October 26
Today in America's Present Past
1682 | William Penn acquires Delaware.
1749 | Georgia reverses its rule, declaring that slavery is legal; previously, it had been a free colony.
1757 | Founder Charles Pinckney was born.
1774 | Congress: The first Continental Congress adjourns.
1776 | War of Independence: Benjamin Franklin departs for France, seeking French support for the American Revolution.
1791 | Banker Charles Sprague was born.
1819 | SCOTUS: Justice Thomas Johnson died.
1858 | Hamilton Smith patents the rotary washing machine.
1861 | The Pony Express (Missouri to California) ended.
1864 | Civil War: Union troops ambush and kill William T. Anderson, known as “Bloody Bill,” near Albany, Missouri.
1865 | Entrepreneur Benjamin Guggenheim was born.
1868 | Civil Rights: St. Bernard Parish Massacre.
1868 | Cleric Benjamin F. Randolph was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan.
1879 | Abolitionist Angelina Grimké died.
1881 | Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.
1883 | Author Napoleon Hill was born.
1892 | Ida B. Well publishes “Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.”
1894 | Publisher and journalist John S Knight was born.
1902 | Activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton died.
1912 | Director Don Siegel was born.
1914 | Actor Jackie Coogan was born.
1916 | Civil Rights: Activist Margaret Sanger arrested for obscenity.
1919 | Edward William Brooke III was born, the first African-American U.S. Senator
1929 | First known airborne birth, Airlene Evans was born.
1930 | Entrepreneur Harry Payne Whitney died.
1940 | The P-51 Mustang makes its maiden flight.
1945 | Author Pat Conroy was born.
1946 | Entertainer Pat Sajak was born.
1947 | Politician Hillary Clinton was born.
1951 | Boxer Rocky Marciano defeats former champion Joe Louis by TKO.
1952 | Actress Hattie McDaniel died.
1954 | Chevrolet unveils V-8 engine.
1955 | The “Village Voice” begins publication.
1961 | Actor Dylan McDermott was born.
1963 | Director Ted Demme was born.
1966 | Journalist Jeanne Zelasko was born.
1972 | Public guided tours begin at Alcatraz by the National Park Service.
1972 | Entrepreneur Igor Sikorsky died.
1973 | Writer and director Seth MacFarlane was born.
1984 | Film: “The Terminator” debuted.
1989 | Chemist Charles J. Pedersen d
ied.
2001 | POTUS: Republican President Bush signs the Patriot Act.
2015 | Film: “Spectre” debuted.