This day in history

[August 17, 2009]  (AP)  Today is Monday, Aug. 17, the 229th day of 2009. There are 136 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Aug. 17, 1969, Hurricane Camille slammed into the Mississippi coast as a Category 5 storm with top sustained winds estimated at nearly 200 mph. The hurricane and resulting flash floods were blamed for 256 U.S. deaths, three in Cuba.

On this date:

In 1807, Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat began heading up the Hudson River on its successful round-trip between New York and Albany.

In 1863, federal batteries and ships began bombarding Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor during the Civil War, but the Confederates managed to hold on despite several days of pounding.

In 1915, a mob in Cobb County, Ga., lynched Jewish businessman Leo Frank, whose death sentence for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan had been commuted to life imprisonment. (Frank, who'd maintained his innocence, was pardoned by the state of Georgia in 1986.)

In 1942, during World War II, U.S. 8th Air Force bombers attacked Rouen, France.

In 1943, the Allied conquest of Sicily was completed as U.S. and British forces entered Messina.

In 1945, Indonesian nationalists declared their independence from the Netherlands.

In 1962, East German border guards shot and mortally wounded 18-year-old Peter Fechter, who had attempted to cross the Berlin Wall into the western sector.

In 1978, the first successful trans-Atlantic balloon flight ended as Maxie Anderson, Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman landed their Double Eagle II outside Paris.

In 1987, Rudolf Hess, the last member of Adolf Hitler's inner circle, died at Spandau Prison at age 93, an apparent suicide.

In 1988, Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel were killed in a mysterious plane crash.

Ten years ago: More than 17,000 people were killed when a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Turkey.

Five years ago: British police charged eight terrorism suspects. (The leader of the group, al-Qaida operative Dhiren Barot, later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mass murder and was sentenced to life in prison, although the term was subsequently reduced to 30 years; the other seven received sentences ranging up to 26 years.) At the Athens games, Romania won its second straight Olympic gold medal in women's gymnastics; the United States took silver while Russia won the bronze.

One year ago: At the Summer Olympics, Michael Phelps and three teammates won the 400-meter medley relay for Phelps' eighth gold medal. In tennis, Venus and Serena Williams defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in women's doubles; Rafael Nadal defeated Fernando Gonzalez of Chile in the men's singles; Elena Dementieva defeated fellow Russian Dinara Safina in the women's singles. Matamoros, Mexico, pitcher Jesus Sauceda had the fifth perfect game in Little League World Series history as he struck out all 12 batters in a 12-0 win over Emilia, Italy.

Today's birthdays: Actress Maureen O'Hara is 89. Former Chinese president Jiang Zemin is 83. Author V.S. Naipaul is 77. Baseball All-Star Boog Powell is 68. Actor Robert DeNiro is 66. Movie director Martha Coolidge is 63. Rock musician Gary Talley (The Box Tops) is 62. Rock musician Sib Hashian is 60. Actor Robert Joy is 58. Tennis Hall of Famer Guillermo Vilas is 57. Rock singer Kevin Rowland (Dexy's Midnight Runners) is 56. Rock musician Colin Moulding (XTC) is 54. Country singer-songwriter Kevin Welch is 54. Olympic gold medal figure skater Robin Cousins is 52. Singer Belinda Carlisle is 51. Author Jonathan Franzen is 50. Actor Sean Penn is 49. Jazz musician Everette Harp is 48. Rock musician Gilby Clarke is 47. Singer Maria McKee is 45. Former NFL player John Offerdahl is 45. Rock musician Steve Gorman (The Black Crowes) is 44. Rock musician Jill Cunniff is 43. Actor David Conrad is 42. Singer Donnie Wahlberg is 40. Former NBA player Christian Laettner is 40. Rapper Posdnuos is 40. Tennis player Jim Courier is 39. New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada is 38. Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia is 26. Actor Bryton McClure is 23. Actor Brady Corbet is 21

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Thought for today: "There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it." -- Edith Wharton, American author (1862-1937)

[Associated Press]

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