3761 BC - Origin of Jewish Mundane Era
0290 - [Christian] Sergius, roman soldier/martyred saint, decapitated
0336 - St Mark dies, ending his reign as Catholic Pope
0929 - Charles III, the Plain, King of France (893-929), dies
1492 - Columbus misses Florida when he changed course 
1506 - Pope Julius II & France occupy Bologna
1520 - 1st public burning of books in Netherlands, in Louvain
1542 - Explorer Cabrillo discovered Catalina Island off California coast
1571 - Turkish fleet defeated by Spanish & Italians in Battle of Lepanto
1737 - 40 foot waves sink 20,000 small craft & kill 300,000 (Bengal, India)
1765 - The Stamp Act Congress convenes in NY
1690 - English attack Quebec under Louis de Buade
1702 - English/Dutch troops under Marlborough occupy Roermond
1777 - Americans beat Brits in 2nd Battle of Saratoga & Battle of Bemis Hts
1780 - British defeated by American militia near Kings Mountain, South Carolina
1806 - Carbon paper patented in London by inventor Ralph Wedgewood
1816 - 1st double decked steamboat, the Washington, arrived in New Orleans
1826 - Granite Railway (1st chartered railway in US) begins operations
1840 - Willem I resigns as king of Netherlands
1849 - Edgar Allen Poe, poet (Raven), dies in Balt at 40
1856 - Cyrus Chambers Jr patents folding machine that folds book & newspapers
1864 - -Oct 13th) Battle of Darbytown Road, Virginia
1864 - Naval Engagement at Bahia Harbor Brazil-CSS Florida vs USS Wachusett
1868 - Cornell University (Ithaca NY) opens
1871 - 16-hour fire injures 30 of Chicago's 185 firefighters
1886 - Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba
1900 - The term "orienteering" is 1st used for an event
1908 - Crete revolts against Turkey & aligns with Greece
1916 - 222 points are scored in a football game between Georgia Tech & Cumberland University of Lebanon, Tennessee
1919 - 1st London-Amsterdam airline service begins (Brit Aerial Transport)
1924 - 160 consecutive days of 100� at Marble Bar, Australia begins
1927 - Yank Herb Pennock retires 1st 22 Pirates in world series game (World Series #24)
1931 - 1st infra-red photograph, Rochester, NY
1933 - NY Giants beat Washington Senators, 4 games to 1 in 30th World Series
1935 - Detroit Tigers beat Chicago Cubs, 4 games to 2 in 32nd World Series
1938 - Germany demands all Jewish passports stamped with the letter J
1949 - German Dem Rep formed from Russian occupation zone (National Day)
1950 - NY Yankees sweep Phila Phillies in 47th World Series
1950 - US forces invade Korea by crossing the 38th parallel
1952 - NY Yankees beat Dodgers 4 games to 3 in 49th World Series - Yankees tie their own record of 4 consecutive World Series wins
1957 - "American Bandstand" premieres
1958 - Potter Stewart appointed to US Supreme Court
1958 - US manned space-flight project renamed Project Mercury
1959 - Far side of Moon seen for 1st time, compliments of USSR's Luna 3
1960 - "Route 66" premieres
1963 - Bobby Baker resigns as Senate Democratic secretary
1963 - Hurricane Flora hits Haiti & Dominican Republic, kills 7,190
1964 - NY Yankees make 14th appearance in last 16 & 29th in 61 World Series
1965 - 50 mph gust carries 165 lb Robert Mitera's tee shot 447 yards to score the world's longest straight hole-in-one in Omaha
1965 - Robert Mitera aces 447-yd 10th hole at Miracle Hills, Omaha, Nebraska
1967 - Beatles turn down $1 million NY concert offer by Sid Berstein
1968 - Motion Picture Association of America adopts film rating system
1971 - Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida
1972 - 1st season game at Nassau Coliseum, Flames-3, Islanders-2
1977 - With 2 outs in top of 9th, Dodgers trailing Phillies 5-3 in playoffs, score 3 runs & win 6-5. Dodgers hold 2-1 game lead
1981 - Hosni Mubarak became acting-president of Egypt
1981 - In 1st Eastern Division championship Yanks beat Brewers 5-3
1984 - Walter Payton passes Jim Brown as NFL's career rushing leader
1985 - 21st Space Shuttle Mission (51-J)-Atlantis 1 lands at Edwards AFB
1985 - KHQ-AM in Spokane Wash's final transmission
1985 - Lynette Woodward, chosen as 1st woman on the Harlem Globetrotters
1985 - PLO terrorists seize Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro
1988 - Dallas Green replaces Lou Pinella as NY Yankee manager
1988 - Latvian flag raised in Riga for 1st time since annexation by USSR
1988 - Robin Givens files for divorce after 8-month marriage to Mike Tyson
1989 - Radio talk show host Larry King weds Julie Alexander
1989 - Rickey Henderson steals a record 8 bases in a play off (5 games)
1990 - Israel begins handing out gas masks to its citizens
1991 - Child star Adam Rich arrested for stealing hypodermics
1991 - Law Professor Anita Hill accuses Supreme nominee Clarence Thomas of making sexually inappropriate comments to her
1993 - The Great Flood of 1993 ends at St. Louis, Missouri, 103 days after it began, as the Mississippi River falls below flood stage
1998 - Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, is found tied to a fence after being savagely beaten by two young adults in Laramie, Wyoming
2000 - The last ever competitive match at Wembley Stadium is a 1-0 defeat of England to Germany and the last goal was scored by Liverpool's Dietmar Hammann
2001 - The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan starts with an air assault and covert operations on the ground
2003 - Gray Davis is recalled as Governor of California, three years before the official end of his office term. Film star Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected Governor
2004 - King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia abdicates