On this date in history:

In 1653, Oliver Cromwell -- Puritan, revolutionary and lord protector of England -- dissolved Parliament to rule by decree.

In 1871, the U.S. Congress passed the Third Force Act, popularly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, authorizing President Ulysses S. Grant to declare martial law, impose heavy penalties against terrorist organizations and use military force to suppress the Klan.

In 1902, Marie and Pierre Curie isolated radioactive radium salts from the mineral pitchblende in their laboratory in Paris.

In 1912, the first baseball games were played at Boston's Fenway Park and Detroit's Tiger Stadium.

In 1916, the first baseball game was played at Chicago's Weehhman Park, later renamed Wrigley Field.

In 1939, Billie Holiday recorded Strange Fruit.

In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal courts could order low-cost housing for minorities in a city's white suburbs to ease racial segregation.

In 1991, the United States announced plans to open an office in Hanoi to investigate unresolved cases of 2,278 U.S. military personnel listed as MIAs and POWs.

In 1992, Madonna signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Time Warner to form an entertainment company that would make her the world's highest paid female pop star.

In 1998, a federal jury in Chicago awarded more than $85,000 in damages to two women's health clinics that had accused abortion rights opponents of threats and extortion in an effort to shut them down.

In 1999, two teenage boys killed 12 students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., before turning their guns on themselves.

In 2008, Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300 auto race, becoming the first woman to win an IndyCar event.

In 2010, an explosion and fire on a BP oil rig off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 workers and caused a massive oil spill. (It became the largest U.S. marine oil spill in history, stretching over almost three months and releasing about 4.9 million barrels of crude.)

In 2011, Michel Martelly, an entertainer who performed under the name Sweet Micky, was elected president of Haiti in a runoff with former first lady Mirlande Manigat.

In 2012, a Pakistani Bhoja Air jetliner on a flight from Karachi crashed 5 miles from Islamabad, killing all 127 people aboard.

In 2013, an earthquake in China's Sichuan province killed nearly 200 people and injured thousands.

Copyright 2014 by United Press International