Oct. 26 (UPI) — On this date in history:
In 1825, the Erie Canal, the United States’ first man-made waterway, was opened, linking the Great Lakes and Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River. The 500-mile waterway officially joined the National Park Service in 2000 as the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.
In 1881, the storied gunfight at the O.K. Corral occurred in Tombstone, Ariz.
In 1920, the lord mayor of Cork, Ireland, Terence McSwiney, demanding independence for Ireland, died after a 2 1/2-month hunger strike in a British prison cell.
In 1942, Allied troops moving through the Egyptian front captured 1,450 Axis prisoners, routed Nazi tanks in the armored clash and pulverized the enemy line.
U.S. service members take part in a memorial service on the flight deck of the USS Suwannee on October 29, 1944. On October 26, 1944, after four days of furious fighting, the World War II battle of Leyte Gulf, largest air-naval clash in history, ended with a decisive U.S. victory over the Japanese. File Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy
In 1944, after four days of furious fighting, the World War II battle of Leyte Gulf, largest air-naval clash in history, ended with a decisive U.S. victory over the Japanese.
File Photo by US Navy/UPI
Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy (C) gets doused with Gatorade after hitting a walk-off solo home run during the 18th inning against the Boston Red Sox in Game 3 of the MLB 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on October 26, 2018. It was the longest World Series game in terms of time in history. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
In 1951, British voters placed Winston Churchill’s Conservative Party at the helm of government today after six years of socialism.
In 1979, South Korean President Park Chung-hee was assassinated by the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency.
President Donald Trump signs a presidential memorandum declaring the opioid crisis a public health emergency in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., on October 26, 2017. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI
In 1984, doctors in California performed the first baboon-to-human heart transplant in a 14-day-old girl, known as Baby Fae. The baby died of heart failure Nov. 15.
In 1990, District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry was sentenced to six months in prison and fined $5,000 for his conviction on misdemeanor drug charges. Barry became mayor again in 1995.
Italian prisoners of war captured in the El Alamein area entering the “cage” preceeded by their guard. Picture taken ca. Nov. 1942. File Photo courtesy of OWI
File Photo by Bruce Young/UPI
In 1994, Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty at a desert site along the Israeli-Jordanian border.
Palestinian children watch masked members of the Islamic Jihad Movement march during a rally October 31, 2003 in Beit Lahiya in north Gaza. About 3,000 supporters held a gathering marking the eighth anniversary of the assassination of the Islamic Jihad Movement founder Fathi Shaqaqi in Malta on October 26, 1995. File Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI
In 1998, the presidents of Ecuador and Peru signed a peace treaty, ending a decades-long border dispute.
In 2002, a four-day Moscow hostage crisis came to a bloody end after Russian soldiers stormed a theater where Chechen rebels had held 700 people for ransom. Ninety hostages and 50 rebels were killed.
In 2010, GlaxoSmithKline, the British drug manufacturer, agreed to settle criminal and civil complaints for $750 million, stemming from accusations of knowingly selling drugs with questionable safety standards.
In 2015, a 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck northeastern Afghanistan, killing nearly 400 people there and in India and Pakistan.
In 2017, President Donald Trump declared the opioid crisis a national public health emergency.
In 2018, the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers began what would become the longest World Series game both in time (7 hours, 20 minutes) and number of innings (18). The Angeles won 3-2 to put the series at 2-1, but the Red Sox won the series two days later.
In 2022, protesters marked the 40-day mourning period for Mahsa Amini, who died September 16, 2022, after Iranian morality police arrested her for not having her hair covered according to Islamic law. Police cracked down on protests, which continued into 2023, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries, and tens of thousands of arrests.
File Photo courtesy EPA-EFE
