1646 - A “wolf bounty” was granted under authority of the General Assembly held at James City, VA. It was signed by Sir William Berkely, Knight Governor, and provided that “what person soever shall after publication hereof kill a wolfe and bring in head to any commissioner, upon certificate of said communication to the county court, he or they shall receive one hundred pounds of tobacco for doing to be raised out of the County where the wolfe is killed.”
    1703 - Birthday of famed Preacher Jonathan Edwards (d. 1758) at East Windsor, CT.  He was an American Congregationalist clergyman, was the outstanding theologian and scholar of colonial New England in the 1700's, leader of the “Great Awakening”. In his most famous book “Freedom of the Will” (1754), he upheld such Calvinistic doctrines as predestination. But he insisted that man had freedom to choose alternative courses when forces outside him "inclined" his will to choose.  He received A.B. and A.M. degrees from Yale University. In 1727, he was ordained and installed as assistant in the church of Solomon Stoddard, his grandfather, at Northampton, Mass. When Stoddard died in 1729, Edwards became pastor. The religious revival, a part of the Great Awakening, came to his church in 1734. His famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God"(1741), was preached during his revival. Edwards' discipline of young people for reading "immoral" literature and his refusal to give communion to unconverted church members caused dismissal in 1750. He then served as a missionary to the Indians in Stockbridge, Mass., from 1751-1757. Edwards became President of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1758, but died later that same year when he contracted smallpox from an inoculation.
http://www.jonathanedwards.com/sermons.htm
    1717 - The “Mississippi Bubble” or “ Mississippi Scheme”,  devised by John Law to promote and finance French colonization in Louisiana ruined thousands of investors. The Duke of Orleans, regent of France, had encouraged and underwritten Law, a Scottish financier and speculator, to start a bank. Under the name of the Western Company (also known as the Company of the West, “Comagnie D'Occident,” and the Mississippi Company), the bank gained control of all trade on the Mississippi River and issued paper money in excess of available security.  In 1720, Law was appointed controller general of finances, merged the huge stock company with the royal bank and took over most of the public debt and the administration of revenue. A rash of speculation swept France. Numerous small investors bought stock, which soared to heights far beyond what could be expected in returns from the exploitation of the colonies and from trade with East Asia. The bubble burst suddenly. Well-informed speculators sold their stock at huge profits, setting off a frenzy of selling that ruined thousands of investors. The collapse of the bank in 1720 ruined Law and caused great trouble in France. Although his financial scheme ended in failure, it did promote colonization in Louisiana. Law died in 1725.
    1813 - The Battle of the Thames was a decisive in the War of 1812. The U.S. victory over British and Indian forces near Ontario at the village of Moraviantown on the Thames River is known in Canada as the Battle of Moraviantown. Some 600 British regulars and 1,000 Indian allies under the command of Colonel Henry Procter and Shawnee leader Tecumseh were greatly outnumbered and quickly defeated by U.S. forces, an army of 3,500 troops, under the command of Maj. Gen. William Henry Harrison. The British army was retreating from Fort Malden, Ontario after Oliver Hazard Perry's victory in the Battle of Lake Erie. Tecumseh convinced Colonel Procter to make a stand at Moraviantown. The American army won a total victory. The British soldiers fled or surrendered. The Indians fought fiercely, but they lost heart and scattered after Tecumseh died on the battlefield. Richard Johnson probably killed the Indian leader. The Battle of the Thames was the most important land battle of the War of 1812 in the American Northwest. General Harrison's victory marked the end of Tecumseh's Confederacy and the downfall of the Indians in Ohio.
    1824 - The birthday of Henry Chadwick (d. 1908) at Exeter, Devon, England. Baseball Hall of Fame sportswriter and innovator known as the “Father of Baseball” and later as “Father Chadwick,” he wrote voluminously about baseball, popularizing the game and protecting its integrity. He perfected the newspaper box score, served on the rules committee and devised the method of scoring games still in use. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1938.
