October 15
1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte, the deposed French emperor, arrived on the British-ruled South Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he spent the last 5 1/2 years of his life in exile.
1860 - Eleven-year-old Grace Bedell of Westfield, New York wrote a letter to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln, suggesting he could improve his appearance by growing a beard.
1914 - With the support of President Woodrow Wilson, the Clayton Antitrust Act, which made it illegal for companies to buy competitors' stock, was passed.
1917 - Mata Hari, a World War I spy, was executed by a firing squad in Vincennes, France.
1945 - The former premier of Vichy France, Pierre Laval, was executed for treason.
1946 - Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering fatally poisoned himself hours before he was to have been executed.
1951 - "I Love Lucy," starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had its television debut.
1954 - Hurricane Hazel made landfall on the Carolina coast as a Category 4 storm; Hazel was blamed for about 1,000 deaths in the Caribbean, 95 in the U.S. and 81 in Canada.
1964 - It was announced that Nikita Khrushchev was removed from his positions as premier and secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1966 - The U.S. Department of Transportation was created.
1976 - The first debate of its kind took place between vice-presidential nominees, Democrat Walter F. Mondale and Republican Bob Dole faced off in Houston.
1991 - Clarence Thomas was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on a narrow 52-48 vote to the United States Supreme Court.
1993 - Nelson Mandela and F. W. de Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work to end apartheid in South Africa.
1997 - British Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green twice drove a jet-powered car in the Nevada desert faster than the speed of sound, officially shattering the world’s land-speed record.
2003 - China became the third country to launch a staffed space mission.
2003 - Eleven people were killed when a Staten Island ferry slammed into a maintenance pier. (The ferry’s pilot, who had blacked out at the controls, later pleaded guilty to eleven counts of manslaughter.)
2017 - Actress and activist Alyssa Milano tweeted that women who had been sexually harassed or assaulted should write “Me too” as a status. Within hours, tens of thousands had taken up the #MeToo hashtag (using a phrase that had been introduced a decade earlier by social activist Tarana Burke).
Birthdays
24 - Isabella Elei (model)
25 - Bailee Madison (actress)
28 - Grace Van Dien (actress)
28 - Hannah Leigh (actress)
29 - Billy Unger (actor)
35 - Anthony Joshua (boxer)
37 - Ekaterina Lisina (model)
43 - Keyshia Cole (singer/TV personality)
54 - Ginuwine (singer)
55 - Dominic West (actor)
56 - Vanessa Marcil (actress)
65 - Emeril Lagasse (chef)
65 - Sarah Ferguson (member of British royal family)
78 - Richard Carpenter (musician)
79 - Jim Palmer (baseball player)
87 - Linda Lavin (actress)
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Today in Sports History - October 15
1917 - The Chicago White Sox defeat the New York Giants in six games to win the World Series.
1923 - The New York Yankees defeat the New York Giants in six games to win their first World Series.
1925 - The Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the Washington Senators in seven games to win the World Series.
1933 - The Philadelphia Eagles play their first NFL game, a 56-0 loss to the New York Giants.
1935 - The NHL's St. Louis Eagles fold.
1946 - The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Boston Red Sox in seven games to win the World Series.
1964 - The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the New York Yankees in seven games to win the World Series.
1970 - The Baltimore Orioles defeat the Cincinnati Reds in five games to win the World Series.
1979 - The New York Knicks retire Walt Frazier's #10.
1988 - Oklahoma sets an NCAA single game record with 768 rushing yards in a 70-24 win over Kansas State.
1988 - With two outs in bottom of 9th, an injured Kirk Gibson hits dramatic 2 run HR to give Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 win over Oakland A's in the first game of World Series.
1989 - Wayne Gretzky of the Los Angeles Kings topped Gordie Howe's NHL career scoring record of 1,850 points.
1995 - The Carolina Panthers win their first game, defeating the New York Jets 26-15.
2001 - The 0-4 Dallas Cowboys and the 0-4 Washington Redskins played on Monday Night Football. It was the only time in the 31-year history of Monday Night Football that two 0-4 teams played. The Cowboys won the game 9-7.