1844. William Leet Stone, a New York editor, died, aged 52. He published memoirs of Brant, and of Red Jacket, and some other works, and edited for a long time the New York Commercial Advertiser. He was also superintendent of common schools in that city.
1849. Riot at Montreal; house of L. H. Lafontaine, head of the Canadian ministry, was assailed by a mob. Fire arms were discharged from the building, by which one person was killed, and the rest driven back.
1851. A violent and destructive tornado occurred at St. Louis, Missouri.
1853. A conspiracy discovered in Rome; 146 persons arrested.
1854. Stephen Simpson, died at Philadelphia. He was at one period of his life an editor, and gained considerable celebrity as a political writer, especially against the United States bank, over the signature of Brutus, in Duane's Aurora.
AUGUST 16.
1191. The Saracen hostages, 2500 in number, put to the sword beneath the walls of Acre, by order of Richard, with the sanction of his confederates. The galls of the murdered infidels were converted into Christian medicines.
1380. John of Gaunt erected a court of minstrels at Tutbury, England, with legal jurisdiction over the men in that profession in five counties. It consisted of a king and four other officers, who had sovereign authority upon this day.
1424. Battle of Verneuil, in France; the French and Scotch under Buchan, constable of France, defeated by the English. The Scottish auxiliaries were nearly annihilated.
1494. Ferdinand and Isabella addressed letters of approbation to their high admiral of the Indian seas, Columbus, from Segovia, wishing "to know all the seasons of the year, such as they take place there in each month separately: some wish to know if there are two summers and two winters in the same year."