23rd of January

It is the 23rd day of the year with only 342 days remaining.

393 - Roman Emperor Theodosius I, proclaims is nine-year-old son Honrius co-emperor.

971 - In China, the war elephant corps of the Southern Han are soundly defeated at Shao, by crossbow fire fron Song Dynasty troops/

1510 - Henry VIII of England, then 18-years-old, appears incognito in the lists at Richmond, and is applauded for his jousting before he reveals his identity.

1556 - The deadliest earthquake in history, hits Shaanxi province, China.  The death toll may have been as high as 830,000 people.

1849 - Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her doctorate, by the Geneva Medical College in New York, becoming the United States' first female doctor.

1870 - In Montana, U.S. cavalrymen kills 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children, in the Maris Massacre.

1897 - Elva Zona Heaster is found dead in Greenbrier County, West Virginia.  The resulting murder trial of her husband is perhaps the only case where the alleged testimony of a ghost helped secure a conviction.

1907 - Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the first Native American United States Senator.

1941 - Charles Lindbergh, testifies before Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.

1943 - Duke Ellington plays at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

1960 - The babyscaphe USS Trieste breaks a depth record by descending to 10,911 meters or 35,798 feet in the Pacific Ocean.

1964 - The 24th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.

1973 - President Richard Nixon that a peace accord has been established in Vietnam.

1986 - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley.

1997 - Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State.

2002 - Reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped while on assignment in Karachi, Pakistan.  He is subsequently was murdered by beheading by members of Al-Qaeda in a national incident.