavy metal toxin tailings and waste water into the Animas River in Colorado.
* Source: Wikipedia.
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