Today in History for Oct. 16, 2015

Oct. 16, 1691 – In connection with the Salem witchcraft trials, villagers vowed to drive minster Samuel Parris out of Salem and to stop contributing to his salary.

Oct. 16, 1730 – French-American explorer and third French Governor of Louisiana Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac died at the age of 72 in Castelsarrasin, France.

Oct. 16, 1758 – Noah Webster, who published the first American dictionary, was born in Hartford, Conn.

Oct. 16, 1773 – The first public statement against the British Parliament’s Tea Act was a document printed in The Pennsylvania Gazette on this day. The document became known as the “Philadelphia Resolutions,” which urged all Americans to oppose the British tax and stated that anyone who transported, sold or consumed the taxed tea would be considered “an enemy to his country.”

Oct. 16, 1777 – Itinerant Methodist minister and author Lorenzo Dow was born in Coventry, Conn. As he passed down the Old Federal Road through Conecuh and Monroe Counties, he is believed to have delivered the first Methodist sermon in Alabama in 1803.

Oct. 16, 1780 – Royalton, Vermont and Tunbridge, Vermont were the last major raids of the American Revolutionary War.

Oct. 16, 1781 – George Washington captured Yorktown, Virginia after the Siege of Yorktown.

Oct. 16, 1793 – Marie Antoinette, widow of Louis XVI, was guillotined at the height of the French Revolution.

Oct. 16, 1814 – The “London Beer Flood” occurred in London, killing eight.

Oct. 16, 1840 - Benjamin Faneuil Porter, a doctor and lawyer who lived in Claiborne, Ala. for about six years, before becoming a state legislator, judge and Mayor of Greenville, presided over the “Harrison Convention” in Tuscumbia.

Oct. 16, 1854 - An obscure lawyer and Congressional hopeful from the state of Illinois named Abraham Lincoln delivered a speech regarding the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which Congress had passed five months earlier. In his speech, the future president denounced the act and outlined his views on slavery, which he called "immoral."

Oct. 16, 1854 – Playwright Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland.

Oct. 16, 1859 - Abolitionist John Brown, 59, led a small group on a raid against a federal armory and arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery.

Oct. 16, 1861 – During the Civil War, Federal troops occupied Lexington, Mo. and skirmishes were fought near Linn Creek and Warsaw, Mo.

Oct. 16, 1861 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at Bolivar Heights, near Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia

Oct. 16, 1863 - U.S. President Lincoln appointed General Ulysses S. Grant to command all operations in the western theater.

Oct. 16, 1864 - Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest began moving part of his force to Johnsonville, Tennessee. Most of his men were not in place until early November. On Nov. 4, Forrest attacked the Union supply base at Johnsonville.

Oct. 16, 1869 - The Cardiff Giant, which turned out to be one of America's most famous hoaxes, was "discovered.”

Oct. 16, 1879 - Rev. William C. Morrow died in Evergreen, Ala. He was a Presbyterian minister and his first assignment as a minister was at the Old Flat Creek Church at Turnbull in Monroe County, Ala.

Oct. 16, 1887 – John Tillman Melvin was born in Selma, Ala. While serving as a Naval lieutenant aboard the USS Alcedo, he would become the first U.S. Naval officer killed in World War I when the ship was torpedoed by a German sub on Nov. 5, 1917.

Oct. 16, 1888 – Playwright Eugene O’Neill was born in New York City. He went on to write 50 plays, including “The Hairy Ape” (1921), “Desire Under the Elms” (1924), “The Iceman Cometh” (1939), and “Long Day's Journey Into Night” (1941).

Oct. 16, 1893 - Alabama author Carl Carmer was born in Cortland, N.Y.

Oct. 16, 1900 – National Baseball Hall of Fame left fielder Goose Goslin was born in Salem, N.J. During his career, he played for the Washington Senators, the St. Louis Browns and the Detroit Tigers. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1968.

Oct. 16, 1912 - New York Giants outfielder Fred Snodgrass dropped an easy pop-up in the tenth inning of the tiebreaking eighth game of the World Series against the Red Sox. His error led to a two-run Boston rally and cost the Giants the championship.

Oct. 16, 1917 - Serving aboard the USS Cassin, Alabamian Kelly Ingram became the first American serviceman killed in action during World War I. In 1918, the Navy named a destroyer after Ingram, marking the first time an enlisted man had a ship named in his honor. Congress later awarded Ingram the Medal of Honor and the City of Birmingham named Ingram Park after the Pratt City hero.

Oct. 16, 1918 – During World War I, Army Pvt. Charlie Johnson of Repton, Ala. “died from disease.”

Oct. 16, 1926 – Journalist, author, poet, radioman and teacher Riley Kelly was born in Excel, Ala. A graduate of Emory University and World War II Navy veteran, he worked for The Frisco City Sun, The Monroe Journal and WMFC. His books include “In Search of Light” (1969), “Patterns,” (1970), “The Human Way” (1974) and “Prize Cache” (1974).

