George Howe (died 1918)

In 1817, on December 10th, Mississippi was admitted as the 20th U.S. state. The area was previously called the Mississippi Territory. David Holmes was the first governor of the state.

In 1823, President James Monroe first introduced the Monroe Doctrine in his State of the Union address. He didn't deliver the speech personally - it was written and delivered to Congress. The Doctrine said that any European attempts to re colonize the Americas would be considered a hostile act towards the United States. It also stated that the US wouldn't interfere with any European colonies and wouldn't interfere with any European affairs.

In 1878, 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 1906, the great San Francisco earthquake hit, estimated at 7.8 on the Richter scale. The earthquake caused fires that raged for days and between the earthquake and the fire, about 3,000 people were killed and 80% of the City was destroyed.

In 1918, in the year of George Howe's passing, on November 1, an elevated train on the Brooklyn line of the subway - driven by an inexperienced operator because of a strike - tried to navigate a turn at 30mph. The limit on the curve was 6 mph. The 2nd and 3rd cars of the 5 car wooden train were badly damaged and at least 93 people were killed, making it the deadliest crash in New York subway history.