October 26 Birthday
On October 26, 1881, thirty shots were fired in thirty seconds near the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. Wyatt Earp, his brothers Virgil and Morgan, and Doc Holliday faced the Clantons and McLaurys. Three men were killed. The fight was over gun control — Tombstone had an ordinance requiring visitors to check their weapons. The Earps were lawmen; the Clantons were cowboys who refused to disarm. The gunfight was reported briefly in local papers and became legendary through later embellishment, dime novels, and Hollywood. Tombstone's population peaked at 10,000; today it is 1,300. The Erie Canal opened on October 26, 1825. It connected the Hudson River at Albany to Lake Erie at Buffalo — 363 miles. The canal cut shipping costs by 95% and made New York City the commercial capital of the United States. It took eight years to build, mostly by hand. People born on October 26 fall under the zodiac sign of Scorpio. The birthstone is Opal and the birth flower is Marigold. Historical events on October 26 include 1825: Erie Canal opens, connecting the Hudson River to Lake Erie, 1881: Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, 1979: South Korean President Park Chung-hee assassinated by his intelligence chief. Famous people born on October 26 include Hillary Clinton (1947), Pat Sajak (1946), Bob Hoskins (1942).