On Oct. 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Palace church, marking the start of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.
In 1795 English poet John Keats was born in London.
In 1864 Nevada became the 36th state.
In 1916 Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, followers of which later became known as Jehovah’s Witnesses, died in Pampa, Texas; he was 64.
In 1926 magician Harry Houdini died in Detroit of gangrene and peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix; he was 52.
In 1931 longtime CBS newsman Dan Rather was born in Wharton, Texas.
In 1941 the U.S. Navy destroyer Reuben James was torpedoed by a German U-boat off Iceland with the loss of 115 lives, even though the United States had not yet entered World War II.
In 1955 Britain’s Princess Margaret ended weeks of speculation by announcing she would not marry Royal Air Force Captain Peter Townsend.
In 1968 President Lyndon Johnson ordered a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam, saying he hoped for fruitful peace negotiations.
In 1980 Reza Pahlavi, eldest son of the late Shah of Iran, proclaimed himself the rightful successor to the Peacock Throne.
In 1983 Bears founder and owner George Halas died in Chicago; he was 88.
In 1984 Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two Sikh security guards.
In 1991 theatrical producer Joseph Papp died in New York; he was 70.
In 1993 Italian film director Federico Fellini died in Rome; he was 73. Also in 1993 actor River Phoenix died in Los Angeles; he was 23.
In 1994 an American Eagle turboprop commuter plane en route from Indianapolis to O’Hare International Airport crashed in a rainstorm south of Roselawn, Ind., killing 64 passengers and four crew members.
In 1995, stung by defeat in the secession referendum, Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau said he would resign as head of the bitterly divided province at year’s end.
In 1996, in Pontiac, Mich., Dr. Jack Kevorkian was charged with assisting three suicides since June 1996. (He was later acquitted.)
In 1999 EgyptAir Flight 990, bound from New York to Cairo, crashed off the Massachusetts coast, killing all 217 people aboard.
In 2000 a charter plane in Angola crashed into a remote jungle, killing all 48 aboard. Also in 2000 American astronaut Bill Shepherd and two Russian cosmonauts rocketed into orbit aboard a Soyuz rocket on a quest to become the first residents of the International Space Station. Also in 2000 Oscar-winning screenwriter Ring Lardner Jr. died; he was 85.
In 2001 New York hospital worker Kathy T. Nguyen died of inhalation anthrax, the fourth person to perish in a spreading wave of bioterrorism. Also in 2001 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). Also in 2001 Microsoft and the Justice Department reached a tentative agreement to settle the historic antitrust case against the software giant.
