July 31, 2008

510 years ago
1498

Exploration
On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus became the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.

500 years ago
1508

Died on this date
Na'od. Emperor of Ethiopia, 1494-1508. Na'od was the second son of Emperor Baeda Maryam I and the younger brother of Eskender, who died in 1494. Eskender was succeeded by his infant son Amda Seyon II, who died at the age of 6 months, enabling Na'od to accede to the throne. Na'od was killed while fighting against Muslim forces during the Abyssinian-Adal War, and was succeeded by his son Dawit II.

140 years ago
1868

Canadiana
The Canadian Parliament passed the Rupert's Land Act, by which the British government underwrotes Canada's £300,000 (plus 1/20th of land in fertile belt plus acreage around each existing fur fort), and let the Crown declare Rupert's Land and the Northwest Territories part of the Dominion of Canada.

120 years ago
1888

Baseball
Gus Weyhing became the second member of the Philadelphia Athletics in six days to pitch a no-hitter as he led the Athletics to a 4-0 win over the Kansas City Blues at Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia. Ed Seward had pitched a no-hitter for the Athletics in a 12-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds on July 26, also at Jefferson Street Grounds.

100 years ago
1908

Disasters
Coal Creek No.2 in British Columbia caved in after a bump, leaving 4 dead, 21 trapped. The mine was subsequently abandoned.

80 years ago
1928

Died on this date
Louisa de Hostos, 38. U.S. authoress. Miss de Hostos, originally from Puerto Rico, burned herself to death in a bathtub in New York City, saying that a man had persecuted her to death.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Minister to Switzerland signed at Berne the supplementary commercial agreement which 27 other nations had signed on July 11.

Disasters
14 passengers were killed in a collision between a moving passenger train and a standing freight train at Dinkelscherben, Germany.

Olympics
Bobbie Rosenfeld of Canada won the silver medal in the women's 100-metre sprint at the Summer Olympic Games in Amsterdam, the Olympiad where women first competed.

Boxing
Five days after successfully defending his world heavyweight title against Tom Heeney, Gene Tunney announced his retirement.

70 years ago
1938

Diplomacy
Bulgaria signed a non-aggression pact with Greece and other states of the Balkan Antanti (Turkey, Romania, and Yugoslavia).

Archaeology
Engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius the Great were discovered in Persepolis.

60 years ago
1948

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Near You--Bing Crosby; Dick Haymes and the Andrews Sisters (3rd month at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard) (Best Seller): Woody Wood-Pecker--Kay Kyser and his Orchestra (5th week at #1)

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Woody Wood-Pecker--Kay Kyser and his Orchestra (2nd week at #1)
--The Sportsmen and Mel Blanc
--Danny Kaye and the Andrews Sisters
2 My Happiness--Jon and Sondra Steele
--The Pied Pipers
--Ella Fitzgerald
3 You Can't Be True, Dear--Ken Griffin
--Dick Haymes with the Song Spinners
--The Sportsmen
--The Marlin Sisters with Eddie Fisher
4 William Tell Overture--Spike Jones and his City Slickers
5 Little White Lies--Dick Haymes
6 Love Somebody--Doris Day and Buddy Clark
7 Nature Boy--King Cole
8 Twelfth Street Rag--Pee Wee Hunt and his Orchestra
9 Confess--Doris Day and Buddy Clark
--Patti Page
10 The Maharajah of Magador--Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra

Singles entering the chart were For Every Man There's a Woman by Tony Martin (#27); Run Joe by Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five (#30); and Mississippi Mud by Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra (#39).

Theatre
The National Theater in Washington, D.C. ended live performances when the Actors Equity Association demanded an end to the traditional exclusion of Negroes from the audience.

War
A U.S. tribunal in Nuremberg handed down prison sentences to 11 officials of the Krupp munitions firm who were convicted on charges of using slave labour and plundering occupied territories during World War II. Firm owner Alfred Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach received a 12-year sentence.

Defense
The U.S. Navy battleship USS Nevada was sunk by an aerial torpedo after surviving hits from two atomic bombs (as part of post-war tests) and being used for target practice by three other ships.

