This Day in History

By The Associated Press - 10/08/2007

Today Monday, Oct. 8, the 281st day of 2007. There are 84 days left in the year. This is Columbus Day, as well as Thanksgiving Day in Canada.

Today’s Highlight: In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire erupted; fires also broke out in Peshtigo, Wis., and in the Michigan communities of Holland, Manistee and Port Huron.

On this date: In 1869, the 14th president of the United States, Franklin Pierce, died in Concord, N.H.

In 1934, Bruno Hauptmann was indicted by a grand jury in New Jersey for murder in the death of the son of Charles A. Lindbergh.

In 1945, President Truman announced that the secret of the atomic bomb would be shared only with Britain and Canada.

In 1997, scientists reported the Mars Pathfinder had yielded what could be the strongest evidence yet that Mars might once have been hospitable to life.

Birthdays Entertainment reporter Rona Barrett is 71. Actor Paul Hogan is 68. Reverend Jesse Jackson is 66. Comedian Chevy Chase is 64. Author R.L. Stine is 64. Country singer Susan Raye is 63. TV personality Sarah Purcell is 59. Actress Sigourney Weaver is 58. Comedian Darrell Hammond is 52. Actress Stephanie Zimbalist is 51. Rock musician Mitch Marine is 46. Gospel/ rhythm-and-blues singer CeCe Winans is 43. Rock musician C.J. Ramone (The Ramones) is 42. Actor-screenwriter Matt Damon is 37. Actor Nick Cannon is 27. Actor Angus T. Jones is 14.

Worth repeating ...

‘‘I hope we never live to see the day when a thing is as bad as some of our newspapers make it.’’

— Will Rogers, American humorist (1879-1935)