Moments in Time: Warren Earp
The History Channel
On July 6, 1900, Warren Earp, youngest of the famous gunfighting Earp brothers, was murdered at the Headquarters Saloon in Willcox, Arizona, by John Boyett. Reportedly, Warren had imbibed too much alcohol and begun abusing some of the customers. While Boyett was tried for murder, he was declared innocent on the grounds of acting in self-defense.
On July 7, 1456, Joan of Arc's conviction for heresy was overturned at an appeal proceeding held at the archbishop's palace in Rouen, France. Sadly, she had been burned at the stake 25 years earlier.
On July 8, 1853, Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry sailed into Japan's Tokyo Bay with a squadron of four American vessels. At first officials refused to speak with him, but under threat of attack they accepted letters from President Millard Fillmore, making the U.S. the first Western nation to establish relations with Japan since the country declared itself closed to foreigners two centuries previously.
On July 9, 1948, baseball star Satchel Paige made his Major League debut with the Cleveland Indians, becoming, at age 42, the oldest rookie in the sport's history. As he notably remarked, "Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter."
On July 10, 1962, the United States Patent Office issued Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin a patent for his three-point automobile safety belt. Consisting of two straps joined at the hip level and fastened into a single anchor point, it reduced injuries by holding both the upper and lower body and decreasing the impact of the swift deceleration that occurred in a crash.
On July 11, 1978, a truck carrying liquid gas crashed into a wall at a campsite of vacationers in San Carlos de la Rapita, Spain, resulting in an explosion that killed more than 200 people, with others suffering severe burns. The crash's cause was unknown, though some witnesses reported seeing a fire on the vehicle prior to the accident.
On July 12, 1990, two days after Mikhail Gorbachev was re-elected head of the Soviet Communist Party, Boris Yeltsin, president of the Republic of Russia, announced his resignation from the party.
(c) 2026 King Features Synd., Inc.