William Anderson (1840 – October 26, 1864), known as "Bloody Bill" Anderson, was one of the deadliest pro- Confederate guerrilla leaders of the American Civil War, leading a band of volunteer partisans who targeted Union loyalists and federal soldiers in Missouri and Kansas. After his father was killed by a Union loyalist judge during the war, Anderson killed the judge and fled to Missouri where he robbed travelers and killed several Union soldiers. In 1863 he took a leading role in the Lawrence massacre and later participated in the Battle of Baxter Springs. By 1864 Anderson was the leader of a group of raiders in Missouri. In September 1864, he led a raid on the town of Centralia, where his men captured a passenger train; they executed 24 unarmed Union soldiers in the Centralia Massacre. Later that day they killed more than a hundred Union militiamen in an ambush. Anderson died in battle a month later. ( Full article...)

Coney Island shore

• ... that New York City's Coney Island (pictured) has not been an island since the 1930s?
• ... that when the army of Spendius was surrounded, his men ate their horses, their prisoners, and then their slaves before forcing him to negotiate?
• ... that the children's picture book Julián is a Mermaid was initially going to be about drag balls, until the author learned about the meaning of mermaids to transgender people?
• ... that the hymn " Singt dem Herrn ein neues Lied" (Sing to the Lord a new song) was written in both French and German in Nazi-controlled Alsace in 1941?
• ... that astrophysicist and space-weather specialist Professor Peter T. Gallagher led the building of Ireland's first serious radio telescope, the 3,000-antenna I- LOFAR, at Birr Castle?
• ... that choreographer Justin Peck cast himself in his ballet Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes when a dancer was injured the night before the premiere?
• ... that Dina Pomeranz was ranked highest in social-media influence by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in its 2019 ranking of economists?
• ... that one critic wrote that he had banned his children from watching Doctor Who due to the ending of the first episode of The Dalek Invasion of Earth?

Lewis Hamilton

• In motor racing, Lewis Hamilton (pictured) breaks the record for the most race wins in Formula One.
• The OSIRIS-REx probe touches down and collects a sample from the asteroid Bennu.
• Luis Arce is elected President of Bolivia in the general election.
• Floods in Hyderabad, India, kill at least 81 people.

October 26

Ida B. Wells

• 1341 – The Byzantine army proclaimed chief minister John VI Kantakouzenos emperor, triggering a civil war between his supporters and those of John V Palaiologos, the heir to the throne.
• 1892 – Ida B. Wells (pictured) began to publish her research on lynching in the United States, for which she was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2020.
• 1955 – Ngô Đình Diệm proclaimed himself president of the newly created Republic of Vietnam after defeating former emperor Bảo Đại in a fraudulent referendum supervised by his brother Ngô Đình Nhu.
• 1994 – Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty, settling relations between the two countries and pledging that neither would allow its territory to become a staging ground for military strikes by a third country.
• 2000 – Following protests against military leader Robert Guéï, Laurent Gbagbo became the first elected president of Ivory Coast.