May 8, 2017

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Cherie Rivest!

175 years ago
1842

Disasters
A train derailed and caught fire in Paris, killing 52--200 people.

140 years ago
1877

Popular culture
The first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opened, at Gilmore's Gardens in New York City.

110 years ago
1907

Died on this date
Edmund G. Ross, 80. U.S. politician. Mr. Ross, a Republican, represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1866-1871, and cast the deciding vote in 1868 against convicting President Andrew Johnson of "high crimes and misdemeanors," allowing Mr. Johnson to finish the last 10 months of his term. Mr. Ross retired from the Senate in 1871 and joined the Democratic Party in 1872. He was appointed by President Grover Cleveland as Governor of New Mexico Territory, serving from 1885-1889.

Boxing
Tommy Burns (34-3-8) retained his world heavyweight championship with a 20-round decision over Philadelphia Jack O'Brien (135-10-24-3-1) at Naud Junction Pavilion in Los Angeles. The two had fought a 20-round draw in the same venue on November 28, 1906.

Baseball
Jeff Pfeffer pitched a no-hitter for the Boston Doves as they shut out the Cincinnati Reds 6-0 at South End Grounds in Boston.

100 years ago
1917

Born on this date
John Anderson, Jr. U.S. politician. Mr. Anderson, a Republican, was Attorney General of Kansas from 1956-1961 and Governor of Kansas from 1961-1965, and chairman of the National Governors Association from 1963-1964. He died on September 15, 2014 at the age of 97.

90 years ago
1927

Disappeared on this date
François Coli, 45; Charles Nungesser, 35. French aviators. Messrs. Coli and Nungesser, World War I aces, disappeared in their Levasseur PL. 8 L'Oiseau Blanc (The White Bird) after taking off from Paris in an attempt to make the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. The plane and its occupants have never been found, although the plane may have reached North America.

80 years ago
1937

Horse racing
War Admiral, with Charley Kurtsinger aboard, won the 63rd running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville in a time of 2:03 1/5 seconds, 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Pompoon, with Reaping Reward third.



75 years ago
1942

Died on this date
Nikolai Reek, 52. Estonian military officer and politician. Lieutenant General Reek was the Estonian military commander during the Estonian War of Independence (1918-1920) and Minister of War from 1939-1940 until Estonia was conquered and occupied by the U.S.S.R. He was arrested and imprisoned by Soviet authorities in 1941, and was executed at Ussolye, Perm Oblast.

War
The German 11th Army began Operation Trappenjagd (Bustard Hunt) and destroyed the bridgehead of the three Soviet Armies (44th, 47th, and 51st) defending the Kerch Peninsula, in the eastern part of the Crimea. German and Italian forces launched an attack against the guerrilla army of Yugoslavian General Draja Mikhailovich in Bosnia, Serbia, and Montenegro. The Battle of the Coral Sea climaxed with Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington. The battle marked the first time in naval history that two enemy fleets fought without visual contact between warring ships. Chinese forces smashed two Japanese columns attempting to outflank them near Chefang. Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebelled in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny was crushed and three of them were executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.

Diplomacy
Philippine President Manuel Quezon arrived in San Francisco on his way to Washington to establish a government-in-exile.

Economics and finance
U.S. Commerce Secretary Jesse Jones told the Senate Banking Committee that the Reconstruction Finance Corporation needed an additional $5 billion in loans for war plant expansion.

70 years ago
1947

Died on this date
Gordon Selfridge, 89. U.S.-born U.K. retail magnate. Mr. Selfridge worked with the Marshall Field department store from 1876 until about 1901. He travelled to London and founded Selfridges department store in 1909, running it until being forced into retirement in 1941. Mr. Selfridge was a lavish spender, and was destitute at the time of his death.

Politics and government
Berlin's City Council elected Social Democrat Luise Schroder acting Mayor, following the resignation of Otto Ostrowski.

Economics and finance
U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Dalton announced that Great Britain would freeze ts war debts until her creditors agreed to reductions.

Cuban President Ramon Grau San Martin lifted all duties on imports of beef after 56 meatless days during which cattlemen had refused to sell at official prices.

Labour
The Congress of Industrial Organizations United Packinghouse Workers ended its convention in Cleveland after voting to exclude Communists from leadership positions and demanding a 15c hourly pay increase and a 30-hour work week in upcoming wage negotiations.

Baseball
National League President Ford Frick reported that the St. Louis Cardinals management had quashed a players' strike in resentment against the Brooklyn Dodgers' employment of first baseman Jackie Robinson, the first Negro in the 20th century to play in the major leagues. The St. Louis players denied that the incident occurred.

60 years ago
1957

Defense
U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower said that the United States would study "very sympathetically" U.S.S.R. proposals for the establishment of trial disarmament zones open to aerial inspection, but warned that inspection of even a small area would be "very difficult to get initiated."

Despite opposition from West German Socialists, the Western European Union Consultative Assembly in Strasbourg passed a resolution calling for equal nuclear and missile armament for all North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries.

Politics and government
The Colombian National Constituent and Legislative Assembly re-elected General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla as President.

Law
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in New York that wiretap evidence was permissible in federal courts provided it was obtained not by federal officials but by local authorities under state court order.

