Today in History [24th October, 2015]

A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.
Today in History
October 24

439		Carthage, the leading Roman city in North Africa, falls to Genseric and the Vandals.
1531		Bavaria, despite being a Catholic region, joins the League of Schmalkalden, a Protestant group which opposes Charles V.
1648		The signing of the Treaty of Westphalia ends the German Thirty Years’ War.
1755		A British expedition against the French held Fort Niagara in Canada ends in failure.
1836		The match is patented.
1861		Western Union completes the first transcontinental telegraph line, putting the Pony Express out of business.
1863		General Ulysses S. Grant arrives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to find the Union Army there starving.
1897		The first comic strip appears in the Sunday color supplement of the New York Journal called the ‘Yellow Kid.’
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.
1917		The Austro-German army routs the Italian army at Caporetto, Italy.
1929		Black Thursday–the first day of the stock market crash which began the Great Depression.
1930		John Wayne debuts in his first starring role in The Big Trail .
1931		Al (Alphonse) Capone, the prohibition-era Chicago gangster, is sent to prison for tax evasion.
1934		Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, called Mahatma or "Great Soul," resigns from Congress in India.
1938		The Fair Labor Standards Act becomes law, establishing the 40-hour work week.
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.
1945		Vidkun Quisling, Norway’s wartime minister president, is executed by firing squad for collaboration with the Nazis.
1952		Presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that if elected, he will go to Korea.
1970		Leftist Salvador Allende elected president of Chile.
1973		Yom Kippur War ends.
1980		Poland’s government legalizes the Solidarity trade union.
1992		Toronto Blue Jays win the World Series, defeating the Atlanta Braves in the 11th inning of the 6th game, to become the first Major League Baseball team from outside the US to win the series.
2003		The 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
1632		Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch naturalist.
1788		Sarah Josepha Hale, magazine editor and poet whose book Poems for Our Children included "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (the first words to be recorded in sound)
1904		Moss Hart, American playwright who, with George S. Kaufman, wrote plays such as You Can’t Take it with You and The Man who came to Dinner.
1911		Sonny Terry, blues performer.
1923		Denise Levertov, English poet.
1929		George Henry Crumb, American composer.
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.
1933		Ronald and Reginald Kray, gangsters whose gang, The Firm, was the most infamous organized crime group in London’s East End in the 1950s and ’60s.
1941		Dr. William H. Dobelle, biomedical researcher who developed technology that restored limited sight to blind patients.
1942		Frank Delany, Irish author, journalist, broadcaster; best known for his novel Ireland and non-fiction book Simple Courage: A True Story of Peril on the Sea.
1958		Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, US Army’s Deputy Director of Operations during the Iraq War that deposed dictator Saddam Hussein; presently (2013) commander of Third Army.