1807 – Former US Vice President Aaron Burr is acquitted of treason. He had been accused of plotting to annex parts of Louisiana and Mexico to become part of an independent republic.
1818 – At London's St. Guy's Hospital, James Blundell carries out the first blood transfusion on a human. His patient, however, dies.
1951 – The United States, Australia and New Zealand all sign a mutual defense pact, called the ANZUS Treaty (for "Australia, New Zealand, United States").
1960 – Disgruntled railroad workers effectively halt operations of the Pennsylvania Railroad, marking the first shutdown in the history of the company.
1974 – The SR-71 Blackbirdplane sets the record for the time it takes to fly from New York City to London, doing so in an hour and 55 minutes. The record has not yet been beaten.
1979 – The American Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 km.
1983 – Cold War: Korean Air Flight KAL-007 shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft entered Soviet airspace. All 269 on board die.
1999 – A LAPABoeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 74, including 10 on the ground.
From 2001
2001 – In the largest media market change in North American television history, every single commercial television station in Vancouver, British Columbia switches network affiliations after a round of ownership changes in 2000.
2004 – The Beslan school siege begins, when armed terrorists take children and adults hostage at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, southern Russia. The siege ends in a massacre two days later.