Today is Sunday, Oct 12, the 286th day of 2008. There are 80 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Oct. 12, 1492 (Old Style calendar; Oct. 21 New Style), Christopher Columbus arrived with his expedition in the present-day Bahamas. On this date: In 1870, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee died in Lexington, Va., at age 63. In 1908, the Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago Cubs 8-3 in Game 3 of the World Series, played in Chicago. In 1915, English nurse Edith Cavell was executed by the Germans in occupied Belgium during World War I. In 1918, the Cloquet Fire erupted in Minnesota, claiming some 450 lives. 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 1960, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev disrupted a U.N. General Assembly session by pounding his desk with a shoe when a speaker criticized his country. In 1968, the Summer Games of the 19th Olympiad officially opened in Mexico City. In 1968, Equatorial Guinea became independent of Spain. Continued... |