Saturday 17th of October 1829

17-year-old Foundling Kaspar Hauser aka The Wild Child is attacked and wounded by a hooded man who also threatened him with the words "You still have to die ere you leave the city of Nürnberg" in Nürnberg, Bayern, Germany.

Wednesday 17th of October 1849

Composer Frédéric François Chopin dies of tuberculosis at the age of 39 in Place Vendôme 12, Paris, Ier, Île-de-France, France.

Saturday 17th of October 1874

44-year-old Photographer Eadweard James Muybridge shoots Major Harry Larkyns through the heart because he was dating his 23-year-old wife Flora Shallcross Stone and might have fathered their seven-month-old son Florado in Calistoga, California, United States.

Upon finding Larkyns, Muybridge said, "Good evening, Major, my name is Muybridge and here is the answer to the letter you sent my wife" and shot him point-blank. The jury dismissed an insanity plea and acquitted the photographer on the grounds of 'justifiable homicide'.

Thursday 17th of October 1889

Gangster and ex-wrestler Juanita Evelita Spinelli aka The Duchess is born in Kentucky, United States.

Monday 17th of October 1892

SS-Obergruppenführer and first commander of Dachau-KZ Theodor Eicke is born in Hudingen, Lorraine, France.

Eicke was the youngest of 11 children

Monday 17th of October 1898

Writer Simon Vestdijk is born in Voorstraat 61a, Harlingen, Friesland, Netherlands.

Thursday 17th of October 1912

263rd Pope Ioannes Paulus I is born as Albino Luciani in Forno di Canale, Veneto, Italy.

Sunday 17th of October 1915

Playwright Arthur Asher Miller known for his play ‘Death of a Salesman’ is born in New York, Harlem, New York, United States.

Thursday 17th of October 1918

Actress and pin-up model Rita Hayworth aka The Love Goddess is born as Margarita Carmen Cansino in New York, Brooklyn, New York, United States.

Sunday 17th of October 1920

Actor Montgomery Edward 'Monty' Clift is born in Omaha, Nebraska, United States.

Friday 17th of October 1930

Journalist and writer Jimmy Earle Breslin is born in Jamaica, New York, United States.

Saturday 17th of October 1931

First wife of Hermann Göring Carin Axelina Hulda Fock dies of heart failure at the age of 43 in Stockholm, Södermanland, Sweden.

Tuesday 17th of October 1933

Singer-songwriter Jeanine Deckers aka Sœur Sourire aka The Singing Nun is born in Brussel, Laeken, Brabant, Belgium.

Monday 17th of October 1938

Daredevil and entertainer Evel Robert Craig Knievel is born in Butte, Montana, United States.

Tuesday 17th of October 1967

Last Emperor of China Aisin-Gioro Henry Puyi dies of complications from kidney cancer and heart disease at the age of 61 in Beijing, Hebei, China.

Tuesday 17th of October 1972

27-year-old Serial killer Arthur John Shawcross aka The Genesee River Killer is sentenced to 25 years imprisonment in Watertown, New York, United States.

Instead of standing trial for two child murders Shawcross made a plea bargain with prosecutors that allowed him to plead guilty to the murder of Karen Hill while the charges of murder for Jack Blake were dismissed. In April 1987 Shawcross was paroled and started killing again less than a year later.

Friday 17th of October 1975

21-year-old Teresa Knowlton is drugged and strangled by serial killer Charles Sobhraj aka Bad Blood in Pattaya, Chonburi, Thailand.

Sunday 17th of October 1976

18-year-old Vida Markovčič is raped and strangled by serial killer Metod Trobec aka The Monster of Dolenja Vas in Dolenja Vas, Carniola, Yugoslavia.

Monday 17th of October 1977

21-year-old Russell L. Nelson is tortured and strangled by serial killer John Wayne Gacy aka The Killer Clown in 8213 West Summerdale Avenue, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States.

Wednesday 17th of October 1984

Fifth bomb attack by Terrorist organisation Les Cellules Communistes Combattantes aka CCC in C.V.P. Secretariaat, Koning Albertlaan 214, Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

It was the fifth action in their Première Campagne Anti-Impérialiste d’Octobre.

Wednesday 17th of October 1984

Poet, writer and painter Henri Michaux dies of unknown causes at the age of 85 in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

Saturday 17th of October 1987

Noise music band Club Moral play their 75th concert in Shaffy Theater, Weesperzijde 34III, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

Wednesday 17th of October 1990

Cop killer Wilbert Lee Evans is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 44 in Virginia State Penitentiary, Richmond, Virginia, United States.

Evans' execution became known as one of Virginia's worst. When the first 55-second jolt of electricity hit Evans, blood flowed from under the leather death mask, streamed down his chin and soaked his shirt. Bloody froth bubbled on his lower lip. Officials said the chair worked fine - Evans just had a nosebleed when he lunged against the mask.

Wednesday 17th of October 1990

16-year-old Vadim Gromov is stabbed to death and his tongue bitten off by serial killer Andrei Chikatilo aka The Rostov Ripper in Rostov, Rostov Oblast, Russia.

Monday 17th of October 2005

My mode of transport on the country roads in Yang Zhen, Shunyi, China.

Thursday 17th of October 2024

Mass murderer Derrick Ryan Dearman known for the Citronelle homicides is executed by lethal injection at the age of 36 in Holman Correctional Facility, Ross Road, Atmore, Alabama, United States.

Dearman's last meal request was for a seafood platter brought to the prison from a local restaurant.