Owen Keathley (born 1848)

In 1848, in the year that Owen Keathley was born, on January 24th, James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in California. On August 19th, the New York Herald published news of the Gold Rush in California - alerting the east coast. The Gold Rush brought over 300,000 people to northern California from the rest of the US and overseas.

In 1868, on February 24th, three days after his attempt to dismiss United States Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton - who was opposed to Johnson's leniency towards the former Confederacy - the US House of Representatives voted (126 to 47) to impeach Andrew Johnson. Johnson was later acquitted in the Senate by one vote short of the required 2/3rds.Senators crossed party lines to keep Johnson as President.

In 1946, pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock's book "The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care" was published. It sold half a million copies in the first six months. Aside from the Bible, it became the best selling book of the 20th century. A generation of Baby Boomers were raised by the advice of Dr. Spock.

In 1987, was the first time that a criminal in the United States - a serial rapist - was convicted through the use of DNA evidence.

In 1997, on August 31st, Princess Diana of Great Britain was killed when her car crashed into a pillar in the tunnel under the Pont de l'Alma bridge in Paris. The car she was riding in was trying to evade the paparazzi but it was also discovered later that the driver of the car, who was also killed, had three times the legal limit of alcohol which likely contributed to the accident.