On Jan. 18, 1776, the Council of Safety in Savannah, Georgia, placed the colony’s royal governor, James Wright, under house arrest. In February 1776, Wright escaped to the British man-of-war, HMS Scarborough. After failing to negotiate a settlement with the revolutionary congress, he sailed for London. On December 29, 1778, Wright returned with troops and was able to retake Savannah.
On Jan. 18, 1990, Mayor Marion Barry was arrested by FBI agents and District of Columbia police at the Vista International Hotel in downtown Washington and charged with drug possession and the use of crack cocaine. In September 1991, he was sentenced to six months in prison. After serving his sentence, Barry reentered D.C. politics, winning a seat on the city council and then being elected mayor in 1994 for an unprecedented fourth term. Apparently, voters wanted to give Barry another crack.