October 26

Today in History
• 1492 - Lead (graphite) pencils first used
• 1682 - William Penn accepts area around Delaware River from Duke of York
• 1774 - Minutemen organized in US colonies
• 1825 - Erie Canal between Hudson River ands Lake Erie opens
• 1850 - Robert McClure sights the fabled Northwest Passage for the first time
• 1858 - Hamilton Smith patents rotary washing machine in Pittsburgh
• 1881 - Gunfight at the OK Corral
• 1901 - First recorded use of "getaway car" occurs after holding up a shop in Paris


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Accession Day
• Austrian National Day
• National Day of the Deployed
• National Financial Crime Fighter Day
• National Mule Day
• National Pumpkin Day
• National Tennessee Day
• Worldwide Howl at the Moon Night

Birthdays
• 1491 - Zhengde, 10th Emperor of the Ming Dynasty
• 1673 - Dimitrie Cantemir, Romanian historian and Monarch of Moldova (1710-11)
• 1802 - Miguel I, King of Portugal (1828-34)
• 1854 - C. W. Post, American manufacturer of breakfast cereals
• 1869 - Washington Luís, President of Brazil (1926-30)
• 1873 - Thorvald Stauning, Prime Minister of Denmark (1924-26, 1929-42)
• 1900 - Ibrahim Abboud, 1st President and 4th Prime Minister of Sudan (1958-64)
• 1916 - François Mitterrand, 21st President of France (1981-95)