A collision between two excursion trains killed eleven people and injured seventy-seven others at Helmshore in Lancashire, about eighteen miles north of Manchester where they had attended a fair.  Near midnight, on an incline, one train had several carriages packed with passengers broke free and ran backwards down the hill to crash into a train following on the same track.  These carriages contained almost all the victims.  (By John Osborne)   

Former senator and sitting governor of Texas Sam Houston had been touted as a presidential candidate that could bring together all conservatives committed to the holding together of the Union.  After weeks of indecision, he announced that he would not be a candidate.  Later, true to his convictions, he was removed as Texas governor on March 16, 1861 for refusing the oath to the Confederacy.  He died in 1863.  (By John Osborne) 

In order to impress the European powers that they were able to protect Christians and punish the perpetrators of the recent widespread massacres in Syria, Turkish authorities publicly executed scores said to be implicated in the mass killings of Christians the previous month.  In all,170 were shot, 56 hanged, and around 400 others exiled. Western observers generally saw this as a design to shelter those actually responsible. (By John Osborne)