1686-Robinson Crusoe leaves his island after 28 years (as per Defoe)
1732-"Benjamin Frankin begins publication of \""Poor Richard\s Almanack\"""
1741-Vitus Bering Dutch navigator & explorer died
1776-Thomas Paine publishes his 1st `American Crisis\ essay
1777-Washington settles his troops at Valley Forge Pa for the winter
1842-US recognized independence of Hawaii
1843-Charles Dickens publishes `A Christmas Carol \ in England
1859-Grading started for Market Street RR
1861-Battle of Black Water
1889-Bishop Museum founded in Hawaii
1907-239 workers died in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek Penn
1932-British Broadcasting Corp. began transmitting overseas
1933-Electric Home & Farm Authority Inc authorized
1946-War broke out in Indochina as Ho Chi Minh attacked French
1950-Gen. Eisenhower named NATO commander
1957-The Music Man starring Robert Preston opens on Broadway
1962-Street signs in Golden Gate Park approved by Park Commission
1971-NASA launches Intelsat 4 F-3 for COMSAT Corp
1972-Apollo 17 returns to Earth
1974-Nelson A. Rockefeller was sworn in as the 41st VP
1977-Nellie Tayloe Ross 1st woman governor dies at 101
1984-Fire at the Wilberg Mine in central Utah killed 27 people
1986-USSR frees dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile