Moments in time

The History Channel

• On Oct. 18, 1767, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon complete their survey of the boundary between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland, as well as areas that would become Delaware and West Virginia. The Mason-Dixon line created the boundary at a northern latitude of 39 degrees and 43 minutes.

• On Oct. 21, 1797, the USS Constitution, a 44-gun U.S. Navy frigate built to fight Barbary pirates off the coast of Tripoli, is launched in Boston Harbor. During the War of 1812, the Constitution won its enduring nickname “Old Ironsides” after witnesses claimed that the British shots merely bounced off the Constitution’s sides.

• On Oct. 19, 1931, David Cornwell, later known as spy novelist John le Carre, is born in Poole, England. He published his first spy novel, “Call for the Dead,” in 1961. The novel, like his second, “A Murder of Quality” (1962), featured spy George Smiley.

• On Oct. 15, 1946, Herman Goering, commander in chief of the Luftwaffe and head of the Gestapo, dies by his own hand. He was found guilty at Nuremberg and committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide tablet he had hidden from his guards.

• On Oct. 20, 1968, 21-year-old Oregonian Dick Fosbury wins gold medal and sets an Olympic record when he high-jumps 7 feet, 4 1/4 inches at the Mexico City Games. It was the international debut of Fosbury’s unique jumping style, known as the “Fosbury Flop,” which, according to one journalist, “looked like a guy falling off the back of a truck.”

• On Oct. 17, 1973, the Arab-dominated Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announces a decision to cut oil exports to the United States. In December, a full oil embargo was imposed, prompting a serious energy crisis and gasoline rationing in the United States.

• On Oct. 16, 1987, 18-month-old Jessica McClure is rescued after being trapped for 58 hours in an abandoned water well in Midland, Texas. McClure had fallen through the 8-inch-wide opening of an abandoned well in the backyard of her aunt’s home day-care center. After dropping about 22 feet into the well, the little girl became stuck.

(c) 2012 King Features Synd., Inc,