Oct. 25, 1843: Col. Richard M. Johnson, the noted Kentuckian who is reputed to have killed the Indian chief Tecumseh, visits Concord. Franklin Pierce and others greet him at the station, and Johnson rides down Main Street on a white horse.
At the State House, he wears the same red vest he wore in the Battle of the Thames, during which he is said to have slain Tecumseh. Eleven shots pierced the vest. At a dinner presided over by Pierce, someone will raise doubts about Johnson's famous act and ask him if it really happened. “In my opinion,” Johnson responds, “I did kill Tecumseh.”
Oct. 25, 1908: Young people fan out all over Concord to raise money for Mary Pillsbury Hospital. They pin red tags on donors to keep them from being asked to give again. By day's end, the children have raised $2,300.
Oct. 25, 1986: A few days after Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnicle writes, “Stick a fork in 'em. The Mets are done,” all New Hampshire stays up late on a Saturday night to watch game six of the World Series. The Sox come within one pitch of winning their first world title since 1918, but the Mets pull it out, 6-5, in 10 innings, on Mookie Wilson's ground ball through Bill Buckner's legs. The Mets go on to win game seven.
Oct. 25, 2001: Gary Sampson, the man accused of killing three people, including Eli Whitney of Penacook, is indicted by federal authorities in Massachusetts on two counts of carjacking in connection with the July deaths of Philip McCloskey and Jonathan Rizzo.
Oct. 25, 2003: The Concord High girls' cross country team defends its title during the Class L state championship meet in Manchester. The Crimson Tide claim the top spot, beating out Manchester Central 48 to 50.
Oct 26, 1988: State officials break ground for the $1.8 million Christa McAuliffe Planetarium in Concord.
Oct, 26, 1989: U.S. Rep. Bob Smith coaxes a protesting Vietnam War veteran out of a homemade bamboo cage in front of the Lincoln Memorial, where he had fasted for 35 days. The man is unhappy with the government's attempts to find Vietnam POWs and MIAs. Smith promises to introduce legislation requiring federal reports of alleged POW/MIA sightings to be made public.
Oct. 26, 2001: Patricia Cloutier of Concord, believed to be a founder of Classy Touch Enterprises, a Penacook prostitution business, turns herself in at police headquarters. According to the police, Cloutier founded the business with Amy Sullivan and allegedly ran the business out of Sullivan's home.
Oct. 27, 1908: A throng fills Concord's Phenix Hall with hundreds standing as the state's two U.S. senators campaign for the November election. “What a whirlwind (Sen. Joseph) Gallinger is for incessant work, work, work,” Charles Corning, the city's mayor and the emcee for the night, writes in his diary.
Oct. 27, 2003: In a coffee shop on Main Street in Concord, the New Hampshire Green Party throws its support behind presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich.
And if Kucinich fails in his attempt for the Democratic nomination, Green Party spokesman Guy Chichester says the party may try to recruit the Ohio congressman to run on its ticket in the general election.
Oct. 28, 1856: Thousands teem into the State House park after a torch-light procession through the streets of Concord to rally support for Republican presidential nominee John. C. Fremont.
Oct. 28, 1906: The New York World reports that Mary Baker Eddy of Concord is mentally and physically unfit to lead the 800,000-member Christian Science church, which she founded. Eddy is 85 years old. “Mrs. Eddy looked more dead than alive,” wrote two reporters who had never seen her. “She was a skeleton, her hollow cheeks thick with red paint.” Mayor Charles Corning visits Eddy after hearing this account and finds her “keen of intellect and strong in memory. A surprising example of longevity, bright eyes, emphatic expression . . . alertness.”
Oct. 28, 2000: In interviews 10 days before the election, independent voters tell the Monitor they're still undecided between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Their reluctance to choose a winner will seem prophetic in the coming weeks as the nation waits for rulings to determine which candidate won.
Oct. 28, 2003: About 700 people attend the unveiling of the new and improved Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord. The theater sports a three-story glass atrium, a new paint job and a refurbished conference room.
Oct. 29, 1792: The first issue of The Mirror is published in Concord. The cost: 5 shillings per year. The publishers requests 1 shilling cash and the rest in “country produce.”
Oct. 29, 1989: Meat Loaf, whose 10-year-old “Bat out of Hell” album has sold 17 million copies, plays one of the last big shows at the deteriorating Capitol Theatre on South Main Street. The crowd, not a full house, stands and sings the choruses with him.
Oct. 29, 2003: A legislative committee has concluded that severe management problems at the North State Street prison in Concord allowed the June 4 escape to happen. In a letter given to Gov. Craig Benson, the committee's chairman, Rev. Karl Gilbert, names Warden Jane Coplan as the problem. The committee argues that Coplan knowingly distanced herself from critical decision-making aspects of the institution.
Oct. 30, 1865: The day after President Andrew Johnson proclaimed Dec. 7 as Thanksgiving Day, New Hampshire Gov. Frederick Smyth announces that this state will celebrate the holiday on Nov. 30.
Smyth will hold out for 10 days before switching the date to conform with Johnson's proclamation.
Oct. 31, 1783: New Hampshire's constitution is written. It includes, among other provisions, a prohibition on Dartmouth faculty in the Legislature.
Oct. 31, 1944: Elizabeth Hager is born. In the 1980s, Hager will become the city's first woman mayor. She will serve many years as a city councilor and state representative and run unsuccessfully for governor in 1992.
