TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Monday, October 12, the 285th day of 2015. There are 80 days left in the year. This is the Columbus Day holiday in the U.S., as well as Thanksgiving Day in Canada.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On October 12, 1915, English nurse Edith Cavell was executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from occupied Belgium during World War I.
On this date:
In 1915, former President Theodore Roosevelt, speaking to the Knights of Columbus in New York, criticized native-born Americans (as opposed to naturalized citizens) who identified themselves by dual nationalities, saying that “a hyphenated American is not an American at all.”
In 1933, bank robber John Dillinger escaped from a jail in Allen County, Ohio, with the help of his gang, who killed the sheriff, Jess Sarber.
In 1935, opera star Luciano Pavarotti was born in Modena, Italy.
In 2000, 17 sailors were killed in a suicide bomb attack on the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen.
In 2002, bombs blamed on al-Qaida-linked militants destroyed a nightclub on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing 202 people, including 88 Australians and seven Americans.
Ten years ago: China launched its second manned space flight, during which two astronauts orbited Earth for five days.
Five years ago: The Obama administration announced it was lifting the six-month moratorium on deep water oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico imposed after the BP oil spill.
One year ago: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that a health care worker at the Texas hospital where Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan was treated before his death had tested positive for the illness in the first known case of Ebola being contracted or transmitted in the U.S.
Today’s Birthdays: Actress Antonia Rey is 88. Comedian-activist Dick Gregory is 83. Former Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, is 83. Singer Sam Moore (formerly of Sam and Dave) is 80. Broadcast journalist Chris Wallace is 68. Actress-singer Susan Anton is 65. Rock singer-musician Pat DiNizio is 60. Actor Hiroyuki Sanada is 55. Country musician Martie Maguire (Courtyard Hounds, The Dixie Chicks) is 46. Actor Kirk Cameron is 45. Olympic gold medal skier Bode Miller is 38.
Thought for Today: “The want of logic annoys. Too much logic bores. Life eludes logic, and everything that logic alone constructs remains artificial and forced.”— Andre Gide, French author and critic (1869-1951).