Moments in Time: Great Balls of Fire
The History Channel
• On Oct. 5, 1877, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe formally surrendered to U.S. General Nelson A. Miles in the Bear Paw mountains of Montana, saying, "Hear me, my chiefs: My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." He and his people were forcibly relocated to a reservation in Indian Territory.
• On Oct. 6, 1908, the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary announced its annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, dual provinces in the Balkan region of Europe that were formerly under the Ottoman Empire's control.
• On Oct. 7, 1916, in what proved to be the most wildly lopsided game in college football's history, Georgia Tech, coached by John Heisman (the namesake of college football's most famous trophy), took a 63-0 lead in the first quarter against Cumberland University, eventually trouncing their opponent with a final score of 222-0.
• On Oct. 8, 1957, a piano-thumping, bible-school dropout named Jerry Lee Lewis gave the music world what would become the definitive version of "Great Balls of Fire" for Sun Records. Hours into the session, Lewis began arguing with the label's head, Sam Phillips, that the song was "too sinful" for him to record, but Phillips prevailed and the tune quickly became Lewis' second smash hit, after "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On."
• On Oct. 9, 2004, Afghans made history by holding their first direct presidential election. Despite security concerns, more than 10 million Afghans had registered to vote, 41% of them women; approximately 8.1 million ultimately cast ballots.
• On Oct. 10, 1991, former U.S. postal worker Joseph Harris shot and killed two of his former co-workers at the Ridgewood, New Jersey, post office. The night before, he'd murdered his former supervisor, Carol Ott, with a samurai sword and shot her fiance, Cornelius Kasten, in the couple's home. After a four-hour standoff with police at the post office, Harris was arrested. His crime was one of several high-profile attacks that led to the inclusion of the phrase "going postal" in the American vocabulary.
• On Oct. 11, 1987, the new AIDS Memorial Quilt, larger than a football field and pieced together with 1,920 panels memorializing those who died from the disease, went on display at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
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