July 14

1430 – Joan of Arc, taken by the Burgundians in May, is handed over to Pierre Cauchon, the bishop of Beauvais.

1769 – An dual land and sea expedition led by Gaspar de Portolá, Governor of the Californias, leaves its base in Baja California and sets out for Alta California, to find the Port of Monterey, now Monterey, California, as described by Sebastián Vizcaíno in 1602.

1789 – The citizens of Paris storm the Bastille, seizing control of the fortress and releasing the few political prisoners jailed there.

1798 – The Sedition Act becomes law in the United States making it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the United States government. Less than 3 years later, it expires.

1853 – The first major US world’s fair, the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, opens in New York City.

1874 – The Chicago Fire of 1874 burns down 47 acres of the city, killing 20 people.

1881 – Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Pat Garrett outside Fort Sumner at the Maxwell house. 140 years later, the Colt’s Frontier Model single action revolver used by Garrett sells for over $6 million at auction.

1900 – Armies of the Eight Nation Alliance capture Tientsin during the Boxer Rebellion.

1911 – Harry Atwood, an exhibition pilot for the Wright brothers, lands an airplane on the South Lawn of the White House.

1933 – In Germany, all political parties are outlawed except the Nazi Party.
The Nazi eugenics program begins with the proclamation of the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring that calls for the compulsory sterilization of any citizen who suffers from alleged genetic disorders.

1943 – In Diamond, Missouri, the George Washington Carver National Monument becomes the first United States National Monument in honor of an African American.

1950 – North Korean troops initiate the Battle of Taejon.

1965 – The Mariner 4 probe takes the first close up photos of another planet during its flyby of Mars.

1983 – Nintendo released the computer game Mario Bros.

2015 – NASA’s New Horizons probe performs the first flyby of Pluto, completing the first survey of the Solar System.

2016 – A moslem terrorist vehicular attack in Nice, France kills 86 people and injures over 400 others.