World events
Mikhail Samarin, a mathematics and arts teacher at a Soviet consular school in New York, went into hiding with his wife following the school's closing in order to avoid being returned to the U.S.S.R.

Politics and government
Confessed Communist spy Elizabeth Bentley testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities, accusing Lauchlin Currie, an aide to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II, and former Assistant Treasury Secretary Harry Dexter White of indirectly furnishing her with classified information. Both men denied the charges. Former Commerce Department official William Remington, in testimony before a Senate Expenditures subcommittee, also denied furnishing Miss Bentley with classified information.

States' Rights Party U.S. presidential candidate Strom Thurmond opened his campaign in Cherryville, New York by denouncing opposing presidential candidates Harry Truman, Thomas Dewey, and Henry Wallace for their support of civil rights for Negroes.

Transportation
New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) was dedicated at Idlewild Field in a ceremony that included U.S. President Harry Truman and New York Governor Thomas Dewey.

50 years ago
1958

Politics and government
The Lebanese Parliament elected General Fuad Chehab, Army chief of staff and a Maronite Christian, to a six-year term as President.

Haitian President Jean-Claude Duvalier was granted absolute power to govern by decree for six months.

Labour
The United Auto Workers of America and International Harvester Company agreed to an indefinite extension of a contract covering 36,500 workers in 15 plants.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Winnipeg (0-2) 15 @ Toronto (1-0) 22

Dave Mann, Corky Tharp, and C.R. Roberts scored touchdowns for the Argonauts as they beat the Blue Bombers before 12,584 fans at Varsity Stadium. Dick Shatto played most of the game at quarterback for Toronto. Gerry James and Charlie Shepard scored the Winnipeg touchdowns.

40 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Mony Mony--Tommy James and the Shondells

Australia's top 10 (Go-Set)
1 Jumpin' Jack Flash--The Rolling Stones
2 This Guy's in Love with You--Herb Alpert
3 Angel of the Morning--Merrilee Rush
4 Lady Willpower--Gary Puckett and the Union Gap
5 The Orange and the Green/(The Puppet Song) Whiskey on a Sunday--The Irish Rovers
6 Yummy Yummy Yummy--Ohio Express
7 Lazy Sunday--Small Faces
8 Indian Lake--The Cowsills
9 MacArthur Park--Richard Harris
10 The Unicorn--The Irish Rovers

Singles entering the chart were Alice Long (You’re Still My Favorite Girlfriend) by Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart (#31) and Dreams of the Everyday Housewife by Wayne Newton (#40).

At the movies
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, directed by Robert Ellis Miller, and starring Alan Arkin and Sondra Locke, opened in theatres.

5 Card Stud, directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Dean Martin, Robert Mitchum, Inger Stevens, and Roddy McDowall, opened in theatres.

Died on this date
Jack Pizzey, 57. Australian politician. Mr. Pizzey, a member of the Country Party, represented Isis in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1950-1968, and held various cabinet posts before taking office as Premier of Queensland on January 17, 1968. He died of a heart attack after just 6½ months as Premier, and was succeeded by Deputy Premier Gordon Chalk for a week until Joh Bjelke-Petersen was chosen as the Country Party's new leader.

Music
The Beatles began recording the song Hey Jude at Trident Studios in London.

Television
The French government approved television commercials, to begin on the government-controlled system on October 1.

Business
The day after major steel firms had agreed with the United Steel Workers on a package providing for a 6% wage increase, Bethlehem Steel announced a 5% across-the-board price increase. Republic Steel announced a 4 1/2% increase, and other firms followed suit. U.S. President Lyndon Johnson resisted the price hike as an "inflationary threat."

Football
CFL
Edmonton (1-0) 27 @ Montreal (0-1) 10

Art Perkins scored 2 touchdowns and Jim Thomas added another as Messrs. Perkins, Thomas, and Don Lisbon provided an effective rushing attack to lead the Eskimos over the Alouettes in the first Canadian Football League regular season game ever played at Autostade.

30 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Rivers of Babylon--Boney M. (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Monster--Pink Lady (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Anna--Miguel Bosé

War
Rhodesian troops concluded two days of raids on Patriotic Front guerrilla bases in Mozambique in what was described as a pre-emptive strike to prevent the overthrow of the Rhodiesian government of Prime Minister Ian Smith. A guerrilla spokesman reported that 12 people had been killed and 110 wounded in the raids.

