On September 18th, 1970, rock star Jimi Hendrix died in London at age 27.
On this date:
In 1759, the French formally surrendered Quebec to the British.

In 1793, President Washington laid the cornerstone of the US Capitol.

In 1810, Chile declared its independence from Spain.

In 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive¹ Slave Act, which allowed slaveowners to reclaim² slaves who had escaped to other states.

In 1851, the first edition of The New York Times was published.

In 1927, the Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System (later CBS) made its debut³ with a basic network of 16 radio stations.

In 1940, Harper and Brothers published "You Can't Go Home Again" by Thomas Wolfe.

In 1947, the National Security Act, which unified⁴ the Army, Navy and newly formed Air Force into a National Military Establishment, went into effect.

In 1961, United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold was killed in a plane crash in northern Rhodesia.

In 1975, newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was captured by the FBI in San Francisco, 19 months after being kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

Ten years ago: Former savings-and-loan chief executive Charles H. Keating was jailed in Los Angeles in lieu of $5 million bail⁵ after he was indicted⁶ on criminal fraud charges. The city of Atlanta was named the site of the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Five years ago: President Clinton began a five-day re-election campaign fund-raising tour that got off to a rocky start after a deal to convert the Philadelphia Naval⁷ Shipyard to civilian⁸ use collapsed⁹ at the last minute.

One year ago: A multinational¹⁰ fleet sailed toward East Timor, the vanguard of a U-N-approved force assigned to bring order to the bloodied¹¹ Indonesian province. Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs¹² became the first player in major league baseball history to reach 60 homers twice. Heather Renee French of Kentucky was crowned "Miss America" at the pageant¹³ in Atlantic City, New Jersey¹⁴.