On August 18, a century of suffrage victories, aerial warfare, a vanished colony, a Martian moon, and a deadly blaze converge in one day’s raw history.
August 18 in History
Suffrage Wins: 36 States Ratify
The amendment is law — 26,000,000 women will vote in November — after Tennessee's ratification today — a struggle that began in 1878 and saw 200 pickets arrested in 1917.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 18 — The long struggle for woman suffrage is ended. With Tennessee's ratification today, the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution has secured the requisite 36 State approvals, and 26,000,000 American women are assured the franchise in time for the presidential election in November.
President Wilson, who announced his support of the amendment in 1918, was promptly informed of the news at his desk in the White House. The President's conversion came after years of steady pressure from the National Woman's Party and the National American Woman Suffrage Association, organizations that have carried the fight through every Congress since 1878, when the first suffrage amendment was introduced. That measure did not pass the House until May 21, 1919, after four decades of debate.
The campaign has not been without its martyrs. In 1917, more than 200 members of the National Woman's Party, known as the Silent Sentinels, were arrested while picketing the White House, their vigils a silent rebuke to a government that denied half its citizens the vote.
Tennessee's action today, certified by Governor A. H. Roberts, was the climactic ratification. The amendment now goes to Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby for formal proclamation, expected within days. Legal challenges, already threatened, may yet be pressed before the courts, but the suffrage leaders express confidence that the amendment will withstand attack and that women will go to the polls this autumn in every State of the Union.
Luftwaffe's All-Out Assault on Fighter Command Exacts Heavy Toll
The Germans fling their whole air fleet against the defence of Britain, and both sides suffer their heaviest losses of the campaign.
LONDON, Aug. 18 — The summer of 1940 has seen the German air fleet flung against these islands with ever-growing fury, and today the struggle reached its fiercest point. In an all-out effort to destroy the Royal Air Force's Fighter Command, the Luftwaffe sent its squadrons across the Channel in strength, and the losses on both sides were the heaviest of the entire Battle of Britain. Never before in this campaign have so many machines fallen in a single day.
The enemy's purpose is plain: by overwhelming the defending fighters, the Germans hope to open the way for invasion.
D Company Holds Off Enemy at Long Tan
Outnumbered company holds for hours — artillery and relief force turn the tide.
NUI DAT, Aug. 18 — D Company of the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, fought off a much larger Viet Cong force today in a rubber plantation near Long Tan, holding its ground for several hours until reinforcements arrived.
Artillery support was called in as the enemy pressed the company from all sides, and two UH-1B Iroquois helicopters of No. 9 Squadron RAAF flew in supplies under fire. The relief force, with M113 armoured personnel carriers and infantry, reached D Company that night from Nui Dat. The action continued until Aug. 21, when the Viet Cong withdrew.
Roanoke Colony Found Deserted
The governor finds the palisade carved with 'CROATOAN' — storms and a lost anchor force his return to England before he can follow the trail.
PLYMOUTH, Aug. 18 — The first English settlement in North America stands empty. John White, governor of the Roanoke Colony, returned after a three-year absence to find the town on Roanoke Island fortified but deserted, with the word 'CROATOAN' carved into the palisade. Of the 112 to 121 colonists he had left behind, there was no other trace.
White, who had sailed for England in 1587 to fetch supplies and been kept away by the war with Spain, read the inscription as a clear sign. The colonists, he believed, had removed themselves to Croatoan Island, some fifty miles to the south, where the friendly chief Manteo held sway. He gave orders to make sail for Croatoan at once.
The sea would not have it. As the ships drew near the island, a gale sprang up, and the anchor was lost in the rough water. With the weather worsening and the season late, the captains resolved to return to England rather than risk the fleet on a lee shore. White, helpless, was carried home.
What became of the colonists of Roanoke is not known. Some hold that they were absorbed among the Indians, and the name of Croatoan yet lingers in the maps of the coast. But no man can say for certain. The governor, it is said, never gave over his hope of finding them, and spoke often of the empty palisade and its single word, cut deep into the wood.
