Today is Saturday, Oct. 24, the 297th day of 2009. There are 68 days left in the year. In Oct. 24, 1945, the United Nations officially came into existence as its charter took effect. (On this date in 1949, construction began on the U.N. headquarters in New York.) On this date: In 1537, Jane Seymour, the third wife of England's King Henry VIII, died 12 days after giving birth to Prince Edward, later King Edward VI. In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years War and effectively destroyed the Holy Roman Empire. In 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph message was sent as Chief Justice Stephen J. Field of California transmitted a telegram to President Abraham Lincoln. In 1901, widow Anna Edson Taylor became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. In 1931, the George Washington Bridge, connecting New York and New Jersey, was officially dedicated (it opened to traffic the next day). In 1939, Benny Goodman and his orchestra recorded their signature theme, "Let's Dance," for Columbia Records in New York. Nylon stockings were sold publicly for the first time, in Wilmington, Del. In 1952, Republican presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower declared in Detroit, "I shall go to Korea" as he promised to end the conflict. (He made the visit over a month later.) In 1980, the merchant freighter SS Poet departed Philadelphia bound for Port Said, Egypt, with a crew of 34 and a cargo of grain; it disappeared en route and has not been heard from since. In 1989, former television evangelist Jim Bakker was sentenced by a judge in Charlotte, N.C., to 45 years in prison for fraud and conspiracy. (The sentence was later reduced to eight years; it was further reduced to four for good behavior.) In 2002, authorities arrested Army veteran John Allen Muhammad and teenager Lee Boyd Malvo near Myersville, Md., in connection with the Washington-area sniper attacks. Ten years ago: An Israeli court sentenced American teenager Samuel Sheinbein to 24 years in prison for killing an acquaintance in Maryland in 1997. Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., died at Bethesda Naval Hospital at age 77. The New York Yankees took Game 2 of the World Series, defeating the Atlanta Braves, 7-2. Five years ago: A plane owned by top NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports crashed near Martinsville, Va., killing all ten people aboard. A Russian-U.S. crew aboard a Soyuz capsule returned to Earth from the international space station in a pinpoint landing in Kazakhstan. Cardinal James A. Hickey, former archbishop of Washington, D.C., died at age 84. The Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 for a 2-0 World Series lead. Arizona's Emmitt Smith broke Walter Payton's NFL record for 100-yard games rushing with his 78th. One year ago: Singer-actress Jennifer Hudson's mother and brother were found slain in their Chicago home; the body of her 7-year-old nephew was found three days later. (Hudson's estranged brother-in-law has been arrested in the killings.) A Russian Soyuz capsule touched down in Kazakhstan after delivering the first two men to follow their fathers into space, a Russian and an American, to the international space station. Today's Birthdays: Football Hall-of-Famer Y.A. Tittle is 83. Rock musician Bill Wyman is 73. Actor-producer David Nelson is 73. Actor F. Murray Abraham is 70. Actor Kevin Kline is 62. Former NAACP President Kweisi Mfume is 61. Country musician Billy Thomas (Terry McBride and the Ride) is 56. Actor B.D. Wong is 49. Rock musician Ben Gillies (Silverchair) is 30. Singer-actress Monica Arnold is 29. Rhythm-and-blues singer Adrienne Bailon (3lw) is 26. Actress Shenae Grimes (TV: "90210") is 20. Thought for Today: "Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long." _ Ogden Nash,
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