Flashback:<\/strong> July 20, 2012<\/p>\n 2012:<\/strong> Urooj Khan<\/a> died of cyanide poisoning just months after he won $1 million on an Illinois Lottery scratch-off ticket. The Tribune revealed the details of Khan\u2019s death in January 2013, setting off an international media storm for a murder mystery that one police official at the time compared to an Agatha Christie novel.<\/p>\n But no one has ever been charged with one of Chicago\u2019s strangest killings in years.<\/p>\n Flashback: Apollo 11\u2019s voyage to the moon kept Chicagoans spellbound in a time of tumult<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Weather records <\/strong>(from the National Weather Service, Chicago<\/a>)<\/p>\n 1924:<\/strong> Sybil Bauer<\/a>, a Chicago native and Northwestern sophomore, won the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke in the 1924 Paris Olympics. Her time was a world-record 1:23.20 seconds.<\/p>\n Vintage Chicago Tribune: Summer Olympians from the area who won gold<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Bauer didn\u2019t start competing in events until she was a teenager at Schurz High School. Soon thereafter, however, she became the first great female swimmer of the backstroke. Bauer set 23 world records \u2014 holding at one point\u00a0all existing records for women in backstroke from 50 to 440 yards, according to the International Swimming Hall of Fame \u2014 and won six consecutive AAU 100-yard backstroke championships, according to the Olympic Games.<\/p>\n Her greatest feat may have taken place in Bermuda on Oct. 8, 1922, when Bauer became the first woman to beat a world record\u00a0held by a man<\/a>. She completed a 440-yard backstroke race in 6 minutes, 24 seconds \u2014 almost 4 seconds faster than the old record held by Harold Krueger of Honolulu.<\/p>\n She was engaged to Edward Sullivan<\/a>, then sports editor of the New York Evening Graphic and future television show host, but was stricken with cancer and died in 1927<\/a>. Bauer was just 23 years old.<\/p>\n Also in 1924:<\/strong> Johnny Weissmuller<\/a> \u2014 the Austrian born, Chicago-raised future \u201cTarzan\u201d actor \u2014 won gold at the Paris Olympics in swimming. He won five gold medals in the 1924 and 1928 Olympic Games.<\/p>\n 1944:<\/strong> In a speech broadcast to the delegates inside Chicago Stadium from a train car at a naval base on the Pacific Ocean, President Franklin D. Roosevelt<\/a> accepted the nomination for a fourth term during the Democratic National Convention at Chicago Stadium. Roosevelt was en route to Hawaii to join military brass debating strategies for the Pacific theater during World War II.<\/p>\n Vintage Chicago Tribune: Tradition of acceptance speeches at political conventions began in Chicago<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cYou in this convention are aware of what I have sought to gain for the nation, and you have asked me to continue,\u201d FDR said in\u00a0accepting its nomination<\/a>.<\/p>\n Roosevelt was reelected<\/a> Nov. 7, 1944, but died<\/a> April 12, 1945.<\/p>\n 1968: <\/strong>About 1,000 children with intellectual disabilities ranging in age from 8 to 18 competed in the first Special Olympics<\/a>, which took place at Soldier Field.<\/p>\n Responding to a written proposal from Chicago Park District employee\u00a0Anne Burke<\/a>, a $25,000 check from the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation was forwarded here to help start the games, courtesy of the foundation\u2019s executive vice president,\u00a0Eunice Kennedy Shriver<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vintage Chicago Tribune: The first Special Olympics at Soldier Field \u2014 55 years ago<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The initial one-day outing included participants from more than 20 states and Canada. Admission was free, but with little publicity and a basic lack of understanding, not many showed up besides friends and relatives of the youngsters.<\/p>\n Still, the spirit was the same as if the stadium was packed, and the event was considered a huge success by those in attendance.<\/p>\n 1992:<\/strong> Jeff Erickson escaped from the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse. The con man was convicted of robbing a string of Chicago-area banks with his wife, Jill Erickson<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vintage Chicago Tribune: Jailbreak!!!<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n When the Hanover Park duo was caught in 1991, she was mortally wounded in a chase with FBI officers and he was arrested and taken to the Metropolitan Correctional Center. But as he was being led from the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on July 20, 1992, Erickson uncuffed his hands with a handcuff key, disarmed a guard and fatally shot Deputy U.S. Marshal Roy \u201cBill\u201d Frakes and court security Officer Harry Belluomini<\/a>, a retired Chicago police officer.<\/p>\n Want more vintage Chicago?<\/p>\n Subscribe to the free\u00a0Vintage Chicago Tribune<\/a>\u00a0newsletter, join our\u00a0Chicagoland history Facebook group,<\/a> stay current with Today in Chicago History<\/a> and follow us on Instagram<\/a>\u00a0for more from Chicago\u2019s past.<\/p>\n Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@chicagotribune.com<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0mmather@chicagotribune.com<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/CTC-L-CT-MET-CYANIDE-POISONING-GRAVE-CTMAIN_188218373.jpg\")
The grave site of Urooj Khan at Rosehill Cemetery. Cyanide was found in his blood after his death. (Phil Velasquez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n\n
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![\"American](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/CTC-L-ctc-l-sybil-bauer-01_200388016.jpg\")
American swimmer Sybil Bauer at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. (Archives CNOSF\/Getty-AFP)<\/p>\n\n
![\"Johnny](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ctc-l-Weissmuller-2-01.jpg\")
Johnny Weissmuller at the finish of the 400-meter freestyle swimming event at the Paris Olympic Games on July 18, 1924. (Archives CNOSF\/Getty-AFP)<\/p>\n![\"U.S.](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/CTC-L-AP-ROOSEVELT-DEMOCRATIC-NOMINATION-1944-01.jpg\")
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt accepts his Democratic nomination for a fourth term in the White House via radio from a railroad car at a Pacific Coast Naval Station, July 20, 1944. Seated at right are his son, Col. James Roosevelt, and his daughter-in-law Romelle Theresa Schneider. (AP)<\/p>\n\n
![\"Eunice](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/CTC-L-MET-AJ-6-SPECIAL-OLYMPICS-0719-2-_181878113.jpg\")
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, bottom left, executive vice president of the Joseph Kennedy Jr. Foundation, feels the muscle of athlete Robert Larman, 13, during the inaugural Chicago Special Olympics on July 20, 1968, at Soldier Field in Chicago. The event was co-sponsored by the Chicago Park District and the Kennedy Foundation. (William Yates\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/CTC-L-CT-jeff-erickson-012_179149559.jpg\")
The body of Jeff Erickson, right, lay under a white plastic sheet on the ramp of the Dirksen Federal Building after a shooting that left three people dead on July 20, 1992. (Rod Lamkey Jr.\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n\n