    1829 - Birthday of the 21st President of the US, Chester Alan Arthur, at Fairfield, VT, and succeeded to the presidency following the death of James A. Garfield. Garfield was shot July 2, 1881, as he entered the railway station at Washington, DC. He died September 19, 1881, never having recovered from the wound. The assassin, Charles J. Guiteau, was hanged June 30, 1882. Arthur's term of office: Sept 20, 1881-Mar 3, 1885. He was not successful in obtaining the Republican Party’s nomination for the following term.  In June, 1884, the Republican National Convention nominated James G. Blaine of Maine for the presidency on the first ballot. Gen. John A. Logan of Illinois was nominated for the vice presidency. The “Mugwumps,” the independent Republicans, walked out of the national convention in Chicago, IL, when the party nominated James G. Blaine. They felt he would not support civil service reform. On June 16, they held a convention of their own in New York City, pledging support to the Democratic Party if a liberal candidate were named. The presidential election campaign of 1884 was fought mainly with attacks on the reputations of the rival candidates. The Republican candidate James G. Blaine, on the basis of letters he had written, was accused of having profited from the Credit Mobilier scandal involving the building of the Union Pacific Railroad. His opponents sang: “Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine, the continental liar from the state of Maine.” The Democratic candidate, Grover Cleveland, was accused of having fathered an illegitimate child, which in his forthright manner, he admitted. The turning point of the election was most likely a remark made on October 9th by the Rev. Samuel D. Burchard in New York, in the presence of Blaine, that the Democrats were the party of “Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion.” Blaine did not disavow the remark, and the Irish-American Roman Catholics of New York were outraged. Cleveland carried the state by 1149 votes and thereby won the presidency. Cleveland received 219 electoral votes to Blaine's 182, but the popular vote was Cleveland 4,911,017 to Blaines' 4,848,334. Arthur died a broken man on November 18, 1886.
    1852 - A major boon to the agriculture industry was the patient of Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth, a former pastor in Oxford, Ohio, for a beehive with removable frames. Langstroth's hive designed revolutionized beekeeping because it was the first that allowed bees to build combs on wooden frames that could be removed, stripped of honey and wax, and then replaced. His key discovery was the "bee space”, the minimum air space that bees would not bridge with wax or bee glue. By setting up his frames at this distance, he prevented the bees from building connections between them. This allowed him to remove one frame at a time without damaging the adjacent frames, and enabled him to maximize the amount of honeycomb in the hive. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._L._Langstroth
    1863 - In an attempt to disrupt the Union blockade of Charleston Harbor, the Confederate semi-submersible "David" rammed the Federal ironclad "New Ironsides" with a spar torpedo.  This was the first successful Southern attack using a submersible craft. Although both sides experimented with submarine warfare during the Civil War, the results were far from encouraging, as the submarines caused more fatalities to their own crews than to the opposing side.
    1871 - Celia C. Burleigh became the first woman ordained as a Unitarian minister. Her parish was in Brooklyn, CT.
http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/celiaburleigh.html
    1877 - After a 1,700 mile retreat, Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Indians surrendered to US Cavalry troops at Bear's Paw near Chinook, Montana. Chief Joseph made a speech historians consider a famous surrender message, "From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."
    1882 – Robert H. Goddard (d. 1945) was born in Worcester, MA.  American engineer, professor, physicist, and inventor, he is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket, which he successfully launched on March 16, 1926. Goddard and his team launched 34 rockets between 1926 and 1941, achieving altitudes as high as 1.6 mi and speeds as high as 550 mph.  Goddard's work as both theorist and engineer anticipated many of the developments that were to make spaceflight possible.  He has been called the man who ushered in the Space Age.
    1892 – The end of the Dalton Gang.  The gang specialized in bank and train robberies. During an attempted bank robbery in Coffeyville, KS in 1892, two of the brothers and two other gang members were killed; Emmett survived to be tried and convicted. He was paroled after serving 14 years in prison.
