Today is Monday, Oct. 24, the 298th day of 2016. There are 68 days left in the year.

On this date:

In 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph message was sent by Chief Justice Stephen J. Field of California from San Francisco to President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C., over a line built by the Western Union Telegraph Co.

In 1936, the short story “The Devil and Daniel Webster” by Stephen Vincent Benet was published in The Saturday Evening Post.

In 1939, DuPont began publicly selling its nylon stockings in Wilmington, Delaware. Benny Goodman and His Orchestra recorded their signature theme, “Let’s Dance,” for Columbia Records in New York.

In 1945, the United Nations officially came into existence as its charter took effect.

In 1991, “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry died in Santa Monica, California, at age 70.