1923
Feb 16, Bessie Smith (1898-1937) made her first recording "Down Hearted Blues." Her recording was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2002.

1963
Feb 16, 1st round-trip swim of Straits of Messina, Italy, was made by Mary Revell of US.

1982
Feb 16, In France Magdalena Kopp, lover of Carlos the Jackal, aka Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, was captured by French officials.

1999
Feb 16, The body of Tracy Biletnikoff (20), daughter of football player star Fred Biletnikoff, was found at Canada College in Redwood city, Ca. Her boyfriend, Mohammad Haroon Ali (23) fled to Mexico, but was later arrested as he tried come back over the border.

2000
Feb 16, In NYC Lucy Edwards (41), a former bank of New York executive, and her husband, Peter Berlin (46), pleaded guilty to laundering over $7 billion from Russian bankers in exchange for $1.8 million.