October 17, 2017

240 years ago
1777

War
British General John Burgoyne, surrounded by 16,000 American colonial troops, surrendered 5,782 British and Hessian troops to General Horatio Gates after the Battle of Saratoga.

150 years ago
1867

Disasters
13 workers were killed in an explosion while digging a tunnel in the central shaft of the Hoosac Tunnel in western Massachusetts.

130 years ago
1887

Baseball
World Series
Detroit Wolverines 3 St. Louis Browns 1 @ Philadelphia (Detroit led 15-game series 5-2)

Tip O'Neill hit a home run for the only St. Louis score against Lady Baldwin, while Bob Caruthers took the loss before 6,478 fans at Philadelphia Base Ball Grounds.

125 years ago
1892

Born on this date
Theodor Eicke. German SS officer. SS Obergruppenführer Eicke was a commander of the Waffen SS and was one of the key figures in the establishment of concentration camps in Nazi Germany. He was killed on February 26, 1943 at the age of 50 when he was shot down while performing a battlefield reconnaissance during the Third Battle of Kharkov.

Herbert Howells. U.K. composer. Mr. Howells was known for his large output of Anglican church music. He died on February 23, 1983 at the age of 90.

Law
The United States Supreme Court declared that Michigan’s plan of choosing presidential electors by Congressional districts was constitutional.

Baseball
The Boston Beaneaters and Cleveland Spiders began a five-game series to decide the winner of the National League's first split season. The Beaneaters had won the first half of the season and the Spiders had finished first in the second half. Jack Stivetts pitched for Boston and Cy Young for Cleveland, but the game was called after 11 innings with the score tied 0-0.

110 years ago
1907

Communications
Transatlantic wireless telegraph service from Table Head, Nova Scotia to Britain began; Toronto Stock Exchange quotations were among the first cabled to London and published regularly.

100 years ago
1917

Born on this date
Marsha Hunt. U.S. actress. Miss Hunt appeared in such movies as Pride and Prejudice (1940) and Raw Deal (1948), but her career was derailed when she was blacklisted for most of the 1950s because of alleged involvement with the Communist Party. According to Kenneth Lloyd Billingsley in his book Hollywood Party (1996), Miss Hunt was indeed an active Communist in Hollywood in the 1940s.

War
Canada's National Conscription Act came into effect.

Transportation
The first National Transcontinental Railway (CNR) train crossed the Québec Bridge over the St. Lawrence River; the cantilever bridge had collapsed twice during construction.

80 years ago
1937

Died on this date
J. Bruce Ismay, 74. U.K. shipping executive. Mr. Ismay was chairman and managing director of the White Star Line from 1899-1924. He was aboard RMS Titanic when it sank in 1912, and was the highest-ranking White Star official to survive. Mr. Ismay was heavily criticized for taking a spot in a lifeboat when women and children were still aboard the ship, and his public reputation never recovered. The 1912 British inquiry headed by Lord Mersey concluded that Mr. Ismay had helped many other passengers before leaving aboard the last lifeboat to leave the starboard side.

75 years ago
1942

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): (I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo--Glenn Miller and his Orchestra (6th week at #1)

Died on this date
Howard Walsh. U.S. criminal. Mr. Walsh, a Negro, was lynched in Laurel, Mississippi after being convicted of killing his employer.

War
U.K. Royal Air Force and U.S. Army heavy bombers raided Bengazi, Libya. Allied bombers raided Buka and Buin in the Solomon Islands; Rabaul in New Britain; Japanese-occupied areas in New Guinea; and a large transport off Shortland Island. U.S. surface vessels shelled Japanese positions on northwestern Guadalcanal, causing heavy explosions and fires in ammunition dumps.

Defense
The U.S. House of Representatives voted to lower the draft age from 20 to 18.

Diplomacy
The women's Zionist group Hadassah and the Zionist Organization of America adopted a resolution rejecting the creation of binational Palestine.

Religion
The United Church in America authorized its President, Dr. F.H. Knubel, to implement a working agreement with the American Lutheran Church.

Disasters
Flood waters receded in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. along the James, Rappahannock, and Potomac Rivers, leaving five people dead and extensive damage.

Horse racing
Boysy, with Darrell Clingman up, won the $12,100 Continental Handicap in Jamaica, New York when the original winner, Riverland, was disqualified and jockey Wayne Wright suspended for grabbing Mr. Clingman's leg.

Football
Ottawa Senior City Football League
RCAF Uplands (1-1) 18 Civil Service (0-1) 0

Quarterback Bobby Coulter led the Flyers to victory at Lansdowne Park with a touchdown and convert.

