Today in History - History - August 5th

1926Houdini stays in a coffin under water for 1½ hrs before escaping

1435Battle at Ponza: king Alfonso V of Aragon captured by Genuezen

1966Martin Luther King Jr. stoned during Chicago march

1864US Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay won by the Union led by Rear Admiral Farragut with the cry "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"

1979Phillies Pete Rose collects NL record 2,427th career single

1962Nelson Mandela arrested for incitement & illeagally leaving S Africa

1975Stevie Wonder signs $13M contract with Motown

1932Clyde Barrow and two associates kill Sheriff C.G. Maxwell and his deputy, Eugene C. Moore, the first time the Barrow gang killed a lawman

1979Willie Mays, Warren Giles, & Hack Wilson inducted in Hall of Fame

1812War of 1812: Tecumseh's Native American force ambushes Thomas Van Horne's 200 Americans at Brownstone Creek, causing them to flee and retreat.

1956Maureen McCormick, Encino California, actress (Marcia-Brady Bunch)

1964MCA [Adam Yauch], Brooklyn New York, rock vocalist (Beastie Boys-You Gotta Fight), (d. 2012)

1962Patrick Ewing, Kingston Jamaica, NBA center (NY Knicks/Olympic-gold-92)

1937Herb Brooks, Saint Paul Minnesota, American ice hockey coach (Olympic Gold Medal 1980)

1930Neil Armstrong, Wapakoneta Ohio, X-15 pilot, 1st Moonwalker (Gemini 8, Apollo 11), (d. 2012)

1704William Allen, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Mayor of Philadelphia

1971Five-time Grammy Award singer Donna Summer (22) weds actor Helmuth Sommer

1764Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II (17) weds queen Maria Luisa of Spain (18) in Innsbruck, Austria

1885Author Arthur Conan Doyle (26) weds Louisa Hawkins

1964Film director Mel Brooks (38) weds actress Anne Bancroft (32) at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau

1991Paul Brown, NFL founder (Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals), dies at 82

1962Marilyn Monroe, found dead of apparent self-inflicted drug overdose at 36

2000Sir Alec Guinness, British actor (b. 1914)

1960Arthur Meighen, 9th Prime Minister of Canada, dies at 86