Scandal
Teamsters union President Dave Beck, testifying before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Improper Labor-Management Activities, again invoked the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in refusing to answer questions relating to corruption charges against him.

Health
Physicist Ernest Lawrence, U.S. adviser at the London disarmament talks, dismissed reports of radiation danger from continued nuclear testing as "unmitigated nonsense."

50 years ago
1967

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Hablemos Del Amor--Raphael (3rd week at #1)

Detroit's Top 10 (WKNR)
1 Release Me--Engelbert Humperdinck
2 Don't You Care--The Buckinghams
3 Him or Me - What's it Gonna Be?--Paul Revere and the Raiders
4 I Got Rhythm--The Happenings
5 Friday on My Mind--The Easybeats
6 Dead End Street--Lou Rawls
7 Happy Jack--The Who
8 All I Need--The Temptations
9 My Girl Josephine--Jerry jaye
10 Groovin'--The Young Rascals

Died on this date
Elmer Rice, 74. U.S. playwright. Mr. Rice, born Elmer Reizenstein, was best known for The Adding Machine (1923); Street Scene (1929); and Counsellor-at-Law (1931).

LaVerne Andrews, 55. U.S. singer. Miss Andrews, with her younger sisters Maxene and Patty, comprised the Andrews Sisters, who recorded numerous hit singles--eight of which went to Number One in the United States--from 1937-1951. LaVerne died of cancer.

Space
The U.S. probe Lunar Orbiter 4 achieved lunar orbit insertion, four days after launch from Cape Kennedy, Florida.

Asiatica
The Philippine province of Davao was split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.

40 years ago
1977

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Don't Cry for Me Argentina--Julie Covington

Economics and finance
The leaders of the seven largest democratic industrial nations of the world concluded two days of talks in London, agreeing to cooperate to combat inflation and unemployment, and continue their policies of moderate economic growth.

30 years ago
1987

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): La Isla Bonita--Madonna

Died on this date
Doris Stokes, 67. U.K. psychic. Mrs. Stokes was known for her public performances and television appearances, but was accused of using tricks such as planting accomplices in the audience. She died after several weeks of unconsciousness following surgery to remove a brain tumour.

Music
The Beach Boys performed at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario.

Terrorism
Eight Irish Republican Army terrorists were killed by British security forces after bombing a police station in Loughall, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Three IRA men carried the bombs in the shovel of a hijacked bulldozer. After detonating the bombs, the three had joined five other men in a van, where they had been attacked by the British forces, who had been lying in wait. A bystander was also killed in the shooting.

Defense
Three days after the resumption of arms reduction talks in Geneva, the United States presented to the Soviet Union a draft treaty on reducing strategic (long-range) offensive weapons. The U.S. plan would have each side reduce its strategic arsenal by 50% over seven years, and leave each with 1,600 delivery vehicles (missiles and bombers) and 6,000 nuclear warheads.

Scandal
Former U.S. Senator Gary Hart of Colorado announced his withdrawal from the campaign for the 1988 Democratic party nomination for President of the United States, five days after the Miami Herald had reported that Mr. Hart had spent the weekend with a woman not his wife as his house guest (identified on May 4 as Miami model Donna Rice). Despite the fact that Mr. Hart, who had long been dogged by rumours of womanizing, had invited the press to “put a tail” on him, he whined that the system for selecting national leaders “reduces the press of this nation to hunters and presidential candidates to being hunted.”

Economics and finance
The Royal Canadian Mint unveiled a one-dollar coin to replace the paper dollar; made of nickel, copper and recycled tin, the" loonie," as it quickly became known, has a loon engraved on its rear side; it went into circulation on June 30, 1987.

The United States Labor Department reported that the nation’s unemployment rate had declined to 6.2% in April from 6.5% in March.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Prince of Wales Conference Finals
Philadelphia 4 @ Montreal 3 (Philadelphia led best-of-seven series 2-1)

25 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): To Be with You--Mr. Big (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
Joyce Ricketts, 59. U.S. baseball player. Miss Ricketts played right field with the Grand Rapids Chicks of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1953-1954, the last two years of the league's existence. She batted .300 with 20 home runs and 143 runs batted in in 207 games, making the all-star team in both seasons and helping the Chicks win the league championship in 1953.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate was 7.2% in April, down 0.1% from March. It was the first monthly decline in nine months. The number of Americans on company payrolls in April had increased by 126,000, the largest monthly increase in 11 months.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Division Finals
Detroit 0 @ Chicago 1 (Chicago won best-of-seven series 4-0)
Vancouver 2 @ Edmonton 3 (Edmonton led best-of-seven series 3-1)

20 years ago
1997

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Fire--Scooter (2nd week at #1)

Scandal
Calgary-based Bre-X Minerals filed for bankruptcy, after losing most of its value after analysts found its Indonesian gold "find" was a fraud.

Disasters
China Southern Airlines Flight 3456, a Boeing 737-300 en route from Chonqqing, crashed on approach into Bao'an International Airport in Bao'an District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, killing 35 people.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Conference Semi-Finals
New Jersey 0 @ New York Rangers 3 (New York led best-of-seven series 3-1)
Detroit 3 @ Anaheim 2 (2 OT) (Detroit won best-of-seven series 4-0)

10 years ago
2007

Politics and government
Andre Boisclair resigned after 18 months as leader of the Parti Québecois after a crushing electoral defeat.