What Happened on September 3

Foreign Intelligence

1783 — Treaty of Paris Ends American War

Commissioners signed the definitive treaty this forenoon after eight years of war, fixing boundaries at the Mississippi.

PARIS, September 3 — Commissioners of the United States of America and plenipotentiaries of the King of Great Britain signed this forenoon the definitive treaty of peace, restoring to the former colonies their full sovereignty after eight years of war.

The articles, sealed in the presence of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Jay and David Hartley, Esquire, acknowledge the said United States to be free, sovereign and independent, relinquishing all claims to government, propriety and territorial rights. Boundaries are fixed at the Mississippi, with the Floridas restored to Spain under separate arrangement.

Navigation of the Mississippi is declared forever free to both nations.

• American Revolutionary War: The war ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Source: Wikipedia — Treaty of Paris (1783)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

1976 — Viking 2 Touches Down on Mars at Utopia Planitia

Viking 2 settled onto Martian soil at 3:58 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, with confirmation reaching Earth 44 minutes later.

PASADENA, September 3 — The ochre plain of Utopia Planitia received its first visitor from Earth at 3:58 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, as Viking 2's retrorockets fired and the lander settled onto Martian soil.

Controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory confirmed touchdown 44 minutes later, when the signal reached Earth.

• Viking program: The American Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars.

Source: Wikipedia — Viking program

Occupied Netherlands

1944 — Anne Frank Deported in Final Transport From Westerbork to Auschwitz

— Occupied Netherlands —

The Jewish girl whose diary recorded two years in concealed rooms above a Prinsengracht warehouse was transferred Sunday from Westerbork to Auschwitz. Anne Frank, 15, arrived at the camp three days later with her family. The Franks had been discovered in their hiding place August 4 and held at the Amsterdam Gestapo headquarters before transfer to Westerbork. The deportation was the final transport from the Dutch transit camp to the extermination complex in occupied Poland.

• Holocaust: Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from the Westerbork transit camp to the Auschwitz concentration camp, arriving three days later.

Source: Wikipedia — Diary

Eastern Front

1942 — Łachwa Jews Rise Against Nazi Liquidation; Hundreds Escape to Marshes

Ghetto chairman Dov Lopatin refused German offer to spare thirty laborers — 'Either we all live, or we all die' — signal fire at Judenrat headquarters opened revolt.

MOSCOW, September 3 — In the marshlands of occupied Byelorussia, the first armed insurrection within the walls of a Jewish ghetto erupted this day, as 2,350 residents of Łachwa refused the fate prepared for them.

Dov Lopatin, chairman of the Jewish Council, rejected a German proposal to preserve thirty workers. He set fire to the council headquarters as signal.

• Dov Lopatin, head of the Judenrat, refused a German offer to spare 30 laborers, saying: 'Either we all live, or we all die.'
• Approximately 650 Jews were killed in the fighting or flames, and another 500 were shot at pits.
• Six German soldiers and eight German and Ukrainian or Belarusian policemen were killed during the uprising.
• About 1,000 Jews escaped the ghetto, with roughly 600 taking refuge in the Prypeć Marshes.
• The uprising began when Lopatin set fire to the Judenrat headquarters as a signal, on September 3, 1942.

Source: Wikipedia — The Holocaust

Thames River News

1878 — Princess Alice Sinks in Thames Collision; 600 Perish

More than 600 die as the Princess Alice sinks below the Thames.

LONDON, September 3 — Captain William Grinstead perished this evening when the passenger steamship SS Princess Alice was struck by the collier Bywell Castle and sank in the River Thames with the loss of more than 600 lives, the greatest disaster in British inland waterway history.

• Between 600 and 700 people died, all from Princess Alice, the greatest loss of life of any British inland waterway shipping accident.
• Princess Alice sank after being struck on the starboard side by the collier SS Bywell Castle at an angle of 13 degrees.
• The collision occurred where 75 million imperial gallons of London's raw sewage had just been released into the Thames.
• Captain William Grinstead of Princess Alice died in the incident, and his replacement helmsman John Eyers had little experience of the Thames.
• Princess Alice broke into three parts and sank within four minutes; only two people below decks survived the collision.

Source: Wikipedia — Sinking of SS Princess Alice

Maryland Manumissions

1838 — Frederick Douglass Flees Bondage

The young bondsman escapes slavery — his destination unknown — abolitionist career awaits.

BALTIMORE, September 3 — Frederick Douglass, a young slave of this city, has effected his escape from bondage and made his way to freedom in the North, according to reports reaching this office.

Douglass, who had been hired out to shipbuilders in Fells Point, seized his opportunity and fled. His present whereabouts are withheld for his security.

• Future abolitionist Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery.

Source: Wikipedia — Frederick Douglass

United Nations Treaty Action

1981 — UN Institutes Women's Rights Convention; International Bill of Rights for Women Takes Effect Today

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women enters into force.

NEW YORK, September 3 — The United Nations instituted today the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, an international bill of rights for women that entered into force as binding law on the states that have ratified it.

The treaty, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1979 after years of negotiation among member states, establishes comprehensive obligations to end discrimination in political, economic, social, and cultural life. It covers marriage and family relations, education, employment, health care, and participation in public life.

• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, an international bill of rights for women, is instituted by the United Nations.

Source: Wikipedia — Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

Gulf Sovereignties

1971 — Qatar Becomes Independent State as British Protectorate Ends

The British flag came down at noon today over Doha, ending foreign and defense policy control that began in 1916.

DOHA, September 3 — The British flag came down at noon today over the sandy capital of this small Gulf emirate, and Qatar assumed its place as a fully independent sovereign state.

Sheikh Ahmad bin Ali al-Thani, whose family has ruled this barren peninsula since the nineteenth century, proclaimed the end of the protectorate relationship that had subjected Qatari foreign and defense policy to British control since 1916. The British Political Agent closed his office and departed by air.

Independence follows the British government's announcement last year that it would withdraw military commitments east of Suez.

• Qatar becomes an independent state.

Source: Wikipedia — Qatar

Pacific Defense Desk

2017 — North Korea Detonates Most Powerful Nuclear Device Yet, Claims Thermonuclear Warhead

North Korea's sixth nuclear test, a magnitude-6.3 detonation, killed or injured dozens after collapsing civilian structures near Punggye-ri on September 3.

PUNGGYE-RI, North Korea, September 3 — The Korean Peninsula's security calculus shifted dramatically today as North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test, a detonation so forceful it registered as a magnitude-6.3 earthquake and brought down civilian structures in the surrounding village, killing or injuring dozens.

The blast at the Punggye-ri underground facility surpassed all previous North Korean tests in yield, with Pyongyang claiming the device was a two-stage thermonuclear warhead adjustable from tens to hundreds of kilotons and capable of electromagnetic pulse attack. Photographs released hours before the test showed leader Kim Jong Un inspecting a device resembling such a warhead.

Seismic monitoring stations captured unprecedented data.

• The test caused a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Punggye village, collapsing several civilian buildings and killing or injuring dozens.
• The USGS and China Earthquake Networks Center reported a second, smaller earthquake minutes later, characterized as a collapse of the cavity formed by the detonation.
• It was the first underground test where infrasound signatures were recorded transiting the thermosphere via the International Monitoring System.
• North Korea claimed the device was a two-stage thermonuclear warhead with adjustable yield from tens to hundreds of kilotons, capable of EMP attack.
• Photographs of leader Kim Jong Un inspecting a device resembling a thermonuclear warhead were released hours before the test.

Source: Wikipedia — 2017 North Korean nuclear test