1987: The British ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes in about 90 seconds, killing 193.
1984: In the United Kingdom, a walkout at Cortonwood Colliery in Brampton Bierlow signals the start of a strike that lasted almost a year and involved the majority [but never all] of the country's miners.
1975: Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement of their border dispute.
1975: For the first time the Zapruder film of the assassination of John F. Kennedy is shown in motion to a national TV audience by Robert J. Groden and Dick Gregory.
1970: An explosion at the Weather Underground safe house in Greenwich Village kills three.
1968: Three rebels are executed by Rhodesia, the first executions since UDI, prompting international condemnation.
1912: Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces become the first to use airships in war, as two dirigibles drop bombs on Turkish troops encamped at Janzur, from an altitude of 6,000 feet.
1836: Texas Revolution: Battle of the Alamo - After a thirteen-day siege by an army of 3,000 Mexican troops, the 187 Texas volunteers, including frontiersman Davy Crockett and colonel Jim Bowie, defending the Alamo are killed and the fort is captured.