Moments in Time: Female telephone operator
The History Channel
On Sept. 1, 1878, Emma Nutt of Boston became the first female telephone operator. Until then, most telephone operators were teenage boys, whom customers weren't overly happy with due to their gruffness and penchant for jokes and cursing.
On Sept. 2, 1995, pop star Michael Jackson's recording of "You Are Not Alone," penned by R. Kelly after Kelly lost people close to him, made it to the top of Billboard's Hot 100, becoming Jackson's 12th No. 1 hit. It also earned American Music Award and Grammy nominations for Best Pop Vocal Performance.
On Sept. 3, 1939, in response to Hitler's invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany.
On Sept. 4, 2016, Pope Francis declared Roman Catholic nun Mother Teresa, who had dedicated her life to caring for India's poor and marginalized, Saint Teresa of Calcutta before an approving crowd of thousands in Vatican City's St. Peter's Square. Her numerous awards included the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize.
On Sept. 5, 2024, Oksana Masters, who was born with disabilities linked to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, including webbed fingers and six toes on each foot, and abandoned as a baby but adopted at age 7 by an American professor, won her 9th Paralympic gold medal, scoring 19th overall across rowing, cycling and skiing.
On Sept. 6, 1781, British Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, a former Patriot officer who had already become infamous for betraying the United States by attempting to sell the Patriot fort at West Point, New York, to the British the previous year for 20,000 pounds, added to the stains on his reputation by ordering his British command to burn every building in New London, Connecticut, after they'd looted the town, to the equivalent of more than $500,000 worth of damage.
On Sept. 7, 1911, radical French poet Guillaume Apollinaire was arrested and jailed on suspicion of stealing LEOnardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" from the Louvre Museum in Paris. Due to a lack of evidence, he was released after five days.