5th of September

It is the 248th day of the year, with 117 days remaining.

1666 - The Great Fire of London ends.  Over 10,000 buildings including St. Paul's Cathedral are destroyed, but only 16 people are known to have perished.

1698 - In an effort to westernize the nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia, imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry.

1774 - The First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1836 - Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.

1839 - The First Opium War begins in China.

1847 - Jesse James, American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer, is born.

1877 - Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse, is bayoneted by a United States soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson, Nebraska.

1882 - The first United States Labor Day parade is held in New York City.

1906 - The first legal forward pass in American football is thrown by Bradbury Robinson of St. Louis University to teammate Jack Schneider, in a 22-0 victory over Carroll College.

1914 - The First Battle of the Marne begins, northeast of Paris, the French attack and defeat German forces.

1927 - The first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Trolley Troubles, produced by Walt Disney, is released by Universal Pictures.

1942 - Japanese high command orders a withdrawal at Milne Bay, the first Japanese defeat in the Pacific Theater.

1946 - British musician, most famous as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen, Freddie Mercury is born.

1960 - Boxer Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, is awarded the gold medal for his first place finish in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the Olympic Games in Rome.

1969 - U.S. Army Lt. William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai Massacre.

1970 - Operation Jefferson Glenn begins, as the 101st Airborne and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division, initiate a new operation in Thua Thien-Hue Province.

1972 - A Palestinian terrorist group called Black September, attack and take hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games.  2 die in the attack and 9 die the following day.

1975 - In Sacramento, California, Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate President Gerald Ford.

1980 - The St. Gotthard Tunnel opens in Switzerland, as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.224 km), stretching from Goschenen to Airolo.

1997 - Mother Teresa, Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, known for her humanitarian work, passes away at the age of 87.