Delbert Ward (born 1878)

In 1878, in the year that Delbert Ward was born, on September 12th, Cleopatra's Needle, built in Egypt in 1450 B.C. and transported to England, was erected in London. It had arrived in England on January 21st, having been towed by boat.

In 1885, on January 24th, the Fenians - Irish Nationalists - set off dynamite bombs in the House of Commons chamber, Westminster Hall, and the Tower of London. Four civilians and two policemen were injured.

In 1909, William Howard Taft became the 27th President of the United States on March 4th. Previously Secretary of War, Judge on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, Solicitor General of the U.S., and Governor of both the Philippines and Cuba, Taft was the only President who went on to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

In 1943, on June 20th through June 22nd, the Detroit Race Riot erupted at Belle Isle Park. The rioting spread throughout the city (made worse by false rumors of attacks on blacks and whites) and resulted in the deployment of 6,000 Federal troops. 34 people were killed, (25 of them black) - mostly by white police or National Guardsmen, 433 were wounded (75 percent of them black) and an estimated $2 million of property was destroyed. The same summer, there were riots in Beaumont, Texas and Harlem, New York.

In 1975, in January, Popular Mechanics featured the Altair 8800 on it's cover. The Altair home computer kit allowed consumers to build and program their own personal computers. Thousands were sold in the first month.