On this day: October 26
POSTED: 12:17 PM PDT Oct 25, 2012
UPDATED: 11:00 PM PDT Oct 25, 2012
The Erie Canal opens, the Pony Express closes, Wyatt Earp shoots it out in Tombstone, "Baby Fae" gets a baboon heart, and the Patriot Act is signed into law, all on this day.
Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters
2002: Thirty-nine Chechen terrorists and at least 129 hostages die when Russian Spetsnaz forces pump a knockout gas into a Moscow theater and storm the building, which had been occupied by the terrorists during a musical performance three days before. All but a few of the hostages who died during the siege were killed by the toxic substance pumped into the theater to subdue the militants, causing a backlash against the government, especially for refusing to reveal the type of gas used in the assault.
