3rd of June

Today is the 154th day of the year, with only 211 days remaining.

350 - Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaims himself Roman Emperor, entering Rome at the head of a group of gladiators.

1539 - Hernando de Soto claims Florida for Spain.

1839 - In Humen, China, Lin Tse-hsu, destroys 1.2 million kilograms of opium confiscated from British merchants.  This provides Britain with a casus belli to open hostilities, resulting in the First Opium War.

1864 - At the Battle of Cold Harbor, Union forces attack Confederate troops in Hanover County, Virginia.

1888 - The poem "Casey at the Bat," by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, is published in the San Francisco Examiner.

1916 - The National Defense Act is signed into law, increasing the size of the United States National Guard by 450,000 men.

1932 - Lou Gehrig and teammate Tony Lazzeri hit four home runs in one game, and hit for the natural cycle, respectively.  These two feats are both less common than a perfect game, which has occurred 21 times in one hundred-twenty years.

1943 - In Los Angeles, California, white U.S. Navy sailors and Marines clash with Latino youths in the Zoot Suit Riots.

1979 - A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 3,000,000 barrels of oil to be spilled into the waters, the second-worst accidental oil spill ever recorded.