Today in History, 10/2

1187: The Siege of Jerusalem ends as Saladin captures Jerusalem after 88 years of Crusader rule.
1452: King Richard III of England is born. He is considered to be one of the worst kings of England, but say that in the wrong pub and you're in for a fight.1535: Jacques Cartier discovers Montreal, Quebec.1780: John André, British Army officer of the American Revolutionary War, is hanged as a spy by American forces.
1789: George Washington transmits the proposed Constitutional amendments (The United States Bill of Rights) to the States for ratification.
1835: The Texas Revolution begins with the Battle of Gonzales. Mexican soldiers attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, Texas, but encounter stiff resistance from a hastily assembled militia.
1847: Paul von Hindenburg is born. He was a hero of WWI and, at the age of 84, did what he could to prevent the rise of the Nazis but it didn't work.1851: The pasilalinic-sympathetic compass is demonstrated but proves to be a fake. A particularly icky fake. The thing was based on the idea that snails form a permanent telepathic link with each other when they touch. So you can take a linked snail halfway around the world and move it a bit and its pal back in Paris would also move and you would have a communication device.
1851: Ferdinand Foch is born. He was the commander of the Allied forces during WWI. Of the Treaty of Versailles he said, "This is not a peace. It is an armistice for 20 years," which pretty much nailed it.1852: William Ramsay is born. He discovered the noble gases (helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon).
1869: Mohandas Gandhi is born.1871: Cordell Hull, Secretary of State for FDR is born.1889: In Colorado, Nicholas Creede strikes it rich in silver during the last great silver boom of the American Old West.
1890: Groucho Marx is born. Here's one of my favorite bits from Duck Soup:

1895: Bud Abbott is born. This bit's old and everyone knows it, but it never fails to crack me up. It's the timing.

1911: Jack Finney is born. He is best known for writing the book The Body Snatchers, upon which the various Invasion of the Body Snatchers films are based.
1919: President Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed. Uncharitable types allege that the government was secretly run for the next 18 months by Wilson's wife Edith and Surgeon General Rupert Blue. Even more uncharitable types allege that Wilson became a raving maniac who had to be locked up in the White House and lived out the rest of his term like an early version of Howard Hughes. I don't think anything but the actual fact of the stroke is true.
1924: The Geneva Protocol is adopted as a means to strengthen the League of Nations.
1925: John Logie Baird performs first test of the working television system.1928: George McFarland is born. He played Spanky in the Little Rascals/Our Gang shorts.

1941: In Operation Typhoon, Germany begins an all-out offensive against Moscow. Given that it's October in Russia, and Russia had been expected to fall by August at the latest, the officials of the Reich are getting pretty nervous right now.
1944: The Nazis crush the Warsaw Rebellion.
1945: Don McLean is born. He is most famous for the lengthy song American Pie, but he is also one of the individuals alleged to be the subject of the Carly Simon song, You're So Vain.

1948: Avery Brooks is born. He's easily one of my favorite Starfleet captains.1950: The first Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz is published.

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1951: Sting is born.

1954: Lorraine Bracco is born. Most recently, she played Dr. Melfi on The Sopranos, but she's been great in everything she's been in.1955: Phil Oakley, singer for The Human League is born. Don't you want me, baby?

1967: Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first African-American justice of United States Supreme Court.1967: Gillian Welch, bluegrass singer is born. Here she is with Allison Kraus singing I'll Fly Away from the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack.

1973: Lene, Norwegian singer for Aqua is born. They were a one-hit wonder band that did the maddeningly catchy pop tune Barbie Girl.

Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.