Today in History - History - December 23rd

1888Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear

19707,511th performance of Agatha Christie's play "The Mousetrap" (record)

1961Fidel Castro announces Cuba will release 1,113 prisoners from failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion for $62M worth of food & medical supplies

1779Benedict Arnold court-martialed for improper conduct

1997Colorado Avalanche Jari Kurri is 8th NHLer to score 600 career goals

1793Thomas Jefferson warned of slave revolts in West Indies

1921Gangster Carlo Gambino enters the United States as an illegal immigrant on the SS Vincenzo Florio

1776Thomas Paine writes "These are the times that try men's souls"

1997Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson is quickest to reach 500 wins (682 games)

1783General George Washington resigns his military commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Army to Congress

1867Madame C. J. Walker, Louisiana, cosmetic mogul (Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company), (d. 1919)

1805Joseph Smith Jr, Sharon Vermont, founder (Mormon Church), (d. 1844)

245Zenobia, Palmyra, Syria, Queen of Palmyra, (d. 274)

1891Cy Denneny, Farran's Point Ontario, Canadian ice hockey hall of famer

1981Astronaut Chris Hadfield (22) weds high-school girlfriend Helene Walter

1979Stevie Ray Vaughan (25) weds Lenora "Lenny" Bailey (div. 1988)

1997Woody Allen, 62 weds Soon-Yi Previn 27, adopted daughter of Mia Farrow

1961Actor Martin Sheen (21) weds Janet Templeton

2007"Dr. Izzie Stevens" actress Katherine Heigl (29) weds singer-songwriter Josh Kelley (27) at Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah

1847Prime Minister of Canada Mackenzie Bowell (24) weds Harriet Moore