June 3, 2016

160 years ago
1856

Transportation
The Nova Scotia government opened the Windsor Branch Railway from Windsor to Windsor Junction; it's the oldest constituent of the Dominion Atlantic Railway.

150 years ago
1866

War
George Peacocke led British regulars and Canadian militia to relieve Fort Erie, Canada West; Colonel John O'Neill's Fenian raiders escaped across the border, meeting a heroes' welcome in the United States.

140 years ago
1876

Sport
In London, a Montréal team introduced the sport of lacrosse into Britain.

125 years ago
1891

Born on this date
Bill McTigue. U.S. baseball pitcher. Mr. McTigue played with the Boston Rustlers/Braves (1911-1912) and Detroit Tigers (1916), compiling a record of 2-5 with an earned run average of 6.19 in 27 games, batting .077 wit no home runs and 1 run batted in in 28 games. He played at least 111 games in at least 6 seasons in the minor leagues from 1911-1918, winning at least 48 and losing at least 37. Mr. McTigue fell ill with a lung disease in 1918, and died on May 6, 1920, four weeks before his 29th birthday.

100 years ago
1916

Defense
The National Defense Act was signed into law by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, increasing the size of the United States National Guard by 450,000 men.

75 years ago
1941

Abominations
The German Wehrmacht razed the Cretan village of Kandanos to the ground, killing 180 of its inhabitants.

War
Reports from Ankara stated that General Henri Dentz, French High Commissioner for Syria, had declared a state of siege in the eastern part of the territory.

Politics and government
Iraqi Regent Emir Abdul Illah appointed former Prime Minister Jamil al-Midfai as the new Prime Minister.

Law
New Zealand began training women for police work, with 10 recruits.

70 years ago
1946

Hit parade
U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 The Gypsy--The Ink Spots (3rd week at #1)
--Dinah Shore
--Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra
2 Prisoner of Love--Perry Como
--The Ink Spots
3 Laughing on the Outside (Crying on the Inside)--Dinah Shore
--Andy Russell
--Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra
4 I'm a Big Girl Now--Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra
5 Cement Mixer (Put-ti Put-ti)--Alvino Rey and his Orchestra
--Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra
6 Oh! What it Seemed to Be--Frankie Carle and his Orchestra
--Frank Sinatra
--Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra
--Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest
7 Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop--Tex Beneke with the Glenn Miller Orchestra
--Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra
8 All Through the Day--Frank Sinatra
--Perry Como
9 They Say it's Wonderful--Perry Como
--Frank Sinatra
10 Sioux City Sue--Bing Crosby and the Jesters

New singles entering the chart were the version of Cement Mixer (Put-ti Put-ti) by Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra; Love on a Greyhound Bus, with versions by Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra; and Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians (#22); The House of Blue Lights, with versions by Freddie Slack and his Orchestra; and the Andrews Sisters and the Eddie Heywood Orchestra (#24); and As If I Didn't Have Enough on My Mind by Harry James and his Orchestra (#30).

On the radio
The Casebook of Gregory Hood, starring Gale Gordon and Bill Johnstone, on MBS
Tonight's episode: Three Silver Pesos

This was the first episode of the series, which aired as a summer replacement for The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; both series were written by Denis Green and Anthony Boucher. When The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes moved to ABC for the 1946-47 season, The Casebook of Gregory Hood remained on MBS as a permanent series.

Died on this date
Mikhail Kalinin, 70. Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, 1938-1946. Mr. Kalinin joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) in 1898, and became an early member of the Bolshevik faction. He was Mayor of Petrograd after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, and was Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets--the titular head of Soviet Russia (1919-1938), becoming a candidate member of the Politburo in 1919 and a full member in 1926. Mr. Kalinin actually held little real power, and retired on March 19, 1946, about 2½ months before his death from cancer.

Diplomacy
U.S. President Harry Truman received newly-appointed Soviet Ambassador Nikolai V. Novikov, who said that U.S.-U.S.S.R. relations were essential for world peace.

Communist Party U.S.A. leader William Z. Foster agreed to leave Canada at the request of the Canadian government after a one-day stay during which he addressed a Labour-Progressive Party convention.

Crime
The U.S. Army arrested Colonel Jack Durant and his wife Captain Kathleen Nash Durant on charges of stealing the crown jewels of the House of Hesse from Kronberg Castle near Frankfurt.

Terunori Arai, arrested in connection with the Japanese May Day plot to assassinate General Douglas MacArthur, admitted to planning to kill Gen. MacArthur, but denied contact with other plotters.

Politics and government
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the dismissal of Robert Lovett, Goodwin Watson, and William Dodd, Jr. from government service for alleged subversive actions was punishment by administrative act without judicial trial and therefore unconstitutional.

Society
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation of passengers on interstate buses was unconstitutional.

Journalism
The U.S. Supreme Court reversed a contempt of court conviction against the Miami Herald and its associate editor, John Pennekamp, for publishing articles and cartoons critical of Florida's state judicial system.

