As an AI language model, I don't have the ability to browse historic data and it's difficult to limit the search to a specific place or region. However, here are some interesting facts that happened on October 17:

1. In 1777, during the American Revolutionary War, British General John Burgoyne surrendered to American General Horatio Gates and his troops at Saratoga, New York.

2. In 1933, Albert Einstein arrived in the United States as a refugee from Germany, where he had been targeted by the Nazi government due to his Jewish heritage.

3. In 1941, the notorious gangster Al Capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison for multiple charges of tax evasion.

4. In 1961, the musical "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" opened on Broadway, starring Robert Morse and Rudy Vallee.

5. In 2003, the third-largest recorded earthquake in history, with a magnitude of 8.3, struck off the coast of Japan, triggering a massive tsunami that caused widespread damage and claimed many lives.