1609 â Henry Hudson discovers Manhattan Island and the indigenous people living there. 1680 â Roger Crab, inventor of crab football dies 1771 â Mungo Park, Scottish explorer of Africa is born. 1857 â The Mountain Meadows Massacre: Mormon settlers and Paiutes massacre 120 pioneers at Mountain Meadows, Utah. 1921 â Nahalal, the first moshav in Palestine, is settled as part of a Zionist plan to colonize Palestine and creating a Jewish state, later to be Israel. 1941 â Ground is broken for the construction of The Pentagon. 1944 â The first Allied troops of the U.S. Army cross the western border of Germany. 1968 â Air France Flight 1611 crashes off Nice, France, killing 89 passengers and 6 crew. 1970 â The Dawson's Field hijackers release 88 of their hostages. The remaining hostages, mostly Jews and Israeli citizens, are held until September 25. 1974 â Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 crashes in Charlotte, North Carolina, killing 69 passengers and two crew. 1976 â A group of Croatian nationalists planted a bomb in a coin locker at Grand Central Terminal. After stating political demands, they revealed the location and provided instructions for disarming the bomb. The disarming operation was not executed properly, killing one NYPD bomb squad specialist 1987 - US President Ronald Regan declares this date Emergency Number Day 2001 - Mohamed Atta, Egyptian perfume salesman dies 2003 - John Ritter, American actor dies
