Today is Friday, Oct. 19, the 293rd day of 2012. There are 73 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight:
On Oct. 19, 1987, the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, or 22.6 percent in value, to close at 1,738.74.
On this date:
In 1765, the Stamp Act Congress, meeting in New York, drew up a declaration of rights and liberties.
In 1781, British troops under Gen. Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Va., as the American Revolution neared its end.
In 1812, French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte began their retreat from Moscow.
In 1864, Confederate Gen. Jubal Early attacked Union forces at Cedar Creek, Va.; the Union troops were able to rally and defeat the Confederates.
In 1936, H.R. Ekins of the New York World-Telegram beat out Dorothy Kilgallen of the New York Journal and Leo Kieran of The New York Times in a round-the-world race on commercial flights that lasted 18½ days.
In 1944, the play “I Remember Mama,” by John van Druten, opened at the Music Box Theater on Broadway.
In 1951, President Harry Truman signed an act formally ending the state of war with Germany.
In 1960, the United States began a limited embargo against Cuba covering all commodities except medical supplies and certain food products.
In 1967, the U.S. space probe Mariner 5 flew past Venus.
In 1977, the supersonic Concorde made its first landing in New York City.
In 1982, automaker John DeLorean was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles, accused of conspiring to sell $24 million of cocaine to salvage his business. (DeLorean was acquitted at trial on grounds of entrapment.)
In 1994, 22 people were killed as a terrorist bomb shattered a bus in the heart of Tel Aviv’s shopping district. Entertainer Martha Raye died in Los Angeles at age 78.
Associated Press
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