THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― JULY 13

July 13 is the 194th day of the year(195th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 171 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday (58 in 400 years each) than on Saturday or Sunday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Tuesday or Thursday (56).

NATIONAL FRENCH FRY DAY 

1174 – William I of Scotland (The Lion), a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173–74, is captured at Alnwick by forces loyal to Henry II of England.

1490 – John of Kastav finishes a cycle of frescoes in the Holy Trinity Church in Hrastovlje (now southwestern Slovenia).

1573 – Eighty Years' War: The Siege of Haarlem ends after seven months. An army of Philip II of Spain laid bloody siege to the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands, whose loyalties had begun wavering during the previous summer. After the naval battle of Haarlemmermeer and the defeat of a land relief force, the starving city surrendered and the garrison was massacred. The resistance nonetheless was taken as an heroic example by the Orangists at the sieges of Alkmaar and Leiden.

1787 – The Continental Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance establishing governing rules for the Northwest Territory. It also establishes procedures for the admission of new states and limits the expansion of slavery.

1793 – Journalist and French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat is assassinated in his bathtub by Charlotte Corday, a member of the opposing political faction. In his death, Marat became an icon to the Jacobins as a revolutionary martyr, as portrayed in Jacques-Louis David's famous painting, The Death of Marat.

1854 – In the Battle of Guaymas, Mexico, General José María Yáñez stops the French invasion led by Count Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon.

1863 – New York City draft riots: In New York City, opponents of conscription begin three days of rioting which will be later regarded as the worst in United States history.

1905 – The verdict in the six-month-long Smarthavicharam trial of Kuriyedath Thathri is pronounced, leading to the excommunication of 65 men of various castes. ― From quiltessentialyurs.com

1923 – The Hollywood Sign is officially dedicated in the hills above Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It originally read "Hollywoodland " but the four last letters were dropped after renovation in 1949.

1962 – In an unprecedented action, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismisses seven members of his Cabinet, marking the effective end of the National Liberals as a distinct force within British politics.

1973 – Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of the "Nixon tapes" to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break-in. On August 19, 2013, the Nixon Library and the National Archives and Records Administration released the final 340 hours of the tapes that cover the period from April 9 through July 12, 1973.

1977 – The New York City: Amidst a period of financial and social turmoil experiences an electrical blackout lasting nearly 24 hours that leads to widespread fires and looting.

1985 – Vice President George H. W. Bush becomes the Acting President for the day when President Ronald Reagan undergoes surgery to remove polyps from his colon.

2008 – The Battle of Wanat begins when Taliban and al-Qaeda guerrillas attack US Army and Afghan National Armytroops in Afghanistan. The U.S. deaths were, at that time, the most in a single battle since the beginning of operations in 2001 under President George W. Bush.

2011 – Mumbai is rocked by three bomb blasts during the evening rush hour, killing 26 and injuring 130.

There was speculation that the pattern of the blasts suggested involvement of Indian Mujahideen (IM). According to the Special cell of the Delhi Police, Indian Mujahideen has been conducting blasts on the 13 or 26 of the month. Speculation was also rife that the hard-line Taliban Mumbai underworld could be behind these blasts, in the light of the killing of journalist Jyotirmoy Dey, as well as the attempted assassination of Dawood Ibrahim's brother, Iqbal Kaskar on May 3, 2011.

2013 – Typhoon Soulik kills at least nine people and affects more than 160 million in East China and Taiwan. Soulik made landfall late on July 12 in northern Taiwan before degrading to a tropical storm. Briefly emerging over theTaiwan Strait, the storm moved onshore for a second time in Fujian on July 13. The system was last noted as a tropical depression early on July 14.

2016 – Conservative Party Leader Theresa May succeeds David Cameron as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; she is the second woman to do so, after Margaret Thatcher.

Today's Births

1821 – Nathan Bedford Forrest, American Confederate general and first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (d. 1877)

1863 – Margaret Murray, Anglo-Indian Egyptologist, archaeologist, anthropologist, historian, and folklorist.

1942 – Harrison Ford, American actor and producer

From Wikipedia and Google (images), ex as noted.