1843 - In New York City, Henry Jones and 11 others found B'nai B'rith (the oldest Jewish service organization in the world).
1845 - A majority of voters in the Republic of Texas approve a proposed constitution, that if accepted by the U.S. Congress, will make Texas a U.S. state.
1881 - Revival of the Hebrew language as Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and friends agree to use Hebrew exclusively in their conversations.
1884 - Greenwich is established as universal time meridian of longitude.
1885 - The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is founded in Atlanta, Georgia.
1892 - Edward Emerson Barnard discovers D/1892 T1 (Barnard 3), the first comet discovered by photographic means, on the night of October 13-14.
1917 - The "Miracle of the Sun" is witnessed by an estimated 70,000 people in the Cova da Iria in Fátima, Portugal.
1918 - Mehmed Talat Pasha and the Young Turk (C.U.P.) ministry resign and sign an armistice, ending Ottoman participation in World War I.
1923 - Ankara replaces Istanbul as the capital of Turkey.
1943 - World War II: The new government of Italy sides with the Allies and declares war on Germany.
1944 - World War II: Riga, the capital of Latvia is seized by the Red Army.
1946 - France adopts the constitution of the Fourth Republic.
1958 - Burial of Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII on the 41st anniversary of the "Miracle of the Sun".
1958 - Michael Bond publishes the first story on Paddington Bear.
1960 - 1960 World Series: Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski becomes the first person to end a World Series with a home run, as the Pirates beat the New York Yankees, four games to three.
1967 - The first game in the history of the American Basketball Association is played as the Anaheim Amigos lose to the Oakland Oaks 134-129 in Oakland, California.
1971 - 1971 World Series: The first night game in World Series history is played at Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium between the Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates.
1972 - Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashes in the Andes mountains, in between the borders of Argentina and Chile. By December 23, 1972 only 16 out of 45 people lived long enough to be rescued.
1976 - A Bolivian Boeing 707 cargo jet crashes in Santa Cruz, Bolivia killing 100 (97, mostly children, killed on the ground).
1976 - The first electron micrograph of an Ebola viral particle was obtained by Dr. F.A. Murphy, now at U.C. Davis, who was then working at the C.D.C..
1977 - Four Palestinians hijack Lufthansa Flight 181 to Somalia and demand release of 11 members of the Red Army Faction.
1983 - Ameritech Mobile Communications (now AT&T) launched the first US cellular network in Chicago, Illinois.
1990 - End of the Lebanese war. Syrian forces launch an attack on the free areas of Lebanon removing General Michel Aoun from the presidential palace.
1992 - An Antonov An-124 operated by Antonov Airlines registered CCCP-82002, crashed near Kiev, Ukraine.
1993 - Captured American Pilot Mike Durant is filmed in an interview in captivity by a CNN camera crew.
1999 - The United States Senate rejects ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
2008 - After its largest one-week drop in the midst of the Global financial crisis of September–October 2008, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 936 points, its single highest surge ever.
2008 - HM Treasury infused £37 billion ($64 billion, 47 billion euros) of new capital-bailout into Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Lloyds TSB and HBOS Plc, to avert a financial sector collapse.
2010 - Thirty-three miners near Copiapó, Chile, trapped 700 metres underground in a mining accident in San José Mine, are brought back to the surface after surviving for a record 69 days.
