Elmer Almore 'Al' Fleming (born 1864)

In 1864, in the year that Elmer Almore 'Al' Fleming was born, on October 5th, a cyclone killed 70,000 people in Calcutta, India. Calcutta is in a "very high damage risk" cyclone zone, although this was an especially powerful one.

In 1873, on March 4th, Ulysses S. Grant was inaugurated for a second time as President of the United States. Grant ran against Horace Greeley - "go West, young man" - and won 55.6% of the popular vote versus Greeley's 43.8%.

In 1887, on January 20th, the US Senate gave the US Navy the right to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base. Pearl Harbor is on the island of Oahu, a part of the Hawaiian Islands. The Navy was given direction to maintain "a coaling and repair station" at the harbor.

In 1902, about 150 thousand United Mine Workers went on strike in eastern Pennsylvania for a wage increase and more suitable hours. They eventually got a 10% raise and their workday was reduced from 10 hours to 9. Because winter was coming and most people at the time heated their homes with coal, President Teddy Roosevelt arbitrated between the owners and the workers - the first time that the Federal government arbitrated in a strike.

In 1918, on November 11th, an armistice was signed between the Allies and Germany, ending the fighting on the Western Front in World War I. This meant a complete defeat of Germany although Germany never formally surrendered. It took another six months of negotiations to sign an actual peace treaty between the warring parties.