First German spy convicted for World War I espionage in the US

On August 16, 1918, Lothar Witzke was convicted of espionage by a military commission sitting at Ft. Sam Houston, becoming the first German spy convicted by the United States in World War I. Witzke was sentenced to hang, but President Wilson commuted the sentence on May 27, 1920. In 1922 Witzke was pardoned by President Coolidge and deported to Berlin.

Learn more about the Mare Island sabotage.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Standard Oil incorporated

On January 10, 1870, John Davison Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil. Rockefeller's corporation would grow to achieve a virtual monopoly over oil production in the United States. Standard Oil's dominance lasted until the corporation was split into 34 separate companies in 1911 after the Supreme Court found the company in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The rise of Standard Oil made Rockefeller America's first billionaire and eventually the richest man in the world. Read the text of Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey vs. United States, 221 U.S. 1 (1910).