Oct. 8 (UPI) -- On this date in history: In 1871, a massive Chicago fire destroyed more than 17,000 buildings, killed more than 300 people and left 100,000 homeless. In 1912, Montenegro declared war against the Ottoman Empire, starting the First Balkan War . "Irreconcilable differences between the great powers... now loom up as the most serious menace in the Balkan situation." In 1918, Sgt. Alvin York of Tennessee became a World War I hero by single-handedly capturing a hill as part of the