    1897 - Birthday of Dr. Florence Seibert (d. 1991), Easton, PA.  U.S. chemist. Dr. Seibert developed the process that removed bacteria from water in a single distillation - a process vital for safe injections and other medical uses. Until her process, water wasn't always safe for injection even after three distillations. She also perfected the first reliable test for TB that was adopted as the standard in the U.S. in 1941 and worldwide in 1952. She was tiny, weighing less than 100 pounds and was partially disabled from a childhood bout with infantile paralysis. 
    1902 – Ray Kroc (d. 1984), the motivator of McDonald’s, was born in Oak Park, IL.  With his Prince Castle Multi-Mixer sales plummeting because of competition from lower-priced Hamilton Beach products, Ray took note of the McDonalds brothers who had purchased 8 of his Multi-Mixers. Immediately after visiting the San Bernardino store, Ray became convinced that the setup of this small chain had the potential to explode across the nation. He offered his services to the McDonald brothers, who were looking for a new franchising agent. Kroc opened the first restaurant of McDonald's, Inc. in Des Plaines, IL. The Des Plaines location boomed, bringing in hundreds of dollars on its opening day. Ray franchised out scores of restaurants to franchisees. The brothers were satisfied with the money they had, and did not feel a need to expand their empire.  Kroc became frustrated with the brothers' desire to maintain a small number of restaurants. In 1961, he bought the company for $2.7 million - enough to pay each brother $1 million after taxes - plus an annual royalty of 1.9% (when negotiating the contract, the McDonald brothers said that 2% sounded greedy; 1.9% was more attractive).
        1905 – Wilbur Wright piloted Wright Flyer III in a flight of 24 miles in 39 minutes, a world record that stood until 1908.
    1908 – Chicago White Sox pitcher Ed Walsh beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-1, for his 40th victory.  Detroit's 24-game winner Ed Summers takes the loss. Walsh leads the league in games (66), innings (464), strikeouts (269), complete games (42), saves (six), shutouts (11) and winning percentage (.727). His ERA is 1.42… (He has the lowest career ERA in history, 1.82). Walsh was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.
    1911 – Major League Baseball’s National Commission sold motion picture rights to the World Series for $3,500. When the players demand a share of it, the Commission cancels the deal.
    1912 - The New York Highlanders played their last game at their field, Hilltop Park in Washington Heights, beating the Washington Senators, 8-6.  For the 1913 season they will play at the Polo Grounds, owned by the National League New York Giants, and they changed their name to the New York Yankees. Yankee Stadium opened in The Bronx, across the river from the Polo Grounds, in 1923.
    1918 - ELLIS, MICHAEL B., Medal of Honor.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 28th Infantry, 1st Division. Place and date: Near Exermont, France, 5 October 1918. Entered service at: East St. Louis, Ill. Born: 28 October 1894, St. Louis, Mo. G.O. No.: 74, W.D., 1919. Citation: During the entire day's engagement he operated far in advance of the first wave of his company, voluntarily undertaking most dangerous missions and single -handedly attacking and reducing machinegun nests. Flanking one emplacement, he killed 2 of the enemy with rifle fire and captured 17 others. Later he single -handedly advanced under heavy fire and captured 27 prisoners, including 2 officers and 6 machineguns, which had been holding up the advance of the company. The captured officers indicated the locations of 4 other machineguns, and he in turn captured these, together with their crews, at all times showing marked heroism and fearlessness. 
    1921 – New York hosted the first one-city World Series since 1906 and the Polo Grounds was the site for all nine games.   This was also the first World Series to be broadcast on radio.
    1928 - Bix Biederbecke cuts five sides with Paul Whiteman, Columbia-Okeh.
    1939 - Perry Como records “I Wonder Who Is Kissing Her Now” with the Ted Weems Band (Decca).
