The Daily News | December 12

First black US Congressman sworn in (Joseph R. Rainey), 1870
Jascha Heifetz died, 1987
US gunboat Panay sunk by Japanese planes (Yangtze River), 1937
Kenya declared independence, 1963
First transatlantic wireless message transmitted (Marconi), 1901
Martial law imposed in Poland, 1981
Da Vinci notebook purchased for $5,126,000 (Armand Hammer), 1980
Douglas Fairbanks Sr, actor, died, 1939
Dr. Joel Roberts Poinsett, introducer poinsettia to US, died, 1851
Robert Browning, English poet, died, 1889
First bible society organized (Bible Society of Philadelphia), 1808
Boys Town (Omaha, Nebraska) founded, 1917
Sara Jane Moore pleaded guilty to trying to kill US president Ford, 1975
Pennsylvania became the second US state, 1787
The First Bank of the United States opened its main office (Philadelphia), 1792
Beethoven paid Haydn $.19 for first music lesson, 1792
Largest armored car robbery ($11 million - Sentry Armored Courier office, New York), 1982
“Mona Lisa,” stolen in 1911 announced recovered, 1913