1821

Napoleon Bonaparte, 51, died in exile on the island of St. Helena.

1925

Schoolteacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating a state law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution. (Scopes was found guilty, but his conviction was later set aside.)

1945

In the only fatal attack on the U.S. mainland during World War II, a Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing a pregnant woman and five children.

1961

Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Mercury capsule Freedom 7.

1973

Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby, the first of his Triple Crown victories, in a time of 1:59.4 — a record that still stands.

1994

Singapore caned American teenager Michael Fay for vandalism, a day after the sentence was reduced from six lashes to four in response to an appeal by President Bill Clinton.

Birthdays

Actor Richard E. Grant is 68. R&B singer Raheem DeVaughn is 50. Actor Henry Cavill is 42. Singer-songwriter Adele is 37. R&B singer Chris Brown is 36. Tennis player Aryna Sabalenka is 27.