On this day in conspiracies

The Philadelphia Inquirer runs its first front-page story, 'WHAT-IS-IT VISITS ALL SOUTH JERSEY,' with photographs of the tracks; over the following days hundreds of sighting reports pour in from across South Jersey and the Philadelphia area, and some schools, mills, and businesses close as workers refuse to travel.

Police examine the scene. A small sum, reported as around £4 of insurance collection money, is missing from a cash box, though a larger sum and other valuables are left untouched. An iron bar and a poker are said to be missing from the house and are never found; no murder weapon is recovered.

A caller identifying himself as the killer telephones the Examiner, promising to mail Short's belongings; a package addressed in cut-out newspaper letters arrives days later containing her birth certificate, address book, and other effects, cleaned with gasoline.

The Owen Inquiry publishes its report. It concludes that Lugovoi and Kovtun poisoned Litvinenko, that they were probably acting on behalf of the FSB, and that the operation was probably approved by FSB director Nikolai Patrushev and by President Putin. The Kremlin dismisses the findings.

The Nara District Court sentences Yamagami to life in prison for Abe's murder and related firearms offenses, affirming the account that a lone attacker killed Abe with a homemade gun.