Oct. 23
1915: An estimated 25,000 women marched on Fifth Avenue in New York City in support of women’s suffrage.
1944: The Battle of Leyte (LAY’-tee) Gulf began; the largest naval battle of World War II resulted in a major Allied victory against Japanese forces, paving the way for the retaking of the Philippines.
1983: A suicide truck bombing at the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut killed 241 American service members, most of them Marines, while a near-simultaneous attack on French barracks killed 58 paratroopers.
Oct. 24
1537: Jane Seymour, the third wife of England’s King Henry VIII, died 12 days after giving birth to Prince Edward, later King Edward VI.
1861: The first transcontinental telegraph message was sent by Chief Justice Stephen J. Field of California from San Francisco to President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C.
1931: The George Washington Bridge, connecting New York City with New Jersey, was dedicated.
Oct. 25
1760: Britain’s King George III succeeded his late grandfather, George II.
1859: Radical abolitionist John Brown went on trial in Charles Town, Virginia, for his failed raid at Harpers Ferry.
1929: Former Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall was convicted of taking bribes for oil field leases in the “Teapot Dome scandal,” becoming the first U.S. Cabinet member imprisoned for crimes in office.
Oct. 26
1774: The First Continental Congress adjourned in Philadelphia.
1825: The Erie Canal opened in upstate New York, connecting Lake Erie and the Hudson River.
1861: The legendary Pony Express officially ceased operations, giving way to the transcontinental telegraph.
1881: Four lawmen, including Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, exchanged gunfire with five outlaws, killing three of them, in the “Shootout at the O.K. Corral” in Tombstone, Arizona.
Oct. 27
1787: The first of the Federalist Papers, a series of essays calling for ratification of the United States Constitution, was published.
1995: A sniper killed one soldier and wounded 18 others during an outdoor physical training session at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
2004: The Boston Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918, sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in four games.
Oct. 28
1886: The Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France, was dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Cleveland.
1636: The General Court of Massachusetts passed a legislative act establishing Harvard College.
1858: Rowland Hussey Macy opened his first New York store at Sixth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan.
1919: Congress passed the Volstead Act, which provided the means for enforcement of a Prohibition era ban on alcohol, over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto.
Oct. 29
1929: Black Tuesday descended on the New York Stock Exchange. Prices collapsed amid panicked selling and thousands of investors were wiped out as America’s Great Depression began.
1969: The first-ever computer-to-computer link was established on ARPANET, the precursor to the internet.
1998: Sen. John Glenn, at age 77, returned to space aboard the shuttle Discovery, making him the oldest person to fly in space at the time.
