Today in History...Oct 9th

[Prerunner1982]

Events:
1582 – Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
1604 – Supernova 1604, the most recent supernova to be observed in the Milky Way.
1635 – Founder of Rhode Island Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a religious dissident after he speaks out against punishments for religious offenses and giving away Native American land.
1701 – The Collegiate School of Connecticut (later renamed Yale University) is chartered in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
1760 – Seven Year's War: Russian forces occupy Berlin.
1771 – The Dutch merchant ship Vrouw Maria sinks near the coast of Finland.
1799 – Sinking of HMS Lutine, with the loss of 240 men and a cargo worth £1,200,000.
1812 – War of 1812: In a naval engagement on Lake Erie, American forces capture two British ships: HMS Detroit and HMS Caledonia.
1824 – Slavery is abolished in Costa Rica.
1837 – A meeting at the U.S. Naval Academy establishes the U.S. Naval Institute.
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Santa Rosa Island – Union troops repel a Confederate attempt to capture Fort Pickens.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Tom's Brook – Union cavalrymen in the Shenandoah Valley defeat Confederate forces at Tom's Brook, Virginia.
1874 – General Postal Union is created as a result of the Treaty of Berne.
1888 – The Washington Monument officially opens to the general public.
1907 – Las Cruces, New Mexico is incorporated.
1911 – An accidental bomb explosion in Hankou, Wuhan, China leads to the ultimate fall of the Qing Empire
1913 – Steamship SS Volturno catches fire in the mid-Atlantic.
1914 – World War I: Siege of Antwerp – Antwerp, Belgium falls to German troops.
1919 – Black Sox scandal: The Cincinnati Reds "win" the World Series.
1936 – Generators at Boulder Dam (later renamed to Hoover Dam) begin to generate electricity from the Colorado River and transmit it 266 miles to Los Angeles, California.
1940 – World War II: Battle of Britain – During a night-time air raid by the German Luftwaffe, St. Paul's Cathedral in the City of London, England is hit by a bomb.
1942 – The last day of the October Matanikau action on Guadalcanal as United States Marine Corps forces withdraw back across the Matanikau River after destroying most of the Imperial Japanese Army's 4th Infantry Regiment.
1945 – Parade in NYC for Fleet Admiral Nimitz and 13 USN/USMC Medal of Honor recipients
1963 – In northeast Italy, over 2,000 people are killed when a large landslide behind the Vajont Dam causes a giant wave of water to overtop it.
1969 – In Chicago, the United States National Guard is called in for crowd control as demonstrations continue in connection with the trial of the "Chicago Eight" that began on September 24.
1983 – Rangoon bombing: attempted assassination of South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan during an official visit to Rangoon, Burma. Chun survives but the blast kills 17 of his entourage, including four cabinet ministers, and injures 17 others. Four Burmese officials also die in the blast.
1989 – An official news agency in the Soviet Union reports the landing of a UFO in Voronezh.
1992 – A 13 kilogram (est.) fragment of the Peekskill meteorite lands in the driveway of the Knapp residence in Peekskill, New York, destroying the family's 1980 Chevrolet Malibu
1995 – An Amtrak Sunset Limited train is derailed by saboteurs near Palo Verde, Arizona.
1999 – The last flight of the SR-71.
2001 – Second mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attack.
2006 – North Korea allegedly tests its first nuclear device.

Birthdays:
1873 – Charles Walgreen, American entrepreneur (d. 1939)
1886 – Rube Marquard, American baseball player (d. 1980)
1900 – Joseph Friedman, American inventor (d. 1982)
1903 – Walter O'Malley, American baseball executive (d. 1979)
1908 – Lee Wiley, American jazz singer (d. 1975)
1911 – Joe Rosenthal, American photographer (d. 2006)
1918 – E. Howard Hunt, American Watergate figure (d. 2007)
1925 – Johnny Stompanato, American organized crime figure (d. 1958)
1940 – Joe Pepitone, American baseball player
1943 – Mike Peters, American cartoonist
1944 – Nona Hendryx, American singer (Labelle)
1947 – Tony Zappone, American broadcaster, journalist, author, photographer
1948 – Jackson Browne, American musician
1950 – Jody Williams, American teacher and aid worker, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
1950 – Brian Downing, former baseball player
1953 – Tony Shalhoub, American actor
1954 – Scott Bakula, American actor
1954 – John O'Hurley, American actor and game show host
1957 – Don Garber, American sports commissioner
1958 – Michael Pare, American actor
1958 – Al Jourgensen, American musician (Ministry)
1958 – Mike Singletary, former American football player
1960 – Kenny Garrett, American jazz saxophonist
1965 – Jimbo Fisher, Offensive Coordinator for Florida State
1967 – Eddie Guerrero, American professional wrestler (d. 2005)
1970 – Kenny Anderson, American basketball player
1970 – Savannah, American pornographic actress (d. 1994)
1971 – Michael Manna, American professional wrestler
1973 – Terry Balsamo, American guitarist (Evanescence)
1975 – Sean Lennon, American musician & son of ex-Beatle John Lennon
1977 – Brian Roberts, American baseball player
1978 – Juan Dixon, American basketball player
1979 – Alex Greenwald, American musician(Phantom Planet), actor, model
1981 – Zachery Ty Bryan, American actor
1981 – Darius Miles, American basketball player
1983 – Stephen Gionta, American ice hockey player
1987 – Bill Walker, American basketball player
1992 – Tyler James Williams, American actor


Deaths:
1996 – Walter Kerr, American theater critic (b. 1913)
2000 – David Dukes, American actor (b. 1945)
2001 – Dagmar, American television personality (b. 1921)
2002 – Aileen Wournos, American serial killer sentenced to death (b. 1956)
2005 – Louis Nye, American comedian and actor (b. 1913)
2008 – Gidget Gein, American musician (b. 1969)

[SMXJ]

Happy birthday Scott Bakula!

[mcatald]

Really liked him in Quantum Leap.