Today in History for Oct. 29, 2015

George B. McClellan in 1880.

Oct. 29, 1390 – The first trial for witchcraft in Paris was held, leading to the death of three people.

Oct. 29, 1618 – English adventurer, writer, and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded for allegedly conspiring against James I of England. He was around 65 years old.

Oct. 29, 1682 – French historian, explorer and author Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix was born in Saint-Quentin, Picardy, Kingdom of France. He is considered the first historian of New France, which then occupied much of North America known to Europeans.

Oct. 29, 1692 – In connection with the Salem witchcraft trials, Massachusetts Bay Governor William Phips prohibited further arrests, released many accused witches and dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer.

Oct. 29, 1740 – Biographer James Boswell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is best known for his 1791 book, “The Life of Samuel Johnson.”

Oct. 29, 1777 - John Hancock resigned his position as president of the Continental Congress, due to a prolonged illness. Hancock was the first member of the Continental Congress to sign the Declaration of Independence and is perhaps best known for his bold signature on the ground-breaking document. During his tenure as president, Hancock presided over some of the most historic moments of the American Revolution, culminating in the signing of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776.

Oct. 29, 1778 - Future New Jersey Governor Joseph Bloomfield resigned his military post. He had accepted the elected position of clerk for the New Jersey Assembly. The city of Bloomfield, New Jersey, was incorporated in his name in 1812.

Oct. 29, 1792 – Mount Hood in Oregon was named after Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood by Lt. William E. Broughton who sighted the mountain near the mouth of the Willamette River.

Oct. 29, 1837 – Folk artist and quilt maker Harriet Powers was born into slavery outside Athens, Ga.

Oct. 29, 1844 – Ingraham Spense of the Conecuh Guards was born at Bermuda, Ala. He first entered Confederate service on April 9, 1863 in Evergreen with Co. E, 4th Ala. Infantry, and served with that unit until paroled at the close of the war in 1865. He was a Second Sergeant at the close of the war.

Oct. 29, 1861 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought in the vicinity of Woodbury and Morgantown, Ky.

Oct. 29, 1863 – During the Civil War, a skirmish occurred at Cherokee Station, Alabama

Oct. 29, 1863 - In Hamilton County, Tenn., the Battle of Wauhatchie (Brown's Ferry) came to an end after forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant opened a supply line in Chattanooga after driving away a Confederate attack led by General James Longstreet. Although the Confederates still held the high ground above Chattanooga, the new supply line allowed the Union to hold the city and prepare for a major new offensive the next month. The Union suffered 78 killed, 327 wounded, and 15 missing, while the Confederates suffered 34 killed, 305 wounded, and 69 missing.

Oct. 29, 1864 – Confederate heroine Emma Sansom of Gadsden married Christopher B. Johnson and moved to Texas in late 1876 or early 1877.

Oct. 29, 1864 – During the Civil War, a skirmish occurred at Muscle Shoals (or Raccoon Ford) near Florence, Ala.

Oct. 29, 1885 - Union General George B. McClellan died from a heart attack at the age of 85 in Orange, New Jersey.

Oct. 29, 1895 – Monroe County (Ala.) Deputy Sheriff Ben McMillan returned from Jefferson Parish, La. with Sam Rogers, who broke out of the Monroe County Jail four years prior and had been at large until captured by Jefferson Parish officers. McMillan returned him to the Monroe County Jail, where he was set to be tried on a murder indictment.

Oct. 29, 1901 – Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of U.S. President William McKinley, was executed by electrocution at the age of 28 at Auburn State Prison in Auburn, N.Y.

Oct. 29, 1911 - American newspaperman Joseph Pulitzer passed away at the age of 64 in Charleston, S.C.

Oct. 29, 1914 – The Conecuh Record reported that a “shooting affray occurred at Castleberry, Ala. a few days ago” between John Parker and John Ellis. Ellis was shot and seriously wounded by Parker, who was arrested and placed in the Conecuh County Jail.

Oct. 29, 1914 – The Conecuh Record reported that Minnie L. Hart had been appointed postmaster at Range, Ala.

Oct. 29, 1921 – In one of the biggest upsets in college football history, Harvard lost to Centre College, ending a 25 game winning streak.

