Moments in Times

* On Aug. 12, 30 B.C., Cleopatra, queen of Egypt and lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, takes her life following the defeat of her forces against Octavian, the future first emperor of Rome.

* On Aug. 13, 1878, a restaurant owner dies of yellow fever in Memphis, Tennessee, after a man who had escaped a quarantined steamboat visited her restaurant. In the 19th century, it was not known that mosquitoes carried yellow fever, and victims were quarantined in an attempt to prevent its spread.

* On Aug. 7, 1912, former president Theodore Roosevelt is nominated for the presidency by the Progressive Party. Also known as the Bull Moose Party, its platform called for the direct election of U.S. senators, women’s suffrage and reduction of tariffs.

* On Aug. 8, 1963, the 15 men involved in the Britain’s Great Train Robbery use an ex-British Army truck and two stolen Land Rover all-terrain vehicles to escape with some $7 million in stolen loot.

* On Aug. 10, 1977, postal employee David Berkowitz is arrested and charged with being the “Son of Sam,” the serial killer who terrorized New York City for more than a year. Berkowitz claimed that demons and a black Labrador retriever owned by a neighbor named Sam had ordered him to commit the killings.

* On Aug. 11, 1984, President Ronald Reagan, while testing a microphone before a radio address, jokingly announces, “My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”

* On Aug. 9, 2000, tire manufacturer Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. announces the recall of 6.5 million of its tires after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration linked at least 46 deaths to problems with tread peeling off the tires.

(c) 2017 King Features Synd., Inc.