On this Day... November 26

CEBU, Philippines - • In 1844, the inventor of the automobile, Karl Benz, was born. He started making gas engines in 1880, and 15 years later had created the first gasoline-driven car, a three-wheeler capable of speeds up to ten miles an hour. The prototype appeared in Mannheim, Germany, in 1885, and the first salable model was made available two years later. Thwarted by strict speed limits, Benz invited a government minister to take a ride, after having arranged for a milk delivery man to overtake him with a horse and cart. When the cart passed and the minister urged him to go faster, Benz said it was illegal. The minister insisted - and the problem was solved.

• In 1973, the Boston Strangler was found stabbed through the heart, murdered by another inmate in his cell in Walpole State Prison, Massachusetts. Despite his confession and an eyewitness description of him, it had never been conclusively proved that Albert DeSalvo really was the Strangler, who killed and sexually assaulted 13 women between the ages of 19 and 85. During the investigations, Dutch psychometrist Peter Hurkos had given police a description of the killer by "divining" a picture from the dead women's clothing - and he came to believe DeSalvo was innocent of the Strangler's crimes. In 1971 the Texas House of Representatives passed a spoof bill praising one A. DeSalvo for his "noted activities and unconventional techniques involving population control and applied psychology."

- from Today's the Day! By Jeremy Beadle

In Christian history -

• In 1789, President George Washington proclaimed this date (a Thursday) as the first national Thanksgiving Day holiday. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln established the fourth Thursday in November as a permanent annual Thanksgiving Day.

- from This Day in Christian History By William D. Blake

In the Philippines -

• In 1898, Emilio Aguinaldo issued a decree authorizing the revolutionary government, in behalf of the national treasury, to contract a national loan worth 20 million pesos to be repaid up to 40 years from the issuance of such loan. The decree also authorized the circulation of paper money worth three million pesos redeemable in three years.

- www.kahimyang.info

In Cebu -

• In 1876, the Carcar church, one of the finest in the province, was inaugurated.

• In 1917, Warwick Barracks was evacuated by the Americans and ceased to exist as American military presence begins to be phased out in Cebu. The barracks facilities were turned over to the local government.

- from Cebuano Studies Center, University of San Carlos