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Events

• President Washington proclaimed boundary of new capital city on Potomac River – 1791
• Dr. Crawford Long of Jefferson, GA, placed an ether-soaked towel over the face of James Venable and removed a tumor from his neck. This was the first recorded use of anesthesia – 1842
• H. L. Lipman, of Philadelphia, patented the first pencil with eraser – 1858
• America bought Alaska from Russia due to pressure from Secretary of State William Seward (Seward’s Folly). The price was $7.2 million, or slightly more than $0.02 an acre – 1867
• Impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson began – 1868
• Texas readmitted to the Union – 1870
• Queensboro Bridge, the first double-decker, opened in New York City – 1909
• Official opening of Canada’s first subway (Toronto) – 1954
• Woody Guthrie’s song This Land is Your Land copyrighted – 1956
• Jeopardy! game show made its television debut – 1964
• The last rum ration was issued in the Royal Canadian Navy – 1972
• President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded outside a Washington, D.C., hotel – 1981
• An anonymous buyer paid over $39 million for Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers – 1987
• Possible UFO seen, Little Fox Lake, Yukon Territory – 2000
• Superathletes Kirill Shimko and Pavel Soroka pulled five railway cars more than 20 feet – 2007