Death of the Pony Express, Last Houdini Escape, Stock Markets Crash In Two Centuries

1861 - The First Transcontinental Telegraph line across the United States is completed, spelling the end for the 18-month-old Pony Express.

1911 -  Orville Wright remains in the air 9 minutes and 45 seconds in a Wright Glider at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.

1926 - Harry Houdini's last performance, which is at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit, Michigan.

1929 - "Black Thursday" stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange.

1945 - Founding of the United Nations

1946 - A camera on board the V-2 No. 13 rocket takes the first photograph of earth from outer space.

1947 - Walt Disney testifies to the House Un-American Activities Committee, naming Disney employees he believes to be communists.

1954 -  Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam

1998 - Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission

2002 - Police arrest spree killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, ending the Beltway sniper attacks in the area aroundWashington, DC.

2003 - Concorde makes its last commercial flight.

2008 - "Bloody Friday" saw many of the world's stock exchanges experience the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.