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1842...Mutual of New York receives a charter to sell life insurance, establishing many of the standards and practices still in use today. The premium on the first policy is used to buy furniture and books for Mutual's first office on Wall Street.

1878...New York's most famous crooked politician, William "Boss" Tweed, dies in the Ludlow Street Jail while serving time for fraud.

Today's New Yorker birthdays include long-time New York-based talk show host David Letterman, born in 1947.