Hall Discovers Second Moon of Mars
Astronomer Asaph Hall sighted the larger moon Phobos at the Naval Observatory on August 18, 1877, after his wife urged him to keep searching.
Astronomer Asaph Hall, who discovered the Martian moon Phobos in 1877 — Wikimedia Commons
WASHINGTON, Aug. 18 — Asaph Hall, the American astronomer, discovered this morning at 09:14 GMT a second moon of Mars, named Phobos, using the 26-inch refractor at the United States Naval Observatory. The new satellite, larger than Deimos, which was found six days earlier, appeared during the planet's closest approach to Earth in 1877. Hall's wife, Angeline Stickney, had urged him to continue the search, saying the chance seemed slight. Fog and clouds had delayed confirmation since August 10, when he first glimpsed a possible moon.
Blackwater Fire Kills 15 Firefighters
Lightning blaze rages on Clayton Mountain — nine die in flames, six later
The Blackwater Fire, a lightning-sparked blaze that claimed the lives of 15 firefighters — U.S. Forest Service
CODY, Wyo., Aug. 18 — On the slopes of Clayton Mountain in Shoshone National Forest, a lightning-sparked blaze, the Blackwater Fire, has claimed the lives of fifteen firefighters, nine of whom died in the flames and six later from severe burns and respiratory complications. The fire, consuming 1,700 acres of old-growth Douglas fir, burned with temperatures near 90 degrees and a relative humidity of only 6 percent. Crew boss Alfred Clayton sent a handwritten note to manager Urban Post begging for more manpower just before the firestorm trapped his men. The loss exceeds any professional wildland firefighter toll since 1910.
Australia Triumphs at Oval, Earns 'Invincibles' Title
Australia seal 4–0 series win with innings-and-149-run victory at The Oval.
LONDON, Aug. 18 — Australia have become the first Test team to go through an English tour undefeated, clinching the fifth Test at The Oval by an innings and 149 runs for a 4–0 series win. Bradman was bowled second ball for a duck by Eric Hollies, and the crowd sang in his honour.
Martinique Hurricane Leaves 700 Dead
Hurricane kills about 700 and injures at least 1,000 in Martinique
PARIS, Aug. 18 — In the annals of West Indian calamities, the hurricane that struck Martinique this day stands conspicuous, killing about 700 souls and injuring at least 1,000 more. The cyclone wrecked all vessels and obliterated homes, trees, and crops, especially coffee, cotton, and sugar.
East German Woman Slain Fleeing Across Wall
Hildegard Trabant, a Communist Party member, shot dead at the border — the wall's grim toll grows.
BERLIN, Aug. 18 — Hildegard Trabant, an East German Communist Party member, was killed while attempting to cross the Berlin Wall. The 43-year-old was shot by border guards as she tried to escape to the West.
Alicia strikes with 115 mph winds, killing 21 and causing $3 billion damage.
GALVESTON, Tex., Aug. 18 — Hurricane Alicia smashed ashore at 7 a.m. CDT with 115 mph winds, killing 21 and causing $3 billion in damage. A 12-foot storm tide flooded coastal towns, sinking several ships and killing three offshore. The storm spawned 22 tornadoes across Texas, the strongest an F2 that tore through Corsicana. Up to 80,000 evacuated coastal areas.
Malaga Falls to Ferdinand After Four-Month Siege
Catholic Monarchs take the port — ambulances debut — thousands enslaved or slain.
CÓRDOBA, Aug. 18 — After a four-month siege, the Catholic Monarchs have conquered Málaga, the Emirate of Granada's second city and chief port. King Ferdinand II of Aragon led 20,000 horsemen, 50,000 laborers, and 8,000 support troops from Córdoba.
Pendle Witch Trials Open at Lancaster Assizes
Eleven accused — two families headed by Demdike and Chattox — face the gallows.
LANCASTER, Aug. 18 — The assizes opened today with the trials of the Pendle and Samlesbury witches, eleven defendants in all, nine women and two men. Six come from two families headed by elderly women, Elizabeth Southerns, called Demdike, and Anne Whittle, Chattox.
