February 28 ...

In 1827 the first US railroad chartered to carry passengers and freight, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, was incorporated. In 1844 a 12-inch gun aboard the USS Princeton exploded, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Navy Secretary Thomas W. Gilmer, and several others. In 1849 the ship California arrived at San Francisco, carrying the first of the gold-seekers. In 1861 the Territory of Colorado was organized. In 1881 Thomas Edison hired Samuel Insull as his private secretary. In 1901 scientist Linus Pauling was born in Portland, OR. In 1951 the Senate committee headed by Estes Kefauver (D-TN) issued a preliminary report saying at least two major crime syndicates were operating in the US. In 1953 scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule that contains the human genes. In 1974 the US and Egypt re-established diplomatic relations after a seven-year break. In 1986 Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot to death in central Stockholm. In 1993 a gun battle erupted at a compound near Waco, TX, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to serve warrants on the Branch Davidians, a group of religious extremists; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began.