Oct. 29, 1922 - The second movie version of Alabama author Mary Johnston's book “To Have and To Hold” was released.

Oct. 29, 1940 - The first peacetime military draft began in the United States.

Oct. 29, 1947 - A forest fire in Concord, N.H. was soaked with rain produced by seeding cumulus clouds with dry ice-- the first such attempt in the U.S.

Oct. 29, 1953 – Beatrice High School, under head coach James Pace, beat Repton High School, 7-0, on this homecoming Thursday night in Repton, Ala. E.H. Penny was Repton’s principal that year, and Albert Arnold was Repton’s head football coach.

Oct. 29, 1958 – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and editor of The New Yorker magazine David Remnick was born in Hackensack, N.J.

Oct. 29, 1960 – An airplane carrying the Cal Poly football team crashed on takeoff in Toledo, Ohio.

Oct. 29, 1965 – Evergreen High School lost its seventh straight game, a 19-6 loss to Red Level in Red Level, Ala. Evergreen’s only touchdown came on a pass from Bubba Faulkner to Jack White.

Oct. 29, 1965 – On homecoming night in Coffeeville, Ala., Lyeffion High School beat Coffeeville High School, 39-0. Lyeffion quarterback Homer Chaver scored on four touchdown runs. Other outstanding Lyeffion players in that game included Laymon Booker, Ronnie Booker, Harold Brown, Don Jones, Bo O’Gwyn, Don Salter, Jerry New and Stanley Wilson.

Oct. 29, 1965 – On homecoming night in Repton, Ala., Repton High School beat Dozier High School, 21-0. Players scoring for Repton included Terry Andrews, Ralph Baggett and Nickey Thompson. Players scoring on PAT plays included Larry Baggett, Frank Watson and Barry Blackwell.

Oct. 29, 1966 – In an incident often attributed to the Bermuda Triangle, “Southern Cities,” a 67-foot tugboat left Freeport, Texas with a 210-foot barge in tow. The tugboat and its crew disappeared, but the barge, complete with its cargo and intact towline would be found by searchers.

Oct. 29, 1967 - A power outage to do necessary work was scheduled for this Sunday morning in Evergreen, Ala., beginning at the City Café and extending to the Highway 31 South area. The current was to be turned off at 7 a.m. and was scheduled to be turned back on at approximately 9:30 a.m. J.W. Weaver was the City of Evergreen’s Electrical Superintendent.

Oct. 29, 1973 - O.J. Simpson of the Buffalo Bills set two National Football League records. He carried the ball 39 times and he ran 157 yards putting him over 1,000 yards at the seventh game of the season.

Oct. 29, 1979 - Willie Mays severed all ties with Major League Baseball when he accepted a public relations job with an Atlantic City casino.

Oct. 29, 1981 – Mike Qualls was named sports editor of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.

Oct. 29, 1989 – Lee Roy Jordan of Excel, Ala. was inducted into the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor.

Oct. 29, 1989 - Ozzie Newsome ended his National Football League streak of 150 consecutive game receptions.

Oct. 29, 1990 - The United Nations Security Council voted to hold Saddam Hussein's regime liable for human rights abuses and war damages during its occupation of Kuwait.

Oct. 29, 1991 – The asteroid “Gaspra” was photographed for the first time by the space probe Galileo.

  

Oct. 29, 1993 – Episode No. 7 of “The X-Files” – entitled “Ghost in the Machine” – aired for the first time.

Oct. 29, 1993 - The movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” story adapted by Alabama author Robert McDowell, was released.

Oct. 29, 1995 - Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers became the National Football League's career leader in receiving yards with 14,040 yards.

Oct. 29, 1995 – “Degree of Guilt,” a television version of Alabama author Richard North Patterson's books “Degree of Guilt” and “Eyes of a Child,” was broadcast.

Oct. 29, 2001 – Prairie Mission (also known as the Prairie Mission School and Prairie Institute) in Prairie in Wilcox County, Ala. and the Opp Commercial Historic District in Covington County, Ala. were added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Oct. 29, 2004 – The Arabic-language news network Al Jazeera broadcasted an excerpt from a 2004 Osama bin Laden video in which the terrorist leader first admits direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and referenced the 2004 U.S. presidential election.