The Week in History (October 5 to October 10)
October 5, 1703 – American evangelical preacher and Congregational theologian Jonathan Edwards is born in East Windsor, CT. The leading theologian of his day, he is known most commonly for his Great Awakening sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” which he delivered in a quiet monotone. He later became president of Princeton.
October 5, 1936 – Czech playwright and political leader Vaclav Havel was born in Prague. He spent over 5 years in prison for speaking out against oppressive government abuses. He went on to lead the peaceful “velvet revolution” which ended Soviet communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989.
October 5, 1964 – The largest mass escape since the construction of the Berlin Wall occurred as 57 East German refugees escaped their communist oppressors to West Berlin after tunneling beneath the wall.
October 6, 1536 – English reformer William Tyndale, who translated and published the first mechanically-printed New Testament in the English language (against the law at the time), is strangled to death. His body is then burned at the stake at Vilvoorde Castle (not far from Brussels) for his Protestant views and efforts to translate the Bible into English.
October 6, 1949 – “Tokyo Rose” (Iva Toguri d’Aquino) was sentenced in San Francisco to 10 years imprisonment and fined $10,000 for treason. She had broadcast music and Japanese propaganda to American troops in the Pacific during World War II. She was pardoned by President Gerald Ford in 1977.
October 6, 1973 – The Yom Kippur War started on Yom Kippur, the most holy day in Judaism, as a federation of Arab countries steered by Egypt and Syria launched full-scale surprise attacks on Israel. Yom Kippur was the fourth war started by Arab Islamists against Israel since becoming a nation in 1948. It lasted 18 days, ending again in a resounding Israeli victory.
October 7, 1765 – Congress convened in New York City with representatives from nine colonies meeting in protest to the British Stamp Act which imposed the first direct tax by the British Crown upon the American colonies.
October 7, 1910 – Forest fires destroy Baudette and Spooner, killing twenty-nine people and burning over 220,000 acres of land. During that dry year, over 900 fires had burned in twenty-nine Minnesota counties, causing forty-two deaths.
October 7, 1985 – Palestinian terrorists seized the Italian passenger ship Achille Lauro carrying about 440 persons, threatening to blow it up if Israel did not free 50 Palestinian prisoners. Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly wheelchair-bound Jewish American, was murdered.
October 8, 1871 – The Great Fire of Chicago erupted. According to legend, it started when Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern in her barn on DeKoven Street. Over 300 persons were killed and 90,000 were left homeless as the fire leveled 3.5 square miles, destroying 17,450 buildings. Financial losses totaled over $200 million.
October 8, 1918 – During World War I in the Argonne Forest in France, U.S. Sergeant Alvin C. York single-handedly took out a German machine-gun battalion, killing 25 and capturing 132. He was later awarded the Medal of Honor and the French Croix de Guerre.
October 8, 1945 – The microwave oven is patented by U.S. inventor Percy Spencer.
October 8, 1998 – The U.S. House of Representatives voted 258-176 to approve a resolution launching an impeachment inquiry of President Bill Clinton. Result: The House went on to impeach Clinton for High Crimes and Misdemeanors, adopting two articles of impeachment with the specific charges of lying under oath to Congress and obstruction of justice. The Senate trial for conviction and removal from office required 67 votes for either count, but all 45 Senate Democrats voted to acquit on both counts, and Clinton remained in office for the remainder of his second term.
October 9, 1855 – American inventor Isaac Singer patents sewing machine motor.
October 9, 2011 – As a result of the “Arab Spring”—a movement of radical Islamists that Democrat President Barack Hussein Obama supported with the talent and treasure of the U.S. to arm, train, and finance—the Egyptian army ruthlessly ran over or shot Christians peacefully protesting the failure of the Islamist government to bring to justice Muslims who burned Christian churches and attacked Christians. Twenty-seven Christians died. Two days later Muslims also assaulted the Christian funeral processions.
October 10, 1918 – A forest fire begins on the railroad line between Duluth and Hibbing and burns for the next three days, reaching Duluth on the thirteenth. Thirty-eight communities, including the cities of Cloquet, Carlton, and Moose Lake, and the towns of Adolph, Brookston, Munger, Grand Lake, Pike Lake, and Twig, are burned and 435 people are killed. After the blaze, forest salvagers cut 1.6 million tons of lumber.
October 10, 1958 – Death of George Bennard, American Methodist evangelist and hymn writer, who authored and composed the music for the popular hymn “The Old Rugged Cross.”