Today in History: October 23

1456: One of the relatively few lawyers to achieve sainthood, Giovanni da Capistrano (in Spanish, San Juan Capistrano) dies at Villach, Hungary, after helping lead the Crusade that saved Belgrade from Ottoman conquest.

1739: After a British captain displays his ear, allegedly severed by Spanish authorities, Parliament declares war on Spain.  It will come to be known as the War of Jenkins’ Ear.

1813: As a result of the war with Britain, the Pacific Fur Company’s trading post at Astoria, Oregon, is taken over by the British North West Company, which will go on to dominate fur trading in the region for a quarter of a century.

1835: Small-town Illinois lawyer Adlai Ewing Stevenson I is born at Christian County, Kentucky.  He’ll go 3-5 in election campaigns, but one of the wins will be as Vice President in Grover Cleveland’s first administration.

1861: Again ignoring a prior order from Chief Justice Taney, President Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C.

1946: The United Nations General Assembly convenes for the first time, at Flushing Meadow in New York City.

1987: Ushering in the modern era of partisan political battles over judicial nominees, the U.S. Senate rejects Judge Robert Bork for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.