September 01
1807
Former U.S. vice president Aaron Burr was found innocent of treason.
1923
A devastating earthquake struck the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Yokohama. Nearly 150,000 people were killed and more than two million left homeless.
1939
World War II began when Nazi Germany invaded Poland.
1969
A coup in Libya toppled the monarchy of King Idris and brought Muammar al-Qaddafi to power.
1983
A Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 was shot down by a Soviet jet fighter, killing all 269 people aboard.
1985
A joint U. S.-French expedition located the wreck of the Titanic 560 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.
2004
Chechen terrorists took about 1,200 schoolchildren and others hostage in Beslan, Russia. Commandos stormed the school on Sept. 3.
Birthdays
Adolphe Appia
1862–1928, Swiss theorist of modern stage lighting and décor.
Engelbert Humperdinck
composer (1854)
Francis William Aston
physicist and chemist (1877)
Walter Philip Reuther
labor leader (1907)
Rocky Marciano
boxer (1923)
Seiji Ozawa
conductor (1935)
Gloria Estefan
musician (1957)