Monday 1st of October 1404

203rd Pope Bonifatius IX dies of natural causes at the age of 54 in Vatican City, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Friday 1st of October 1813

Johann Miltenberg is poisoned with arsenic by serial poisoner Gesche Gottfried aka Der Engel von Bremen in Bremen, Freie Hansestadt Bremen, Germany.

Miltenberg was Gottfried's first husband.  

Friday 1st of October 1847

Theosophist, writer and women's rights activist Annie Wood Besant is born in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Monday 1st of October 1888

Unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper sends a 'Saucy Jacky' postcard to the Central News Agency in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

I was not codding dear old Boss when I gave you the tip, you'll hear about Saucy Jacky's work tomorrow double event this time number one squealed a bit couldn't finish straight off. Had not got time to get ears off for police thanks for keeping last letter back till I got to work again. Jack the Ripper

Thursday 1st of October 1896

14-year-old Rosine Rodier is stabbed to death by serial killer Joseph Vacher aka L’Eventreur du Sud-Est in Varennes-Saint-Honorat, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France.

Thursday 1st of October 1903

Composer Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz is born in Kiev, Ukraine, Russia.

Thursday 1st of October 1903

The three brothers Willis, Frederick, and Burton van Wormer are executed by Old Sparky in Dannemora Prison, Dannemora, New York, United States.

11:34 — Willis van Wormer has entered the death chamber. 11:36 — Current turned Into Willis's body. 11:37 — Willis van Wormer declared dead. 11:41 — Frederick has entered the death chamber. 11:42 — Current turned on into Frederick. 11:43 — Frederick declared dead. 11:47 — Burton enters death chamber. 11:48 — Current turned on into Burton. 11:48 — Burton declared dead. The triple execution had been completed within just fifteen minutes.

Saturday 1st of October 1910

Gangster Bonnie Elizabeth Parker is born in Rowena, Texas, United States.

Wednesday 1st of October 1913

Double murderer Patrick Higgins is executed by hanging by John Ellis at the age of 38 in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Higgins drowned his 2 sons, 6-year-old William and 4-year-old John at Hopetoun Quarry, Abercorn, West Lothian on 25 October 1911.

Friday 1st of October 1920

Actor Walter Matthau is born as Walter John Matthow in New York City, New York, United States.

Wednesday 1st of October 1924

39th President of the United States Jimmy James Earl Carter is born in Wise Sanatorium, Hospital Street, Plains, Georgia, United States.

Monday 1st of October 1928

Actor George Peppard known for his role as Col. John ‘Hannibal’ Smith in ‘The A-Team’ is born in Detroit, Michigan, United States.

Tuesday 1st of October 1935

Actress and singer Julie Elizabeth Andrews is born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom.

Monday 1st of October 1945

Alpine ski racer Vladimir Peter Sabich aka Spider is born in Sacramento, California, United States.

Sabich's lifelong nickname 'Spider' was given by his father as a result of thin arms and legs at a premature birth.

Monday 1st of October 1945

19-year-old Veronica Hudzinski is shot in the shoulder by serial killer William Heirens aka Catch Me Before I Kill More in North Winthrop Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Hudzinski survived.

Tuesday 1st of October 1946

52-year-old Nazi leader and Stellvertreter des Führers Rudolf Walter Richard Hess is convicted to life imprisonment for committing crimes against peace and conspiracy to commit crimes in Saal 600, Nürnberg, Bayern, Germany.

Hess was one of seven Nazis to receive prison sentences at the trial. These seven were transported by aircraft to the Allied military prison at Spandau in Berlin on 18 July 1947.

Monday 1st of October 1951

Chief executioner Jules-Henri Desfourneaux aka Monsieur de Paris dies of a heart attack at the age of 74 in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

Tuesday 1st of October 1957

Cop killer Jacques Fesch is executed by the Guillotine by André Olbrecht at the age of 27 in Prison de la Santé, 42 Rue de la Santé, Paris, XIVe, Montparnasse, Île-de-France, France.

Fesch' last journal entry was "In five hours, I will see Jesus!".

Monday 1st of October 1962

29-year-old American Civil Rights Movement figure James Howard Meredith known for becoming the first African-American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi becomes the first African-American student to enroll in University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi, United States.

Saturday 1st of October 1977

21-year-old Jean Bernadette Jordan is hammered and stabbed to death by serial killer Peter Sutcliffe aka The Yorkshire Ripper in Princess Road, Manchester, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom.

A week later Sutcliffe went back to the undiscovered body and mutilated it, trying to cut off the head.

Saturday 1st of October 1977

36-year-old Hilda McAulay is found strangled by serial killer The Bible John Killer in Langbank, Renfrewshire, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Thursday 1st of October 1992

Activist and founder of Die Grünen Petra Karin Kelly shot dead while sleeping by her partner, 69-year-old ex-general Gert Bastian at the age of 45 in Swinemünder Straße 6, Bonn, Tannenbusch, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

After killing Kelly, Bastian committed suicide with the same weapon. Their bodies were only found weeks later after Bastian's wife summoned the police to search Kelly's flat.

Tuesday 1st of October 1996

Phytotherapist and nutritionist Alfred Vogel dies of natural causes at the age of 94 in Feusisberg, Schwyz, Switzerland.

Wednesday 1st of October 1997

Murderer Dwight Dwayne Adanandus is executed by lethal injection at the age of 41 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Thursday 1st of October 1998

Double murderer Javier Cruz is executed by lethal injection at the age of 41 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Sunday 1st of October 2000

Gangster Reginald Kray aka Reggie Kray dies of cancer at the age of 67 in Townhouse Hotel Room #4, 18-22 Yarmouth Road, Norwich, Thorpe St Andrew, Norfolk, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 1st of October 2002

Child rapist and murderer James Rexford Powell is executed by lethal injection at the age of 56 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Powell's last meal request was for one pot of coffee.

Friday 1st of October 2004

Photographer Richard Avedon dies of a brain haemorrhage at the age of 81 in Methodist Hospital, New York, Brooklyn, New York, United States.

Saturday 1st of October 2005

46-year-old Performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV plays at the Midi Modern Music Festival in Haidian Park, Beijing, Hebei, China.

Monday 1st of October 2018

Singer-songwriter Charles Aznavour dies of cardiopulmonary failure at the age of 94 in Route de Saint-Martin de Crau, Mouriès, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Tuesday 1st of October 2019

Murderer Russell Earl Bucklew is executed by lethal injection at the age of 51 in Potosi Correctional Center, Bonne Terre, Missouri, United States.

Bucklew had argued for months that the death penalty would qualify as cruel and unusual punishment due to blood-filled tumours that had grown in his head, neck and throat. He argued that a tumour on his neck could burst when given lethal injection and cause him to choke on his own blood.