On this day in conspiracies

Clarence Dunn, a cashier at the Van Meter bank who had been keeping watch out of concern for the earlier reports, says he hears a noise and sees the creature near the bank in the small hours. He is said to have made a sketch of the enormous three-toed tracks it left behind.

In Game 1 in Cincinnati, Cicotte hits leadoff batter Morrie Rath with a pitch in the first inning, later described as a prearranged signal to gamblers that the fix was on. Cicotte, famed for pinpoint control, is knocked out as the Reds win 9-1. The Reds go on to take the best-of-nine Series five games to three.

Gorman, a decorated WWII fighter pilot and now a second lieutenant in the North Dakota Air National Guard, takes part in a cross-country flight in a P-51 Mustang. After the other pilots land at Fargo's Hector Airport, he stays aloft around 9:00 p.m. to log night-flying time over the city, where a football game is under way.

NASA begins operations as a civilian space agency. The US Army, Navy, and Air Force nonetheless continue to pursue their own space ambitions, and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) at Redstone Arsenal, home to Wernher von Braun's rocket team, remains a leading center of launch-vehicle expertise.

In the early hours, a group calling itself the 30 September Movement (G30S) abducts and kills six senior army generals in Jakarta, claiming it is forestalling a coup by a 'Council of Generals.' The movement is quickly crushed. Major General Suharto, commander of the army's strategic reserve, takes control of operations.

In his last public speech, from the balcony of the Royal Palace in Madrid six weeks before his death, Franco blames Spain's difficulties on a 'left-wing Masonic conspiracy' colluding with communist-terrorist subversion. He dies still holding the belief that had underpinned his rule.

An independent review led by former federal prosecutor Lawrence Pedowitz reports to the NBA's Board of Governors. It finds no evidence that any referee other than Donaghy bet on games or leaked information, and no evidence the league directed referees to favor teams or players, while faulting the officiating program and calling for reforms.

After Reverby's findings are shared with officials, the story becomes public. President Barack Obama telephones Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom to apologize, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issue a joint statement calling the research clearly unethical and reprehensible.