Today in History for Dec. 5, 2014

Pope Innocent VIII

Dec. 5, 1484 - Pope Innocent VIII issued the "Summis Desiderantes," a decree which officially recognized witches and gave permission for the Inquisition to begin rooting out practitioners of witchcraft.

Dec. 5, 1791 - Composer and prominent Freemason Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna, Austria at the age of 35.

Dec. 5, 1821 – The Alabama legislature passed an act expressing gratitude for the services of Col. Sam Dale and granting him the rank of brevet brigadier general of the militia.

Dec. 5, 1839 - Union General George Armstrong Custer was born in Harrison County, Ohio. He was killed at Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876 fighting Indians.

Dec. 5, 1896 – Robert Gaston Bozeman was born. He would go on to own The Evergreen Courant newspaper in Conecuh County and was inducted into the Alabama Newspaper Hall of Honor in 1980.

Dec. 5, 1908 - At the University of Pittsburgh, numerals were first used on football uniforms worn by college football players.

Dec. 5, 1910 – Melt Booker allegedly killed Will Raines of near Finklea, Ala. around 11 a.m. on this Sunday morning by shooting him with a small rifle. The shooting occurred on a public road, there were no eye witnesses and the cause of the shooting was unknown.

Dec. 5, 1919 - Loraine Bedsole Bush became the first woman to head a state agency in Alabama when she is named director of the newly created Child Welfare Department. Long involved in state and national efforts to reform child labor laws, Bush was largely responsible for the establishment of the department.

Dec. 5, 1933 - Prohibition came to an end when Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, thus establishing the required 75 percent of states needed to enact the amendment. (This overturned the 18th Amendment which had made the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcohol illegal in the United States.)

Dec. 5, 1935 - The Alabama Highway Patrol, Alabama’s first statewide law enforcement agency, is created by Gov. Bibb Graves. The patrol originally consisted of 12 motorcycle officers. Today the Department of Public Safety has a staff of over 1,100 who are responsible for the highway patrol, the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, driver’s license administration, and other support activities.

Dec. 5, 1941 – John Steinbeck’s nonfiction book “Sea of Cortez” was published.

Dec. 5, 1945 – Five Navy TBM Navy Avenger bombers, the famous “Flight 19,” also known as the “Lost Squadron,” disappeared in the “Bermuda Triangle” with a total crew of 14 during a training flight from Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station. They were never heard from again.

Dec. 5, 1945 - A PBM Martin Mariner bomber dispatched with a crew of 13 to assist the Flight 19 patrol disappeared without a trace.

Dec. 5, 1951 – Major League Baseball outfielder Joseph Jefferson “Shoeless Joe” Jackson passed away in Greenville, S.C. at the age of 64. He is remembered for his performance on the field and for his alleged association with the Black Sox Scandal, in which members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox participated in a conspiracy to fix the World Series. As a result of Jackson's association with the scandal, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Major League Baseball's first commissioner, banned Jackson from playing after the 1920 season.

Dec. 5, 1955 – E. D. Nixon and Rosa Parks led the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Montgomery, Ala.

Dec. 5, 1973 - Ron Santo became the first Major League Baseball player to veto his trade.

Dec. 5, 1978 - Pete Rose signed with the Philadelphia Phillies. The contract was for four years and $3.2 million making Rose the highest paid athlete in team sports.

Dec. 5, 1982 - Mel Gray ended an NFL streak of 121 consecutive games with receptions.

Dec. 5, 1983 - Steve Howe of the Los Angeles Dodgers was suspended for one year for cocaine use.

Dec. 5, 1983 - The video arcade game "NFL Football" was unveiled in Chicago. It was the first video arcade game to be licensed by the National Football League.

Dec. 5, 1995 - Dan Marino of the Miami Dolphins passed for 300 yards in a game for the 52nd time to set an NFL record.