On this date in . . .

1839: Elisha Hoffman was born. The American clergyman composed "I Must Tell Jesus," Are You Washed in the Blood?" "Glory to His Name," and "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms."

1927: Deejay Jim Lowe was born in Springfield, Ohio. At New York’s WNEW he was the "King of Trivia." He had one hit record, "The Green Door," which hit #1 in 1956. He played piano and recorded the song at his apartment. (Not to be confused with Dallas morning radio great "Ole" Jim Lowe, the voice of Big Tex, who died in 2002 at age 73.)

1941: Glenn Miller and his orchestra recorded "Chattanooga Choo Choo" for RCA Victor.

1985: The first pig racing season began in Tulsa, to culminate 10 weeks later with the Arnold Ziffel Sweepstakes. First-year favorites included Marvin Hogler and Bruce Pigsteen.

1986: Joan Rivers began a late-night TV talk show on the Fox Network. It flopped.

1991: A bandit tried to hold up a Jacksonville, Florida, supermarket wearing a paper bag over his head with eyeholes cut so he could see. But when he moved, the bag shifted and he couldn’t see. While he adjusted the bag it tore, exposing his face. Which a checker recognized as one of the store’s regular customers.

1998: The parent company of Mercedes-Benz agreed to buy Chrysler Corporation for more than $37 billion.

1998: A Pasadena, California, couple returned from vacation to find over a thousand birds inside their home. The flock of small migratory swifts had flown down the chimney. Firemen helped the couple clear the birds out in about two hours, but cleaning up the mess took a lot longer.

2000: Mike Hennessy of West Springrfield, Massachusetts, celebrated his 50th birthday by jumping out of an airplane 50 times. Hennessy had logged more
than 5,800 jumps in his life, and spent 46 hours free-falling. But he had never done more than 19 jumps in a single day.

2002: Triple Crown winner "Seattle Slew" died at age 28. It was 25 years to the day after his victory in the Kentucky Derby.

2003: A man wanted for trafficking and possession of cocaine was arrested when his parole officer spotted him kissing his girlfriend in a live crowd shot displayed on the scoreboard at a Cincinnati Reds game. The suspect and his parole officer attended the same game when the smooching couple were caught by the "Kiss Cam" at Great American Ball Park. The parole officer and a police officer arrested the 24-year-old man in his front row seat.