Today in History: April 14, Abraham Lincoln was shot and killed at Ford’s Theater

Today is Sunday, April 14, the 105th day of 2024. There are 261 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlights in History:

On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot and fatally wounded by John Wilkes Booth during a performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater in Washington.

On this date:

In 1828, the first edition of Noah Webster’s “American Dictionary of the English Language” was published.

In 1902, James Cash Penney opened his first store, Golden Rule, in Kemmerer, Wyoming.

In 1912, the British ship RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 11:40 pm ship time and began to sink. (The ship went down two hours and 40 minutes later with the loss of 1,514 lives.)

In 1910, President William Howard Taft became the first US executive to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game when the Washington Senators beat the Philadelphia Athletics 3-0.

In 1935, the “Black Sunday” dust storm descended on the Central Plains, turning a sunny afternoon into total darkness.

In 1949, the “Wilhelmstrasse” Trial in Nuremberg ended with 19 former Nazi Foreign Office officials being sentenced by an American court to prison terms ranging from four to 25 years.

In 1960, Tamla Records and Motown Records, founded by Berry Gordy Jr., merged as Motown Record Corp.

In 1981, America’s first space flight test, Columbia, ended successfully with a landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

In 1994, two US Air Force F-15 fighter jets mistakenly shot down two US Army Black Hawk helicopters in northern Iraq, killing 26 people, including 15 Americans.

In 1999, NATO mistakenly bombed an ethnic Albanian refugee convoy; Yugoslav officials said 75 people were killed.

In 2007, riot police beat and detained protesters as thousands defied an official ban and tried to organize demonstrations in Moscow against the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In 2012, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the RMS Titanic was built, thousands attended a choir prayer at the Anglican Cathedral of St. Anne or a nationally televised concert at the city’s Waterfront Theater to mark 100 years since the ship sank.

In 2013, Adam Scott became the first Australian to win the Masters, defeating Angel Cabrera on the second playoff hole on a rainy day at Augusta National.

In 2017, former NFL star Aaron Hernandez, already serving a life sentence for a 2013 murder, was acquitted in Boston of a 2012 double-murder that prosecutors said was fueled by his anger over a spilled drink at a nightclub. at night (Five days later, Hernandez hanged himself in his jail cell.)

In 2018, Czech filmmaker Milos Forman, whose American films “Amadeus” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” won numerous Academy Awards including Oscars for best director, died in Connecticut at the age 86 years old.

In 2021, a white former Minneapolis police officer, Kim Potter, was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of 20-year-old Black motorist Daunte Wright that sparked days of unrest.

In 2022, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, a guided-missile vessel that had become the main target of Ukraine’s defiance in the early days of the invasion, sank after being heavily damaged. Ukrainian officials said their forces hit Moskva with missiles, while Russia admitted there were fires inside Moskva but no attack.

Today’s Birthday: Actress Julie Christie is 84. Retired MLB All-Star Pete Rose is 83. Rock musician Ritchie Blackmore is 79. Actor John Shea is 76. Actor Peter Capaldi is 66. Driver-turned-actor Brian Forster is 64. Actor Brad Garrett is 64. Actor Robert Carlyle is 63. Rock singer John Bell (Widespread Panic) is 62. Actor Robert Clendenin is 60. Actress Catherine Dent is 59. Actor Lloyd Owen is 58. Baseball Hall of Famer Greg Maddux is 59. 58. Rock Musician Barrett Martin is 57. Actor Anthony Michael Hall is 56. Actor Adrien Brody is 51. Country singer David Miller (Il Divo) is 51. Rapper Da Brat is 50. Actor Antwon Tanner is 49. Actor Sarah Michelle Gellar is 47. Actor-producer Rob McElhenney is 47. Roots singer JD McPherson is 47. Actress Claire Coffee is 44. Actor Christian Alexander is 34 years old. Actor Nick Krause is 32 years old. Actor Vivien Cardone is 31 years old. Actress Graham Phillips is 31 years old. Actress Skyler Samuels is 30 years old. Actress Abigail Breslin is 28 years old.