On This Day (June 24)

[MSFixR]

• 1314 – In the decisive battle in the First War of Scottish Independence, Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce defeated English troops under Edward II in Bannockburn, Scotland.
• 1374 - A sudden outbreak of St. John's Dance causes people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations and begin to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapse from exhaustion.
• 1519 - Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara died. (b. 1480) (Borgia was the daughter of Rodrigo Borgia, the powerful Renaissance Valencian who later became Pope Alexander VI, and Vannozza dei Cattanei. Her brothers included Cesare Borgia, Giovanni Borgia, and Gioffre Borgia.
  Lucrezia's family later came to epitomize the ruthless Machiavellian politics and sexual corruption alleged to be characteristic of the Renaissance Papacy. Lucrezia was cast as a femme fatale, a role she has been portrayed in many artworks, novels and films.)
• 1894 – Italian anarchist Sante Geronimo Caserio assassinated Marie François Sadi Carnot, President of the French Third Republic, after Carnot delivered a speech at a public banquet in Lyon, France.
• 1916 - Mary Pickford becomes first female film star to get million dollar contract.
• 1948 – Cold War: The Soviet Union blocked access to the American, British, and French sectors of Berlin, cutting off all rail and road routes going into Soviet-controlled territory in Germany.
• 1949 - The first Television Western, Hopalong Cassidy, is aired on NBC starring William Boyd.
• 1981 – The Humber Bridge, at the time the longest single-span suspension bridge, connecting the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire in England, opened.
• 1994 – A United States Air Force B-52 Stratofortress based at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane County, Washington, USA crashed, killing all four crew members, and providing a case study on the importance of compliance with safety regulations. Drinking and flying were torthwith prohibited on all US military flights with the exception of diplomatic missions.