Oct. 16, 1938 - Vista Spencer Lowe was born in Pensacola, Fla. to Charles G. Lowe and Rubie Spencer Lowe. He would be killed in the line of duty as a Pensacola, Fla. firefighter in 1962.

Oct. 16, 1946 - Ten Nazi war criminals were executed by hanging after being condemned and convicted during the Nuremberg trials.

Oct. 16, 1953 – Lyeffion High School, under coach William Andrews, picked up its fourth straight win by beating Coffeeville High School, 12-7, in Coffeeville, Ala. Sam Smith scored Lyeffion’s first touchdown on a two-yard run, and Wayne Thames scored the winning touchdown on a five-yard run. Other outstanding Lyeffion players in that game included Frank Chavers, Bobby Coker, Clay Kelly, Jackie Parrish, Bill Raines and Cecil Raines.

Oct. 16, 1953 – On homecoming night in Greenville, Ala., Greenville High School, under Coach Luke Whetstone, beat Evergreen High School, 33-19. Evergreen quarterback Jimmy Frazier threw for 155 yards to receivers Buck Lewis, Ronnie Edson and Ward Alexander. Other outstanding Evergreen players in that game included Wayne Bell, Walter Carrier, Sam Cope, Wayne (Dog) Douglas, Ronnie Edson, Eugene (Pee Wee) Hyde, Alvin Reeves, Lamar Sheffield, Richard Taylor, Bud Ward and Randy White. Wendell Hart was Evergreen’s head coach.

Oct. 16, 1960 - The National League voted to admit Houston and New York to the league. It was the first organizational change to the league since 1900.

Oct. 16, 1969 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Seaman Don C. Hansen of Evergreen, Ala. was serving aboard the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy in the Mediterranean when the JFK hosted a two-day tour by Sergent Shriver, U.S. Ambassador to France; Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of the late John F. Kennedy; their family and high ranking French and military guests.

Oct. 16, 1969 – The Evergreen Courant reported that former Evergreen High School football standout Homer Faulkner of Evergreen, Ala. was the starting punter at Livingston University, where the 185-pound junior averaged 41.2 yards per kick in 1968.

Oct. 16, 1972 – Former Alabama quarterback Joe Namath appeared on the cover of TIME magazine.

Oct. 16, 1973 – Evergreen police officers, Henry Vickrey and Johnny Blackmon, and police dispatcher Swan Turner witnessed a UFO in downtown Evergreen, Ala. just after midnight. They reported watching an “unusual light” in the sky for 15 to 20 minutes, and news of the incident was reported nationwide in newspapers and on television and radio broadcasts.

Oct. 16, 1974 – Former Evergreen Courant publisher and editor Robert Gaston Bozeman Sr. passed away at the age of 77 and was buried in Evergreen, Alabama’s Magnolia Cemetery. He was inducted into the Alabama Press Association Hall of Honor in 1980.

Oct. 16, 1975 – Weather reporter Earl Windham reported 2.3 inches of rain in Evergreen, Ala.

Oct. 16, 1978 – Wanda Rutkiewicz became the first Pole and the first European woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Oct. 16, 1984 - Evergreen weather reporter Earl Windham reported 1.81 inches in Evergreen, Ala.

Oct. 16, 1985 - The Historic Chattahoochee Commission purchased the Hart House in Eufaula, Ala. The house, which was built in 1850, is a notable example of pure Greek Revival architecture and was one of only five Eufaula buildings recorded by the original 1935 Historic American Building Survey. It was entered into the National Register of Historic Places on December 12, 1973, as part of the Seth Lore and Irwinton Historic District. Today, the house serves as a regional visitor center providing information on heritage tourism attractions throughout the 18-county Chattahoochee Trace region of southeastern Alabama and southwestern Georgia.

Oct. 16, 1986 – George Singleton wrote about Hercules the whiskey-drinking bill goat.

Oct. 16, 1986 – Reinhold Messner became the first person to summit all 14 Eight-thousanders.

Oct. 16, 1993 – As part of the 1993 Conecuh Heritage Festival, comedian Jerry Clower performed at Brooks Memorial Stadium in Evergreen, Ala. starting at 7 p.m. The River Road Band opened for Clower.

Oct. 16, 1994 - The television program “Cries from the Heart,” teleplay by Alabama author Robert Inman, was broadcast.

Oct. 16, 2002 - U.S. President George W. Bush signed a congressional resolution that authorized war against Iraq.

Oct. 16, 2002 – Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, was officially inaugurated.

Oct. 16, 2013 – The Marlow Methodist Church Cemetery in Baldwin County, Ala. was added to the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register.