TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: OCT 4
1537 The 1st complete English-language Bible, the “Matthew Bible” is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale
1582 Last Julian calendar day in Spain, Portugal and pontifical states. To sync to the Gregorian calendar, 10 days are skipped and the next date is Oct 15.
1636 1st code of law for Plymouth Colony
1648 The first volunteer fire department was established in New York by Peter Stuyvesant.
1777 At Germantown, Pa., British General Sir William Howe repels George Washington’s last attempt to retake Philadelphia, compelling Washington to spend the winter at Valley Forge.
1795 General Napoleon Bonaparte leads the rout of counterrevolutionaries in the streets of Paris, beginning his rise to power.
1830 Provisional government declares secession of Belgium from Netherlands
1874 Kiowa leader Satanta, known as “the Orator of the Plains,” surrenders in Darlington, Texas. He is later sent to the state penitentiary, where he commits suicide October 11, 1878.
1883 The Orient Express departs on its first official journey from Paris to Istanbul
1887 The Paris Herald Tribune was published for the first time. It was later known as the International Herald Tribune.
1895 The first U.S. Open Golf tournament was held in Newport, Rhode Island.
1910 Portugal becomes a republic, King Manuel II flees to England
1915 The Dinosaur National Monument was established. The area covered part of Utah and Colorado.
1927 Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting the heads of 4 US presidents on Mount Rushmore.
1931 The comic strip “Dick Tracy” made its debut in the Detroit Daily Mirror. The strip was created by Chester Gould.
1941 Willie Gillis Jr., a fictional everyman created by illustrator Norman Rockwell, makes his first appearance, on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post; a series of illustrations on several magazines’ covers would depict young Gillis throughout World War II.
1957 Sputnik 1, the first man-made satellite, is launched, beginning the “space race.” The satellite, built by Valentin Glushko, weighed 184 pounds and was launched by a converted Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). Sputnik orbited the earth every 96 minutes at a maximum height of 584 miles. In 1958, it reentered the earth’s atmosphere and burned up.
1965 Pope Paul VI arrives in New York, the first Pope ever to visit the US and the Western hemisphere.
1976 In Gregg v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court lifts the ban on the death sentence in murder cases. This restores the legality of capital punishment, which had not been practiced since 1967. The first execution following this ruling was Gary Gilmore in 1977.
1987 NFL owners used replacement personnel to play games despite the player’s strike.
1992 Mozambique’s 16-year civil war ends with the Rome General Peace Accords.
1993 Dozens of Somalis dragged an American soldier through the streets of Mogadishu. A videotape showed Michael Durant being taken prisoner by Somali militants.
1993 Russian Vice-President Alexander Rutskoi and Chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov surrendered to Boris Yeltsin after a ten-hour tank assault on the Russian White House. The two men had barricaded themselves in after Yeltsin called for general elections and dissolved the legislative body.
2001 Authorities confirmed a tabloid editor in Florida had contracted anthrax. He died the next day.
2006 WikiLeaks is launched, created by internet activist Julian Assange
REFERENCE: HISTORY.NET, ONTHISDAY.COM, TIMEANDDATE.COM, INFOPLEASE.COM, FACTMONSTER.COM, SCOPESYS.COM, ON-THIS-DAY.COM, THEPEOPLEHISTORY.COM
