Moments In Time
Author: Hearst Communications
MOMENTS IN TIME
* On Oct. 16, 1793, Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France, is taken to the guillotine and beheaded nine months after her
husband, the former King Louis XVI of France. Marie Antoinette and Louis, unpopular and accused of high treason due to
France's financial woes, had been caught trying to flee to Austria.
* On Oct. 10, 1845, the United States Naval Academy opens in Annapolis, Maryland. The curriculum for the 50 midshipmen
students included French, English, gunnery and steam and chemistry. In 1850, the name was changed from the Naval School
to the U.S. Naval Academy, and students were required to serve on ships during summers for four years.
* On Oct. 14, 1857, engineer and inventor Elwood Haynes is born in Portland, Indiana. Haynes designed one of the very first
American automobiles using a gas engine he saw in use at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. The finished product weighed 820
pounds and moved on 28-inch bicycle wheels.
* On Oct. 12, 1915, British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from
German-occupied Belgium during World War I. Cavell was honored with a statue in St. Martin's Place, just off London's
Trafalgar Square.
* On Oct. 11, 1925, novelist Elmore Leonard is born in New Orleans. After publishing numerous Western novels (including
"Hombre"), Leonard turned to suspense and crime fiction. Best known of these are "Get Shorty" and "The Big Bounce."
* On Oct. 13, 1953, the 45-foot Artmobile, the world's first art museum on wheels, arrives in Virginia carrying 16 paintings by
15th- and 16th-century masters. It attracted 5,000 visitors in the first few weeks. Art objects were loaned for exhibit by famous
museums across the country until the Artmobile was canceled in 1994 due to budget cuts.
* On Oct. 15, 1965, in one of several identical events across the country, Catholic priest David Miller burns his draft card in New
York. For violating the recent law banning the burnings, Miller was arrested and sentenced to two years in jail.
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