ORFU
Kitchener-Waterloo (0-5) 7 @ Toronto RCAF Hurricanes (5-0) 18
Toronto Balmy Beach (3-2) 17 Toronto Oakwood Indians (1-4) 7
HMCS York (3-2) 13 @ Hamilton (3-2) 0

70 years ago
1947

Diplomacy
U.K. Prime Minister Clement Attlee and Burmese Prime Minister Thakin Nu signed a treaty granting Burma independence outside the British Commonwealth, effective January 6, 1948.

Politics and government
The United States submitted a proposal to the United Nations General Assembly's Political and Security Committee calling for legislative elections in Korea by March 1948, followed by formation of a national government for the entire country.

Labour
The Cuban government arrested 700 political suspects when Communists called a four-hour general strike to protest their expulsion from leadership positions in the Confederation of Cuban Workers.

The Congress of Industrial Organizations convention in Boston re-elected Philip Murray to his eighth term as President. Mr. Murray promised to make any merger with the American Federation of Labor contingent on protection of CIO affiliate jurisdiction.

Golf
Mildred "Babe" Zaharias won the Fort Smith Open in Fort Smith, Arkansas with a women's world record score of 293 over 72 holes.

Football
ORFU
Toronto Balmy Beach (5-3) 7 Toronto Indians (3-4-1) 6

Bill Stockman scored a touchdown and Bob Cunningham kicked 2 singles in the 4th quarter as Balmy Beach came back fro a 6-0 deficit to defeat the Indians before 6,000 fans.

60 years ago
1957

Literature
French author Albert Camus was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times."

Diplomacy
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Gholi Ardalan demanded that Syrian Foreign Minister Salah el-Bitar retract charges that the United States had engineered the 1953 coup that had toppled Iranian President Mohammed Mossadegh.

Politics and government
Cuban exiles in the United States formed a Council for Cuban Liberation, aiming at the establishment of a provisional government and restoration of the 1940 constitution.

Economics and finance
The Organization for European Economic Cooperation announced plans for a Western European free trade zone, linking the six-nation Common Market to 11 other OECC members.

50 years ago
1967

On television tonight
The Invaders, starring Roy Thinnes, on ABC
Tonight's episode: The Spores

Theatre
Hair, with music by Galt MacDermot and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni, received its premiere performance at Joseph Papp's Public Theatre off-Broadway in New York.

Died on this date
Puyi, 61. Emperor of China, 1908-1912, 1917; Emperor of Manchukuo, 1934-1945. Puyi succeeded Guangxu on the throne at the age of 2, and was forced into abdication at the age of 6. He was briefly restored to the throne from July 1-12, 1917 by warlord Zhang Xun, but the restoration failed. After Japanese forces invaded and occupied Manchuria in 1932 and renamed it Manchukuo, they used Puyi as a puppet emperor through the end of World War II. After the Communists came to power in China in 1949, Puyi was repatriated from exile in the U.S.S.R. and was imprisoned or 10 years as a war criminal. He spent his last years praising the People's Republic of China. Puyi died of kidney cancer and heart disease.

Politics and government
Premier John Robarts led his governing Progressive Conservatives to another majority government, winning 69 of 117 seats in the Provincial Parliament in the Ontario provincial election. The PCs' majority was somewhat reduced, as they had won 77 of 108 seats in the most recent election in 1963. The Liberals, led by Robert Nixon, increased their total from 23 to 27--28 with the inclusion of Liberal-Labour MPP T. Patrick Reid--and the New Democratic Party, led by Donald C. MacDonald, increased their total from 7 to 20. NDP candidates James and Margaret Renwick were both elected in Toronto, becoming the first husband-wife team elected to the Provincial Parliament.

Boxing
Joe Frazier (18-0) scored a technical knockout of Tony Doyle (18-5-1) at 1:04 of the 2nd round of a heavyweight bout at the Spectrum in Philadelphia; it was the first main event to be held at the new arena.

40 years ago
1977

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): I Just Want to Be Your Everything--Andy Gibb

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Wanted (Shimei Tehai)--Pink Lady (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Rockollection--Laurent Voulzy (2nd week at #1)

On television today
The Canadian House of Commons began regular live coverage of the debates and Question Period; Canada became the first country to broadcast the complete proceedings of its national legislature.

Music
The album Street Survivors by Lynyrd Skynyrd was released on MCA Records. Three days later, band members Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines were among six people killed in the crash of a plane taking the band from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Terrorism
Four days after it was hijacked by West German terrorists, Lufthansa Flight 181 landed in Mogadishu, Somalia, where a team of German GSG 9 commandos later rescued all remaining hostages on board.

