TODAY IN HISTORY - JANUARY 23RD

1556 – The deadliest earthquake in history, the Shaanxi earthquake, hits Shaanxi province, China. The death toll may have been as high as 830,000.

1571 – The Royal Exchange opens in London.

1737 – John Hancock, American general and politician, 1st Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1793) is born.

1803 – Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer, founded Guinness (b. 1725) dies.

1855 – The first bridge over the Mississippi River opens in what is now Minneapolis, a crossing made today by the Hennepin Avenue Bridge.

1870 – In Montana, U.S. cavalrymen kill 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children, in what becomes known as the Marias Massacre.

1897 – Elva Zona Heaster is found dead in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The resulting murder trial of her husband is perhaps the only case in United States history where the alleged testimony of a ghost helped secure a conviction.

1909 – RMS Republic, a passenger ship of the White Star Line, becomes the first ship to use the CQD distress signal after colliding with another ship, the SS Florida, off the Massachusetts coastline, an event that kills six people. The Republic sinks the next day.

1913 – Wally Parks, American businessman, founded the National Hot Rod Association (d. 2007) is born.

1920 – Walter Frederick Morrison, American businessman; invented the Frisbee (d. 2010) is born.

1941 – Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.

1943 – Duke Ellington plays at Carnegie Hall in New York City for the first time.

1950 – The Knesset passes a resolution that states Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

1957 – American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, which later renames it the "Frisbee".

1964 – The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.

1973 – United States President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.

1986 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.

1989 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1904) dies.

1997 – Greek serial killer Antonis Daglis is sentenced to thirteen consecutive life sentences, plus 25 years for the serial slayings of three women and the attempted murder of six others.

1999 – Jay Pritzker, American businessman, co-founded the Hyatt Corporation (b. 1922) dies.

2001 – Five people attempt to set themselves on fire in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, an act that many people later claim is staged by the Communist Party of China to frame Falun Gong and thus escalate their persecution.

2002 – "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh returns to the United States in FBI custody.

2002 – Reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan and subsequently murdered.

2005 – Johnny Carson, American actor, producer, and talk show host (b. 1925) dies.

2015 – Ernie Banks, Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame baseball player and coach (b. 1931) dies.