On This Day: March 9

This is the 68th day of the year.

Fact of the Day: dog license

The first dog license law enacted by a state was passed in 1894 by New York. It was "an act for the better protection of lost and strayed animals and for securing the rights of the owners thereof," and authorized the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to carry out the provisions. There was an annual fee for dogs in cities with populations over 1.2 million. Unlicensed dogs were to be destroyed if not retrieved within 48 hours.

Holidays

Feast day of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, St. Frances of Rome, St. Bosa, St. Constantine, St. Gregory of Nyssa, S.t Pacianus, and St. Dominic Savio.

Tibet: Chogna Choeba.

Belize: Baron Bliss Day.

Events

1822 - Charles M. Graham of New York City received a patent for artificial teeth.

1841 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the African slaves who seized control of the Amistad slave ship had been illegally forced into slavery, and thus were free under American law.

1862 - During the Civil War, the Virginia,a captured and rebuilt Union steam frigate formerly known as the Merrimac, fought the USS Monitor in the first battle between iron-fortified naval vessels. They fought to a draw.

1864 - General Ulysses Grant was appointed commander-in-chief of the Union forces.

1916 - Mexican bandit Pancho Villa led 1,500 horsemen on a raid of Columbus, New Mexico, killing 17 US soldiers and citizens.

1954 - The first color television commercial was broadcast, for Castro Decorators of New York City.

1959 - The Barbie doll debuted.

1964 - The first Ford Mustang rolled off the assembly line.

1967 - Svetlana Alliluyeva, Josef Stalin's daughter, defected to the United States.

1975 - Work began on the Alaskan oil pipeline.

1981 - Dan Rather made his debut as anchorman of "The CBS Evening News."

1990 - Dr. Antonia Novello was sworn in as Surgeon General, becoming the first woman and the first Hispanic to hold the job.

Births

1451 - Amerigo Vespucci, Italian navigator.

1856 - Eddie Foy, American vaudeville comedian.

1858 - Gustav Stickley, American designer and maker of Mission furniture.

1918 - Mickey Spillane (Frank Morrison), American author, writer of Mike Hammer mysteries.

1934 - Yuri Gagarin, Russian cosmonaut, first man in space.

1943 - Bobby Fischer, American chess champion.

Deaths

1994 - Fernando Rey, Spanish actor.