A race across the Atlantic between three schooners under New York Yacht Club rules for a prize of $90,000 had begun from New York just under fourteen days before. At 5:45pm on Christmas Day, 1866, the Henrietta, owned by the newspaper heir James Gordon Bennett, Jr. reached the Needles on the Isle of Wight and claimed the victory.  The Fleetwind arrived eight hours later and Vesta another ninety minutes after that.  (By John Osborne)

A race across the Atlantic between three schooners under New York Yacht Club rules for a prize of $90,000 began from New York on this day.  Just under fourteen days later the Henrietta, owned by the newspaper magnate James Gordon Bennett arrived at Cowes on the Isle of Wight and claimed the victory.  The Fleetwind arrived eight hours later and Vesta another ninety minutes after that.  (By John Osborne)

A few weeks before, Italian troops entered Venice.  As a consequence of a secret agreement between Prussia and Italy before the conflict, the defeated Austrian Empire was forced to cede Venetia to Italy and the action was confirmed with the results of an almost unanimous plebiscite announced on this day.  Italy was now essentially unified.  (By John Osborne) 

Italian troops entered Venice and the flag of what was now essentially a united Italy was raised in St. Mark's Square. As a consequence of a secret agreement between Prussia and Italy before the conflict, the defeated Austrian Empire was forced to cede Venetia to Italy and the action was confirmed with the results of an almost unanimous plebiscite announced on November 4, 1866.  (By John Osborne) 

At around nine in the morning, one span of the Bollman railroad bridge across the Muskingum River at Zanesville, Ohio collapsed as a railroad train was crossing.  Several cars, including at least one passenger car, were thrown towards the river.  Initial fears of multiple deaths were unfounded although  a good number of injuries was reported.  (By John Osborne)

Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov, second son of Tsar Nicholas I, had recently taken his place as heir to the Empire with the unexpected death of his older brother.  He also inherited his sibling's bethrothed, the Danish Princess Dagmar, and the two were married in St. Peterburg on this day.  Eighteen months later, the future, and final, Russian Tsar, Nicholas II, was born.  (By John Osborne)

In Lebanon, Kentucky, a mob of local men, angered by a perceived lack of uniformity or swiftness of official justice in the county, took the law into their own hands.  Breaking down the door of the jail with sledgehammers at midnight, they took three men - Clem Crodus, WIlliam Goode, and Thomas Stephens - and hanged them from a black oak tree set on a local hill.  (By John Osborne)  

A swift moving hurricane struck the Turks and Caicos Islands and then Nassau in the Bahamas without warning.  Winds of up to 140 miles per hour hit the harbor at Nassau, reportedly destroying or heavily damaging every ship there bar one.  It moved north, missed Bermuda, and blew itself out. Across the islands, 383 people are believed to have lost their lives at land and sea during the storm. (By John Osborne)

Three days of continuous torrents of rain swelled the banks of the rivers Irwell, Irk, and Medlock in the Manchester region of Lancashire in England and severe flooding took place on this day. In some of the worst floods in recent memory, up to the highest arch in the new bridge in Salford, on the edge of the city, where 1,414 homes were indundated. Neighboring Yorkshire also suffered.  (By John Osborne)