1811 – Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, leader of the Mexican War of Independence, was executed by Spanish forces in Chihuahua City, Mexico.
1865 – Off the coast of Crescent City, California, the steamer Brother Jonathan (depicted) struck an uncharted rock and sank, killing 225 people; its cargo of gold coins was not retrieved until 1996.
1930 – In Montevideo, the Uruguay national football team won the first FIFA World Cup.
1950 – At the height of a political crisis known as the royal question, four workers were shot dead by the Belgian Gendarmerie at a strike in Grâce-Berleur.