Tuesday 19th of October 1745

Satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet, cleric and Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral Jonathan Swift known for Gulliver’s Travels dies of unknown causes at the age of 78 in Dublin, Leinster, Ireland.

In 1742 Swift suffered great pain from the inflammation of his left eye which swelled to the size of an egg; five attendants had to restrain him from tearing out his eye.

Tuesday 19th of October 1858

Murderer Charles Chapin aka The Rose Man of Sing Sing is born in Watertown, New York, United States.

Sunday 19th of October 1862

Film pioneer Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière is born in Besançon, Franche-Comté, France.

Thursday 19th of October 1882

Artist Umberto Boccioni is born in Reggio di Calabria, Calabria, Italy.

Thursday 19th of October 1893

Abolitionist and suffragette Lucy Stone dies of stomach cancer at the age of 75 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

Tuesday 19th of October 1897

Anarchist and assassin Vlado Chernozemski aka Vlado the Chauffeur is born in Kamenitsa, Oblast Pazardzhik, Bulgaria.

Tuesday 19th of October 1897

Engineer and industrialist George Mortimer Pullman known for the Pullman sleeping car dies of a heart attack at the age of 66 in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Pullman's family arranged for his remains to be placed in a lead-lined mahogany coffin which was then sealed inside a block of concrete. A large pit had been dug at the family plot in the cemetary. At its base and walls were 18 inches of reinforced concrete. The coffin was lowered and covered with asphalt and tarpaper. More concrete was poured on top, followed by a layer of steel rails bolted together at right angles and another layer of concrete. The entire burial process took two days.

Tuesday 19th of October 1909

Criminologist Cesare Ezechia Marco Lombroso dies of unknown causes at the age of 74 in Torino, Piedmontese, Italy.

Sunday 19th of October 1913

Victim of Edmund Kemper aka The Co-ed Killer Sara Taylor 'Sally' Hallett is born in Washington, District of Columbia, United States.

     

Tuesday 19th of October 1926

35-year-old Beata Duhrkoop Withers is raped and strangled by serial killer Earle Leonard Nelson aka The Gorilla Murderer in Portland, Oregon, United States.

Withers' body was found stuffed beneath clothing inside a steamer trunk by her teenage son in the attic of her home.

Wednesday 19th of October 1927

Lieutenant-colonel and military air weaponry engineer Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry known for attempting to assassinate President De Gaulle is born in Lunéville, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France.

Friday 19th of October 1928

Kidnapper and child murderer William Edward Hickman aka The Fox known for the murder of Marion Parker is executed by hanging at the age of 20 in San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California, United States.

As soon as the money had been handed over Hickman drove off and pushed 12-year-old Marion's body out of the car at the end of the street. The coroner later testified that she had been dead for about 12 hours. Her arms and legs had been cut off and she had been disemboweled and stuffed with rags. Her eyes were being held open by wires. Her arms and legs were found wrapped in newspapers on 18 December in Elysian Park.

Monday 19th of October 1931

Writer John le Carré is born as David John Moore Cornwell in Poole, Dorset, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 19th of October 1937

Murderer Stanley Joseph Faulder is born in Jasper, Alberta, Canada.

Tuesday 19th of October 1943

Sculptor Camille Claudel dies of malnutrition and a stroke at the age of 79 in Asile d'Aliénés de Montdevergues, Avignon, Montfavet, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Claudel spent the last 30 years of her life in the Asile de Montdevergues.

Thursday 19th of October 1944

Murderer Ronald Clark O'Bryan aka The Pixy Stix Killer aka The Man Who Killed Halloween is born in Pasadena, Texas, United States.

Thursday 19th of October 1944

Reggae musician Peter Tosh known from the band the Wailers is born as Winston Hubert McIntosh in Westmoreland, Grange Hill, Cornwall, Jamaica.

Friday 19th of October 1945

Actor, singer and drag queen Harris Glenn Milstead aka Divine aka The Dirtiest Man in the World is born in Women's Hospital, 140 W. Lafayette Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland, United States.

Friday 19th of October 1956

Doctor and microbiologist Carlo Urbani known for identifying Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is born in Castelplanio, Marche, Italy.