    1941 – In one of the more memorable plays in World Series history, catcher Mickey Owens of the Brooklyn Dodgers let the third strike on Tommy Henrich through his legs in what would have been the final out of a Dodgers victory against the New York Yankees. Henrich reached first base on the passed ball.  Given a second chance, the Yankees then rally for a 7 - 4 win to take a 3-1 Series lead.
    1943 - WASP pilots are landing a shipment of new BT-15's from the U.S. factory to the Orange County Airport in California where they were ferried on to England. One plane entering its turn onto the final approach falters, goes into a diving steep turn and crashed. Virginia Moffatt, an able flier, is dead. Most WASPs who witnessed the crash believe it is the "old" problem of carbon monoxide leaking in the cockpit of the BT-15's, a known problem that caused many of the women transporting the planes to fly the planes with their canopies partially open regardless of the cold.
    1943 – 98 American POWs were executed on Wake Island by the Japanese.
    1944 - KRAUS, RICHARD EDWARD, Medal of Honor.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Born: 24 November 1925, Chicago, Ill. Accredited to: Minnesota. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 8th Amphibious Tractor Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Peleliu, Palau Islands, on 5 October 1944. Unhesitatingly volunteering for the extremely hazardous mission of evacuating a wounded comrade from the front lines, Pfc. Kraus and 3 companions courageously made their way forward and successfully penetrated the lines for some distance before the enemy opened with an intense, devastating barrage of hand grenades which forced the stretcher party to take cover and subsequently abandon the mission. While returning to the rear, they observed 2 men approaching who appeared to be marines and immediately demanded the password. When, instead of answering, 1 of the 2 Japanese threw a hand grenade into the midst of the group, Pfc. Kraus heroically flung himself upon the grenade and, covering it with his body, absorbed the full impact of the explosion and was instantly killed. By his prompt action and great personal valor in the face of almost certain death, he saved the lives of his 3 companions, and his loyal spirit of self -sacrifice reflects the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his comrades.
    1947 - The first taped radio show is broadcast on ABC, a performance by Bing Crosby that demonstrated the capabilities of the new Ampex 200 recorder.
    1947 – One of baseball’s greatest plays occurred at Yankee Stadium by Dodgers’ LF Al Gionfriddo, “back goes Gionfriddo, back, back, back, back, back, back ... heeee makes a one-handed catch against the bullpen! Oh, Doctor!"  The spectacular catch robbed Joe DiMaggio of an extra base hit with two on in World Series Game 6, won by the Dodgers, 8-6. The Yanks rebounded to win the series.  Ironically, Gionfriddo never played another game in the Majors.
    1949 - AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson is born
    1950 – “You Bet Your Life” premiered on TV. This funny game show began on radio in 1947 and moved to TV with Groucho Marx as host and George Fenneman as announcer and scorekeeper. Players tried to answer questions in the category of their choice, but Groucho's improvised interviews stole the show. Many unusual guests appeared, both professionals and nonprofessionals (including Phyllis Diller and Candice Bergen, both of whom would later become famous). Players could also win money by uttering the secret word, an everyday word suspended above the stage on a duck that dropped when the word was spoken. This was one of the few shows to be filmed, because the interviews needed to be edited. Two short-lived revivals of the series aired, with Buddy Hackett as host in 1980 and with Bill Cosby in 1992.
    1953 - The Yankees won their fifth straight World Series, a feat never before achieved in baseball history and still unmatched. They beat the Dodgers, 4-3, in the decisive sixth game of the series, and the Yanks chalked up their 16th world championship against only four defeats.
    1953 - Earl Warren, the former Governor of California and Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate in the previous presidential election, was sworn in as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States, succeeding Fred M. Vinson.
    1955 - Elvis Presley's "I Forgot to Remember to Forget Her," hits #2 on the Memphis charts. The Number One song is Johnny Cash's "Cry, Cry, Cry”.
    1956 - “Zane Grey Theater”, officially titled “Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater,” a western anthology series, was hosted by Powell and featured both stories by Grey and original telecasts. Powell occasionally starred in an episode. Guest stars included Hedy Lamarr (in her only dramatic TV role), Ginger Rogers, Claudette Colbert and Esther Williams. My father, Lawrence Menkin, wrote several of the episodes.
