GMT

Today in History October 24


1901 Anna Edson Taylor, 43, is the first woman to go safely over Niagara Falls in a barrel. She made the attempt for the cash award offered, which she put toward the loan on her Texas ranch.

1916 Henry Ford awards equal pay to women.

1929 Black Thursday--the first day of the stock market crash which began the Great Depression.

1931 Al (Alphonse) Capone, the prohibition-era Chicago gangster, is sent to prison for tax evasion.

1944 The aircraft carrier USS Princeton is sunk by a single Japanese plane during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

1945 The United Nations comes into existence with the ratification of its charter by the first 29 nations.

1952 Presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that if elected, he will go to Korea.

2003The supersonic Concorde jet made its last commercial passenger flight from New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport to London's Heathrow Airport, traveling at twice the speed of sound.

2008 Many stock exchanges worldwide suffer the steepest declines in their histories; the day becomes known as "Bloody Friday."


Born on October 24

1930 The Big Bopper (Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr.), singer, songwriter, musician; an early star of rock 'n' roll ("Chantilly Lace"), he died in the same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the pilot, Roger Peterson.


JOKE of the Day

Husband: Why is the food cold and bland?

Wife: Because your mother put her heart and soul into it.