On this date in

1807 Former Vice President Aaron Burr was acquitted of treason charges.

1854 German composer Engelbert Humperdinck was born.

1875 Author Edgar Rice Burroughs, known as the creator of the jungle hero Tarzan, was born.

1905 Alberta and Saskatchewan became the eighth and ninth provinces of Canada.

1907 Labor union leader Walter Reuther was born.

1923 An earthquake struck the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Yokohama, killing more than 100,000.

1932 New York Mayor James "Gentleman Jimmy" Walker resigned.

1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland starting World War II.

1951 The United States, Australia and New Zealand signed a mutual defense teaty.

1969 Moammar Gadhafi seized power in Libya through a coup.

1972 Bobby Fischer defeated Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland, to win the World Chess Championship.

1981 Nazi Albert Speer died in a London hospital.

1983 A Soviet fighter plane shot down a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 because it allegedly entered Soviet airspace, killing 269.