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FILE NO. 09.16 5 specimens · est. 1810-1987

What happened on September 16?

Real photographs, all filed under this date. Name each event before you read on.
Case Timeline 1810-1987 · 177 years
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What happened on September 16

All 5 specimens from this file, spanning 1810 to 1987, with the story behind each photograph.

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  1. A false-colour satellite map of the southern polar region showing a large deep blue and purple area over Antarctica, ringed by green, surrounded by a grid of latitude and longitude lines.
    Science · 1987

    Nations agree to phase out the chemicals eating a hole in the ozone layer

    The Montreal Protocol was signed on 16 September 1987, two years after British scientists reported a hole opening over Antarctica each spring. It is the only United Nations treaty every single country has ratified. The ozone layer is now slowly closing again, and is expected to recover by about 2066.

  2. A painting of a priest in black raising his arm outside a baroque church, a crowd below him lifting machetes and hats.
    Conflict · 1810

    A parish priest calls his congregation to revolt and starts a war of independence

    Before dawn on 16 September 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo rang the bells of his church in Dolores and called the town to rise against Spanish rule. Mexico still marks the date as its independence day, and the president repeats the cry each year from the National Palace balcony. Hidalgo was captured and shot within ten months.

  3. A sepia photograph of hundreds of riders and wagons charging across open prairie in a huge cloud of dust, many blurred by movement.
    Society · 1893

    A hundred thousand people race on horseback to claim free land

    At noon on 16 September 1893 a gunshot started the largest land run in American history. Around 100,000 people raced across the Cherokee Outlet in Oklahoma to stake roughly 42,000 claims. Those who slipped across the line early to grab the best plots were called Sooners, which is still Oklahoma's nickname.

  4. A black and white photograph of a crowded city street with an overturned motor car, smoke, and crowds gathered on the steps of a columned building.
    Crime · 1920

    A cart packed with explosives kills dozens in a financial district

    At noon on 16 September 1920 a horse-drawn cart loaded with dynamite and iron sash weights exploded outside the J. P. Morgan bank on Wall Street, killing 38 people. It remained the deadliest attack of its kind in the United States until 1995. Nobody was ever charged, and the scars are still visible in the stonework opposite.

  5. A black and white official portrait of a middle-aged man in a dark suit smiling in front of an American flag.
    Politics · 1974

    A president offers conditional amnesty to those who dodged the draft

    On 16 September 1974 Gerald Ford offered clemency to Vietnam draft evaders and deserters in exchange for two years of public service. It came eight days after he had pardoned Richard Nixon, and pleased almost nobody: only about a fifth of those eligible came forward. Jimmy Carter issued a full unconditional pardon on his first day in office.