by the Spanish Inquisition at its last auto-da-fé, held in Valencia. August – The town of Crawford Notch, New Hampshire suffers a landslide; those killed include the Willey Family, after whom Mount Willey is named. August 10 – The first Cowes Regatta is held on the Isle of Wight, in the U.K. August 18 – Explorer Alexander Gordon Laing becomes the first European to reach Timbuktu. September 21 – Construction of the Rideau Canal begins in Canada. September – William Morgan (anti-Mason) of Batavia, New York, disappears mysteriously. It is highly likely he was murdered by freemasons. October–December October 1 – The Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway opens in Scotland. October 7 – The first train operates over the Granite Railway in Massachusetts. November 3 – The Paris Stock Exchange opens at the Palais de la Bourse. December 16 – Benjamin W. Edwards rides into Mexican-controlled Nacogdoches, Texas, and declares himself ruler of the Republic of Fredonia. December 21 – Fredonian Rebellion: American settlers in Mexican Texas make the first attempt to secede from Mexico, establishing the Republic of Fredonia, which will survive for just over a month. December 25 The Eggnog Riot breaks out at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York during the early morning hours. Major Edmund Lockyer arrives at King George Sound, to take possession of the western part of Australia, establishing a settlement near Albany. Date unknown The first railway tunnel is built en route between Liverpool and Manchester, in England. The British East India Company colony of the Straits Settlements is established. Aniline is first isolated from the destructive distillation of indigo, by Otto Unverdorben. Ludwig van Beethoven composes the Große Fuge. Mahmud II's council orders the janissaries to drill in the European manner. Births January–June January 1 – Mikhail Loris-Melikov, Russian statesman, general (d. 1888) January 12 – William Chapman Ralston, American banker, financier (d. 1875) January 15 – Marie Pasteur, French chemist (d. 1910) January 24 – William Daniel, American temperance movement leader (d. 1897) January 26 – Louis Favre, Swiss engineer (d. 1879) January 27 Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian writer (d. 1889) Richard Taylor, American Confederate general (d. 1879) January 30 – Robert F. R. Lewis, American naval officer (d. 1881) February 3 – Walter Bagehot, English economist and journalist (d. 1877) February 7 – James Edward Jouett, American admiral (d. 1902) February 9 – John A. Logan, American soldier,