    1959 - Bobby Darin's "Mack The Knife" hits #1 on the pop chart.
    1959 - 21 year old Paul Evans reaches the Billboard chart for the first time with a novelty song called "Seven Little Girls" (sittin' in the back seat, kissin' and huggin' with Fred). Along his own recording career, Evans wrote many hits for other artists, including Bobby Vinton's "Roses Are Red" and The Kalin Twins "When".
    1961 - Neil Sedaka records "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen", which will become his eighth US Top 20 hit. He will go on to have thirteen more…and he is still not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!
    1961 - As a follow up to their US number one smash, "Blue Moon", The Marcels release a similar sounding tune called "Heartaches", which will climb to number seven on the US Pop chart.
    1962 – The first of the James Bond movies, “Dr. No” was released.
    1968 - Cream's "White Room" and Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride" are released.
    1970 – PBS was created.
    1974 - The Beach Boys' LP “Endless Summer” hits #1.
    1976 - Hall and Oates' second album, "Abandoned Luncheonette," which contained their original hit version of Tavares' #1 R&B tune, "She's Gone," is certified gold three weeks after its release.
    1982 – Johnson & Johnson initiated a nationwide recall in the United States for all Tylenol products after several bottles in Chicago were found to have been laced with cyanide, resulting in seven deaths.  James William Lewis was convicted of extortion for sending a letter taking credit for the deaths and demanding $1 million to stop them, and he was also the primary suspect in the killings despite living in New York City at the time. The incidents led to reforms in the packaging of over-the-counter and to federal anti-tampering laws.  Police were unable to link him with the crimes. He was convicted of extortion, served 13 years of a 20-year sentence, and was released in 1995 on parole. WCVB Channel 5 of Boston reported that court documents, released in early 2009, "show Department of Justice investigators concluded Lewis was responsible for the poisonings, despite the fact that they did not have enough evidence to charge him". Lewis has denied responsibility for the poisonings for several years
    1985 – Grambling State University’s head football coach, Eddie Robinson, won his 324th game, a record.  He retired in 1997 with a record of 408 wins, the winningest coach in NCAA Division I history and second winningest coach overall.
    1986 - Eric Dickerson runs for an overtime-record 42-yard touchdown as the Rams defeat the Buccaneers 26-20. 
    1987 - It was another day of scorching heat for the southwestern U.S. Afternoon highs of 102 degrees in downtown San Francisco, and 104 degrees at Monterey, established all-time records. The high of 101 degrees at San Jose was a record for October. Sacramento tied their record for October for the third time in the month, with a reading of 102 degrees. The high for the nation was 111 degrees at San Luis Obispo and Palm Springs. Twenty cities in the southeastern U.S. reported record low temperatures for the date, including Knoxville, TN with a reading of 34 degrees.    1991 - Two albums by Guns N' Roses debut in the top two positions on the Billboard LP chart. "Use Your Illusion II" debuts at #1, while "Use Your Illusion I" hits #2.
    1993 - The Beatles' "1962-1966" (The Red Album) and "1967-1970" (The Blue Album) are released on CD
    1998 – The House Judiciary Committee recommends a full impeachment inquiry of President Clinton.
    1999 - Paul McCartney releases his first album since the death of his wife Linda in April 1998. Entitled “Run Devil Run”, the CD is a collection of rare rock oldies with new McCartney songs
    2001 - Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants broke Mark McGwire's 1998 home run record when he hit the 71st homer of the season in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Pacific Bell Park. Later in the game, he hit another homer. The Dodgers beat the Giants, 11-10, eliminating them from the playoffs. On October 7, Bonds his one more homer to finish the season with 73. He also broke Babe Ruth's slugging record of .847 with .863.

World Series Champions
    1942 - St. Louis Cardinals
    1953 - New York Yankees.