Politics and government
Midge Costanza resigned as an aide to U.S. President Jimmy Carter after her responsibilities were sharply reduced and her office moved from the main floor of the White House to a basement cubicle.

Baseball
The Cincinnati Reds scored 2 runs in the top of the 9th inning to break a 1-1 tie and held on to beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 before 45,007 fans, many of whom were at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium to see if Cincinnati third baseman Pete Rose would get a hit. He singled to lead off the 6th inning to extend his hitting streak to 44 games, tying the National League record set by Willie Keeler of the Baltimore Orioles in 1897. The Braves had runners on second and third bases with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, but Bob Horner popped out to shortstop to end the game.

Chris Speier singled home Larry Parrish with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th inning to tie the score and pinch hitter Ed Herrmann followed with a single to score Warren Cromartie with the winning run as the Montreal Expos edged the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 before 22,152 fans at Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

Otto Velez hit a solo home run with 1 out in the bottom of the 14th inning to give the Toronto Blue Jays an 8-7 win over the Detroit Tigers before 18,032 fans at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.

Pinch hitter Jim Norris singled home Johnny Grubb with the winning run as the Cleveland Indians scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to defeat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 before 8,149 fans at Cleveland Stadium. The Royals had scored 2 in the top of the 9th to take a 3-2 lead, with pinch hitter Pete LaCock singling in the go-ahead run.

Matt Keough allowed 5 hits in 7 scoreless innings to win the pitchers' duel over Frank Tanana as the Oakland Athletics shut out the California Angels 2-0 before 29,044 fans at Anaheim Stadium.

25 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland: Flashdance...What a Feeling--Irene Cara (4th week at #1)

Diplomacy
U.S. Central American envoy Richard Stone met with Salvadoran rebel leader Ruben Zamora in Bogota, Colombia.

Golf
John Cook won the Canadian Open, defeating Johnny Miller in a playoff at Glen Abbey Golf Course in Oakville, Ontario. Andy Bean, who had knocked in a 2-inch putt with his club handle the previous day; had taken a two-stroke penalty, exactly the number of strokes he finished behind Mr. Cook.

Football
CFL
Montreal (1-3) 10 @ Calgary (2-1) 42

James Sykes rushed 17 times for 153 yards and Ray Crouse carried 5 times for 89 yards, including a 67-yard touchdown, as the Stampeders routed the Concordes at McMahon Stadium. Calgary safety Darrell Moir added another touchdown on a 20-yard interception return.

20 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Sweet Lovers--Holidaymakers (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Im Nin'Alu--Ofra Haza (6th week at #1)

Diplomacy
In a televised address, King Hussein of Jordan said that he was renouncing all claims to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which Jordan had ruled from 1948-1967 until losing it after the Six-Day War. After 1967, Jordan had continued to provide services to the West Bank, regulating business, subsidizing hospitals and schools, and administering laws in the land lying west of the Jordan River, home to 850,000 Palestinians. Jordan also paid salaries to 21,000 public employees. King Hussein said, "We repsect the wish of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, to secede from us in an independent Palestinian state."

Disasters
32 people were killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal collapsed in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia.

10 years ago
1998

Defense
The British Government announced a total ban on landmines, in order for the United Kingdom to endorse the international Ottawa Treaty.

Agriculture
Manitoba Pool Elevators and the Alberta Wheat Pool merged to form Agricore.

Economics and finance
The Canadian dollar hit an historic low of 66.10 cents to the U.S. dollar.

Football
CFL
Montreal (3-2) 10 @ Edmonton (4-1) 22

Henry "Gizmo" Williams returned a punt 86 yards for a touchdown to open the scoring as the Eskimos defeated the Alouettes before 30,813 fans at Commonwealth Stadium in a game that was preceded by a brief thunderstorm that produced enough rain to flood the "rathole" on 105 St. It was the 26th and last punt return touchdown in Mr. Williams' 14-year Hall of Fame career. Jimmy Kemp played the entire game at quarterback for the Eskimos, and completed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Marc Tobert.