Today in History....October 31

On this day in …

1887, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the first collection of Holmes stories, is published

1941, the U.S. Navy destroyer Reuben James was torpedoed by a German U-boat off Iceland with the loss of some 100 lives, even though the United States had not yet entered World War II

1956, Navy Rear Adm. George J. Dufek became the first person to land an airplane at the South Pole

1968, President Johnson ordered a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam, saying he hoped for fruitful peace negotiations

1980, Reza Pahlavi, eldest son of the late shah, proclaimed himself the rightful successor to the Peacock Throne
1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two Sikh security guards

1996,


In Pontiac, Mich., Dr. Jack Kevorkian was charged with assisting three suicides since June 1996 (he was later acquitted)

Also in Pontiac, Jenny Jones testified at the trial of one of her talk show guests, Jonathan Schmitz, who was accused of killing another guest, Scott Amedure


2001,

New York hospital worker Kathy T. Nguyen died of inhalation anthrax, the fourth person to perish in a spreading wave of bioterrorism

Former Symbionese Liberation Army fugitive Sara Jane Olson pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to the attempted murder of police officers (she's currently serving a 13-year prison sentence)

Microsoft and the Justice Department reached a tentative agreement to settle the historic antitrust case