Monday 19th of October 1959

34-year-old Satan worshipper and serial rapist Edward John Louis Paisnel aka The Beast of Jersey assaults an unidentified 28-year-old woman in Saint Martin, Jersey, United Kingdom.

Monday 19th of October 1964

Việt Cộng National Liberation Front patriot Nguyễn Văn Trỗi is executed by the firing squad at the age of 24 in Chí Hòa Prison, Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan Area, Vietnam.

Văn Trỗi tried to assassinate United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and future ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. who were visiting South Vietnam in May 1964. Văn Trỗi's last words were "I have committed no sin. It is the Americans who have sinned."

Saturday 19th of October 1974

53-year-old Doris Hovey is shot in the head by serial killer Paul John Knowles aka The Casanova Killer in Woodford, Virginia, United States.

Tuesday 19th of October 1976

Serial killer Michaiah Shobek aka The Angels of Lucifer Killer is executed by hanging at the age of 22 in Fox Hill Prison, Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas.

Sunday 19th of October 1980

21-year-old Performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV performs 'Vlaamse Primitieven' with Kamagurka and De Vlaamse Primitieven in Zaal Alcazar, Koningshooikt, Antwerpen, Belgium.

During a concert by ‘Kamagurka en de Vlaamse Primitieven’ I stood on the stage blindfolded and with my hands and feet tied up. Now and then several musicians pushed me over.

Friday 19th of October 1984

Catholic priest and martyr Jerzy Popiełuszko is beaten to death by Security Police officers Captain Grzegorz Piotrowski, Leszek Pękala and Waldemar Chmielewski at the age of 37 in Włocławek, Kuyavian-Pomeranian, Poland.

Popiełuszko's body was found 10 days later in the Vistula Water Reservoir. Popiełuszko has been recognized as a martyr by the Roman Catholic Church and was beatified on 6 June 2010 by Archbishop Angelo Amato on behalf of Pope Benedictus XVI.

Friday 19th of October 1984

In a nation-wide ‘Mammouth’-operation the authorities try to track down members of the Terrorist organisation Les Cellules Communistes Combattantes aka CCC in Brussel, Brabant, Belgium.

Saturday 19th of October 1985

Nineteenth bomb attack by Terrorist organisation Les Cellules Communistes Combattantes aka CCC in Inforsermi, Namur, Namur, Belgium.

It was the first action in their Campagne Pierre Akkerman.

Monday 19th of October 1987

Five of the highest ranked generals of the Red Army, 63-year-old Colonel General Vladimir P. Shutov, 51-year-old Major General Yerlen V. Porfiyev, 49-year-old Major General Vladimir S. Bardashevsky, 66-year-old Lieutenant General Kiril N. Trofimov, 53-year-old Lieutenant General Yuri I. Ryabinin and crewmen 36-year-old Captain Alexei N. Gurenkov and 30-year-old Lieutenant Alexander I. Goncharov are killed in a helicopter crash in Moscow, Central Federal District, Russia.

Wednesday 19th of October 1988

133 die in Indian Airlines Flight 113 Boeing 737-200 crash in Chiloda Kotarpur, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.

Five passengers initially survived the crash and were transported to hospital but three succumbed to their injuries.

Monday 19th of October 1998

Serial killer Fritz Friedrich Paul Honka aka Der Frauen-Schlächter von St. Pauli dies of alcohol and nicotine poisoning at the age of 63 in Asklepios Klinik Nord, Langenhorner Chaussee 560, Hamburg, Langenhorn, Hamburg, Germany.

Friday 19th of October 2007

Writer and artist Jan Hendrik Wolkers dies of erysipelas aka 'Holy Fire' at the age of 82 in Pomona, Westermient, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

Monday 19th of October 2009

Spree killer Howard Barton Unruh aka The Walker of Death dies of cancer at the age of 88 in Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, Trenton, New Jersey, United States.

Unruh was confined to the high-security Vroom Building for the criminally insane at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital until 1993 when he was transferred across the grounds to less restrictive wards in a geriatric unit.

Saturday 19th of October 2024

A Banksy lookalike on a derelict wall next to empty parking spot n°09 in Alinea Suites, Ellados 107, Limassol, Limassol District, Cyprus.