On this day...

1504 Columbus uses a lunar eclipse to frighten hostile Jamaican Indians
1692 Sarah Good & Tituba, an Indian servant, accused of witchcraft, Salem
1848 Neufchatel declares independence of Switzerland
1856 Hostilities in Russo-Turkish War cease
1880 Gotthard railway tunnel between Switzerland & Italy opens
1892 Britian & US sign treaty on seal hunting in Bering Sea
1936 FDR signs second neutrality act
1940 "Gone with the Wind," wins 8 Oscars
1952 Dick Button wins his 5th consecutive world figure skating title
1956 Islamic Republic established in Pakistan
1956 President Eisenhower announces he would seek a second term
1960 First Playboy Club, featuring bunnies, opens in Chicago
1960 Earthquake kills one-third of Agadir Morocco population (12,000) in 15 seconds
1964 Frank Rugani sets badminton shuttlecock distance record, 24.3 m
1964 LBJ reveals US secretly developed the A-11 jet fighter
1964 NC high school basketball teams play to 56-54 score in 13 overtimes
1972 Hank Aaron becomes first baseball player to sign for $200,000 a year
1980 Gordie Howe becomes first NHL player to score 800 career goals
1980 Michael Bracey ends 59 hours, 55 minutes, trapped in an elevator, England
1984 Canadian PM Pierre Elliott Trudeau announced he is stepping down

1692 Edward Cave, England, printer (Gentlemen's Magazine)
1736 Anna Lee, Manchester, England, founded Shaker movement in America
1792 Gioacchino Rossini, Pesaro, Italy, composer (Barber of Seville)
1792 Karl Ernst von Baler, Russia, naturalist; discovered human ovum
1840 John Philip Holland, pioneer in submarine building
1860 Herman Hollerith, inventor (first electric tabulating machine)
1896 William W Wellman, Brookline, Massachusetts, director (Star is Born)
1904 Jimmy Dorsey, Shenandoah Pennsylvania, orchestra leader (Stage Show)
1920 Arthur Franz, Perth Amboy NJ, actor (Invaders From Mars, Young Lions)
1920 James Mitchell, Sacramento California, actor (Palmer-All My Children)
1920 Louise Wood, director of Girl Scouts of USA (1961-72)
1920 Michele Morgan, actress (Bluebeard, Joan of Paris)
1930 Fran Tarkenton, NFL QB (NY Giants, Minnesota Vikings)
1936 Alex Rocco, actor (Blue Knight, Stanley, Stunt Man)
1936 Alwin Schockemohle, Germany, equestrian jumper (Olympic-gold-1976)
1936 Henri "Rocket" Richard, NHL center (Montreal Canadiens)

Deaths which occurred on February 29:

468 Pope Hilarius, calendar reformer
1604 John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury
1852 John Landseer, printer & engraver for the Royal Academy
1980 Yigol Alton, Israeli Foreign Minister, dies at 61
1984 Roland Culver, actor, dies of heart problems at 83