Today in History for July 15: On this date: In 1099, the Muslim citizens of Jerusalem surrendered their city to the armies of the First Crusade. The Crusaders then proceeded, through misguided religious zeal, to massacre thousands of unarmed men, women and children. In 1606, Dutch painter Rembrandt was born in Leiden, Netherlands.
In 1743, in Dublin, after twice being prepared for burial and then reviving, a Mrs. Kirkeen was nailed into her coffin on her husband's order. (Reliable records of the incident are difficult to find.
The story may be apocryphal.) In 1779, Clement Moore, American Episcopal educator, was born. His fame endures today, not as a theologian, but as the author of a completely mythical poem: "'Twas the Night Before Christmas.
" In 1789, King Louis the 16th of France was told his authority had collapsed with the fall of the Bastille prison the previous day. In 1823, in Rome, the church known as St. Paul's Outside the Walls was destroyed by a fire.
Its original edifice was erected in AD 324 by the Roman emperor Constantine. In 1846, the first issue of the Hamilton Spectator newspaper was published. In 1868, Louisa May Alcott completed her classic novel, "Little Women.
" In 1870, Manitoba was admitted to Confederation as Canada's fifth province, and the Northwest Territories were transferred to Canada. In 1878, the first telephone exchange in the British Empire was opened in Hamilton. It was only the ninth in the world.
In 1882, Thomas Moore founded a corps of t.