Today is Thursday, Oct. 31, the 304th day of 2019. There are 61 days left in the year. This is Halloween.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 31, 1941, the Navy destroyer USS Reuben James was torpedoed by a German U-boat off Iceland with the loss of some 100 lives, even though the United States had not yet entered World War II.
On this date:
In 1517, Martin Luther sent his 95 Theses denouncing what he saw as the abuses of the Catholic Church, especially the sale of indulgences, to the Archbishop of Mainz, Germany (by some accounts, Luther also posted the Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg), marking the start of the Protestant Reformation.
In 1926, magician Harry Houdini died in Detroit of peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix.
In 1941, work was completed on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, begun in 1927.
In 1959, a U.S. Marine reservist showed up at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to declare he was renouncing his American citizenship so he could live in the Soviet Union. His name: Lee Harvey Oswald.
In 1964, Theodore C. Freeman, 34, became the first member of NASA’s astronaut corps to die when his T-38 jet crashed while approaching Ellington Air Force Base in Houston.
In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam, saying he hoped for fruitful peace negotiations.
In 1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two Sikh (seek) security guards.
In 1994, a Chicago-bound American Eagle ATR-72 crashed in northern Indiana, killing all 68 people aboard.
In 1998, a genetic study was released suggesting President Thomas Jefferson did in fact father at least one child by his slave Sally Hemings.
In 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990, bound from New York to Cairo, crashed off the Massachusetts coast, killing all 217 people aboard.
In 2001, New York hospital worker Kathy T. Nguyen (nwen) died of inhalation anthrax, the fourth person to perish in a spreading wave of bioterrorism.
In 2005, President George W. Bush nominated Judge Samuel Alito (ahl-EE’-toh) to the Supreme Court. Civil rights icon Rosa Parks was honored during a memorial service in Washington, D.C.
Ten years ago: A registered sex offender was arrested in Cleveland after police found six decomposing bodies at his home. (Authorities turned up the bodies of 11 women at the home of Anthony Sowell, who was convicted and sentenced to death in 2011.) The New York Yankees won Game 3 of the World Series, defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 8-5 to give New York a 2-1 Series lead.
Five years ago: Commercial space tourism suffered a huge setback when a prototype passenger rocket, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, exploded during a test flight, scattering debris over the Mojave Desert and killing one pilot while seriously injuring the other.
One year ago: President Donald Trump said the number of military troops being deployed to the U.S.-Mexican border could reach 15,000. Huge crowds of fans cheered as the Red Sox rumbled through downtown Boston aboard duck boats to mark the team’s fourth World Series championship in the past 15 years. Baseball Hall of Famer Willie McCovey, a star first baseman and outfielder who played for the San Francisco Giants for 19 of his 22 major league seasons, died at the age of 80.
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