On This Day ...

A little too late: A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death in 1456.

The first military draft is authorized in 1863.

Four conspirators are hanged in 1865 for the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

The banning of open-water seal hunting occurred in 1911 with the North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911. It was the first treaty to address wildlife preservation issues and was signed by the U.S., Great Britain, Japan and Russia.

It was the best thing since, well, the last thing: Sliced bread is sold for the first time in Chillicothe, MS in 1928.

Howard Hughes, piloting his XF-11 spy plane, crashed in a Beverly Hills neighborhood in 1946.

Elvis made his radio debut when WHBQ in Memphis played “That’s All Right” in 1954.

During the Cold War, in 1983, Samantha Smith, an American schoolgirl, is invited by Russia Secretary General Yuri Andropov to the Soviet Union.

In 1985, Boris Becker becomes the youngest person to win Wimbledon at age 17.

In 2005, 56 people were killed by four explosions on London’s transport system, including four alleged suicide bombers.

Baseball player Satchel Paige was born in 1906. Writer Robert Heinlein was born in 1907. Blues pianist Pinetop Perkins was born in 1913. Beatle Ringo Starr was born in 1940. Film critic Joel Siegel was born in 1943. Comedian Jim Gaffigan was born in 1966.

Pope Benedict XI died in 1304. Mary Surratt, Lewis Payne, David Herold, and George Atzerodt, all conspirators in the assassination of Lincoln, died in 1865. Writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died in 1930. Actress Vivien Leigh died in 1967. Actress Veronica Lake died in 1973. Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett died in 2006.