And So It Begins

1531
The Catholics defeat the Protestants at Kappel during Switzerland's second civil war.

1540
Charles V of Milan puts his son Philip in control.

1727
George II of England crowned.

1795
In graditude for putting down a rebellion in the streets of Paris, France's National Convention appoints Napoleon Bonaparte second in command of the Army of the Interior.

1862
The Confederate Congress in Richmond passes a draft law allowing anyone owning 20 or more slaves to be exempt from military service. This law confirms many southerners opinion that they are in a 'rich man's war and a poor man's fight.'

1877
Outlaw Wild Bill Longley, who killed at least a dozen men, is hanged, but it took two tries; on the first try, the rope slipped and his knees drug the ground.

1899
South African Boers, settler from the Netherlands, declare war on Great Britain.

1906
San Francisco school board orders the segregation of Oriental schoolchildren, inciting Japanese outrage.

1915
Despite international protests, Edith Cavell, an English nurse in Belgium, is executed by Germans for aiding the escape of Allied prisoners.

1942
In the Battle of Cape Esperance, near the Solomon Islands, U.S. cruisers and destroyers decisively defeat a Japanese task force in a night surface encounter.

1944
To Have And Have Not premieres.

1945
Negotiations between Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and Communist leader Mao Tse-tung break down. Nationalist and Communist troops are soon engaged in a civil war.

1950
The Federal Communications Commission authorizes the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) to begin commercial color TV broadcasts.

1962
Pope John XXIII opens the 21st Ecumenical Council (Vatican II) with a call for Christian unity. This is the largest gathering of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in history; among delegate-observers are representatives of major Protestant denominations, in itself a sign of sweeping change.

1968
Apollo 7, with three men aboard, is successfully launched from Cape Kennedy.

1972
A French mission in Vietnam is destroyed by a U.S. bombing raid.

1975
Bill Clinton marries Hilary Rodham.

1976
The so-called "Gang of Four," Chairman Mao Tse-tung's widow and three associates, are arrested in Peking, setting in motion an extended period of turmoil in the Chinese Communist Party.

1991
Confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas begin.

2002
President Jimmy Carter wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

Born on October 11

1820 - Sir George Williams, founder of the YMCA.
1844 - Henry Heinz, manufacturer, founder of H.J. Heinz Co.
1884 - Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin Roosevelt.
1885 - Francois Mauriac, Nobel Prize-winning novelist.
1887 - Willie Hoppe, billiards champion.
1910 - Joseph Alsop, American journalist.
1918 - Jerome Robbins, choreographer, won Oscar for West Side Story.
1919 - Art Blakey, jazz drummer.
1925 - Elmore Leonard
1962 - Joan Cusack
1966 - Luke Perry
1966 - Nancy Depper

"Life begins at forty." ~W. B. Pitkin