60 years ago
1956

On television tonight
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Mink, starring Ruth Hussey, Vinton Hayworth, and Vivi Janiss

Died on this date
John Etter Clark, 41. Canadian politician. Mr. Clark, a member of the Social Credit Party of Alberta, represented the riding of Stettler in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1952 until his death. He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1954, and another after the spring session of the legislature in 1956. Mr. Clark shot and killed his wife, son, three daughters, a hired farmhand and a visitor at his farmhouse near Erskine, Alberta in the deadliest mass murder in Alberta to date. He fled the scene and shot himself to death about 600 yards from the farmhouse.

50 years ago
1966

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Dedicated Follower of Fashion--The Kinks

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 Monday, Monday--The Mamas and the Papas (4th week at #1)
2 I Am a Rock--Simon and Garfunkel
3 Tippy Toeing--The Harden Trio
4 Paint It, Black--The Rolling Stones
5 Green Grass--Gary Lewis and the Playboys
6 Leaning on the Lamp Post--Herman's Hermits
7 Shapes of Things--The Yardbirds
8 Peter Rabbit--Dee Jay and the Runaways
9 Jug Band Music--The Lovin' Spoonful
10 Gloria--The King Beezz
Pick hit of the week: Please Tell Me Why--The Dave Clark Five
New this week: Everybody Do What I Say--Rock and Roll Society
The Pied Piper--Crispian St. Peters
Sorry About That Chief--Gary Buck
Red Rubber Ball--The Cyrkle
Trumpet Pickin'--Al Hirt

Space
Gemini 9A, with the crew of Tom Stafford (Command Pilot) and Gene Cernan (Pilot) lifted off from Cape Kennedy, Florida to begin a three-day Earth-orbiting mission. Messrs. Stafford and Cernan were the mission's backup crew, but became the prime crew after Command Pilot Elliot See and Pilot Charlie Bassett were killed in a plane crash on February 28, 1966. The Gemini 9A spacecraft was supposed to dock with the Augmented Target Docking Adapter (ATDA)--launched two days earlier-but was unable to, because the ATDA's launch shroud had failed to open properly, leading Mr. Stafford to describe it as looking like an "angry alligator."



Diplomacy
Malaysia and the Philippines resumed diplomatic relations after a three-year break.

30 years ago
1986

Died on this date
Anna Neagle, 81. U.K. actress. Miss Neagle, born Florence Marjorie Robertson, was popular in musicals, comedies, and historical dramas on stage and in movies such as Nell Gwyn (1934); Nurse Edith Cavell (1939); The Courtneys of Curzon Street (1947); and Odette (1950).

Basketball
NBA
Finals
Boston 106 @ Houston 103 (Boston led best-of-seven series 3-1)

Larry Bird scored 21 points, the biggest coming on a 3-point field goal with 2:26 remaining in regulation time, as the Celtics edged the Rockets before 16,016 fans at the Summit. Robert Parish and Dennis Johnson scored 22 points each for Boston, while Ralph Sampson led Houston with 25 points and 9 assists.



25 years ago
1991

Hit parade
#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Love Train--TMN

#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Sweet Soul Music--London Boys (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Wind of Change--Scorpions

Terrorism
Irish Republican Army terrorists Peter Ryan, Lawrence McNally, and Anthony Dorris were ambushed by British soldiers in Coagh in County Tyrone.

Disasters
Mount Unzen erupted in Kyūshū, Japan, killing 43 people, all of them either researchers or journalists.

Baseball
Lefthanded pitcher Brien Taylor of East Carteret High School in Beaufort, North Carolina was selected by the New York Yankees as the first pick in the major league amateur draft.

20 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): La danza de los 40 limones--Juan Antonio Canta (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Norway (VG-lista): Lemon Tree--Fools Garden (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Macarena--Los Del Rio

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Old Man & Me (When I Get to Heaven)--Hootie & the Blowfish (2nd week at #1)
2 Always Be My Baby--Mariah Carey
3 Because You Loved Me--Céline Dion
4 Dreamer's Dream--Tom Cochrane
5 Everything Falls Apart--Dog's Eye View
6 Ironic--Alanis Morissette
7 Follow You Down--Gin Blossoms
8 You Learn--Alanis Morissette
9 Closer to Free--BoDeans
10 Ahead by a Century--The Tragically Hip

Singles entering the chart were Wrong by Everything But the Girl (#87); Jealousy by Natalie Merchant (#93); Children by Robert Miles (#94); Like a Woman by Tony Rich (#95); Tonight Tonight by the Smashing Pumpkins (#96); Street Spirit (Fade Out) by Radiohead (#97); God Only Knows by the Nylons (#98); and These Arms by All-4-One (#99).

Died on this date
Edmund Trzcinski, 75. U.S. playwright. Mr. Trzcinski was with the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II, and was shot down and interned in Luft Stalag 17B in Austria. He and fellow prisoner Donald Bevan used their experiences as the basis for their play Stalag 17 (1951). Mr. Trzcinski appeared in the 1953 movie Stalag 17 as a prisoner.

10 years ago
2006

Died on this date
Johnny Grande, 76. U.S. musician. Mr. Grande played piano and accordion with Bill Haley and the Saddlemen--later known as Bill Haley and his Comets--from 1949 until the early 1960s. He was inducted as a Comet into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.

Europeana
The union of Serbia and Montenegro ended with Montenegro's formal declaration of independence.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Edmonton (0-1) 8 @ Saskatchewan (1-0) 14