Moments in time

The History Channel

• On Oct. 30, 1893, the World’s Columbian Exposition closes in Chicago. Fairgoers were offered a chance to see the first gas-powered motorcar, an alternating-current power plant, a 46-foot-long cannon, a 1,500-pound Venus de Milo made of chocolate, and Juicy Fruit gum.

• On Nov. 4, 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his workmen discover a stone sarcophagus containing three coffins nested within each other. Inside the final coffin, which was made of solid gold, was the mummy of the boy-king Tutankhamen, preserved for more than 3,000 years.

• On Nov. 3, 1930, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel between the United States and Canada is officially opened to auto traffic. Each end of the tunnel had a 100-foot-tall ventilation tower; each tower held 12 huge fans, six for pumping fresh air into the tunnel and six for exhaust. The tunnel’s ventilation system still works just as well today as it did 80 years ago.

• On Oct. 29, 1948, a killer smog continues to hover over Donora, Pa. The town’s steel mills and a zinc smelting plant had released excessive amounts of sulfuric acid, carbon monoxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere. Over a five-day period, the smog killed some 20 people and made thousands more seriously ill.

• On Oct. 31, 1950, 21-year-old Earl Lloyd becomes the first black man to play in an NBA game when he takes the court in the season opener for the Washington Capitols. The Capitols had picked him in the ninth round of the draft. After seven games with the Capitols, Lloyd was drafted into the military and sent to Korea for two years.

• On Nov. 1, 1967, “Cool Hand Luke,” starring Paul Newman as a tough, anti-authoritarian, poker-playing prisoner, debuts in theaters. The film contained the now-famous line: “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

• On Nov. 2, 1986, Norwegian distance runner Grete Waitz wins her eighth New York City marathon. She finished the 26-mile, 385-yard course in 2:28.6, more than a mile ahead of the second- and third-place women in the race.

(c) 2012 King Features Synd., Inc.