This Day in History

1774: The First Continental Congress ends in Philadelphia with a call for civil disobedience against the British.
1795: The rule of the National Convention during the French Revolution comes to an end and is replaced the next day by the Directory.
1825: The Seneca Chief leaves Buffalo, NY, the first boat to travel through the Erie Canal.
1881: The "Gunfight at the OK Corral" takes place in Tombstone, AZ, with the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday facing the Clanton brothers.
1944: During World War II, the Battle of Leyte Gulf ends in the Philippines with the Japanese soundly defeated.
1949: President Harry Truman signs a bill raising the minimum wage to 75¢ an hour.
1951: In Britain, Winston Churchill is named prime minister for the 2nd time.
1967: The shah of Iran is formally crowned.
1976: Transkei becomes the first homeland to be made nominally independent of South Africa.
1979: The World Health Organization announces that smallpox has been eradicated.
2000: The New York Yankees defeat the New York Mets 4-2 in Game 5 of the World Series, wrapping up the first "Subway Series" in baseball since 1956.
2001: Anthrax spores are found in Washington, D.C. area mail centers serving the CIA, the Supreme Court, and Walter Reed Medical Center.
2001: In an apparent targeting error, U.S. planes bomb a Red Cross facility in Kabul, Afghanistan.
2002: Russian troops attack a theater which had been occupied Oct. 23 by 50 armed Chechen militants, killing all but 4 of the terrorists, along with 120 hostages, all but 2 from the effects of gas used by the Russian forces.