30 years ago
1987

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy: Bad--Michael Jackson (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): It's a Sin--Pet Shop Boys (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Bad--Michael Jackson (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Never Gonna Give You Up--Rick Astley (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): You Win Again--Bee Gees

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Full Metal Jacket (I Want to be Your Drill Instructor)--Abigail Mead and Nigel Goulding

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): You Win Again--Bee Gees

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Lost in Emotion--Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Lost in Emotion--Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
2 Here I Go Again--Whitesnake
3 Carrie--Europe
4 U Got the Look--Prince
5 Bad--Michael Jackson
6 Who Will You Run To--Heart
7 Causing a Commotion--Madonna
8 Casanova--Levert
9 I Heard a Rumour--Bananarama
10 I Think We're Alone Now--Tiffany

Singles entering the chart were Skeletons by Stevie Wonder (#67); I Do You by the Jets (#70); Tell it to My Heart by Taylor Dayne (#82); I Don't Mind at All by Bourgeois Tagg (#83); Crazy World by Big Trouble (#87); Motortown by the Kane Gang (#88); Just Like Heaven by the Cure (#89); and Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now by Samantha Fox (#90).

Canada’s Top 10 (RPM)
1 La Bamba--Los Lobos (7th week at #1)
2 I Heard a Rumour--Bananarama
3 Didn't We Almost Have it All--Whitney Houston
4 Here I Go Again--Whitesnake
5 When Smokey Sings--ABC
6 Paper in Fire--John Cougar Mellencamp
7 Only in My Dreams-Debbie Gibson
8 Together (The New Wedding Song)--Joey Gregorash
9 Carrie--Europe
10 Dance Desire--Haywire

Singles entering the chart were Pop Goes the World by Men Without Hats (#89); Truth Faith by New Order (#91); Betcha Say That by Gloria Esefan and Miami Sound Machine (#93); Don't Make Me Wait for Love by Kenny G (vocal by Lenny Williams) (#94); In My Dreams by REO Speedwagon (#95); I Don't Mind at All by Bourgeois Tagg (#96); Peace of Mind by the Grapes of Wrath (#97); and Hourglass by Squeeze (#98).

Football
CFL
Hamilton (6-9) 11 @ British Columbia (9-6) 25

Larry Crawford returned a punt 58 yards for a touchdown to open the scoring in the 1st quarter, and Roy Dewalt threw touchdown passes to Jim Sandusky and John Pankratz as the Lions beat the Tiger-Cats before 34,909 fans at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver. For Mr. Crawford, it was his third punt return touchdown of the year. Hamilton’s only touchdown came in the 4th quarter on a pass from Mike Kerrigan to Dan Huclack. It was the first game for the Lions under new head coach Larry Donovan, who had been named to the post when Don Matthews had been fired three days earlier. Former Lion and Montreal Concorde Roy Kurtz kicked a convert, field goal, and single in his first game as a Tiger-Cat. Former Oakland and Los Angeles Raider Kenny King rushed 15 times for 39 yards in his second and last game with Hamilton.

Baseball
World Series
St. Louis Cardinals 1 @ Minnesota Twins 10 (Minnesota led best-of-seven series 1-0)

Dan Gladden's grand slam highlighted a 7-run 4th inning as the Twins routed the Cardinals before 55,171 fans at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis in the first World Series game to be played indoors. Frank Viola pitched 8 innings to get the win over Joe Magrane.



25 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (ARIA): Achy Breaky Heart--Billy Ray Cyrus (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Zero--B'z

#1 single in Italy (FIMI): It's Probably Me--Sting and Eric Clapton

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Don't You Want Me--Felix

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Heading for a Fall--Vaya con Dios (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in France (SNEP): Dur dur d'être bébé!--Jordy

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Sweat (A La La La La Long)--Inner Circle

#1 single in the U.K. (Chart Information Network): Sleeping Satellite--Tasmin Archer

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): End of the Road--Boyz II Men (10th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 End of the Road--Boyz II Men (6th week at #1)
2 Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough--Patty Smyth with Don Henley
3 Jump Around--House of Pain
4 Humpin' Around--Bobby Brown
5 Baby-Baby-Baby--TLC
6 She's Playing Hard to Get--Hi-Five
7 Please Don't Go--K.W.S.
8 People Everyday--Arrested Development
9 When I Look Into Your Eyes--Firehouse
10 I'd Die Without You--PM Dawn

Singles entering the chart were My Name is Prince by Prince and the New Power Generation (#63); Erotica by Madonna (#65); Sesame's Treet by the Smart E's (#82); Could've Been Me by Billy Ray Cyrus (#84); I'm Overjoyed by Nona Gaye (#87); Inside that I Cried by Ce Ce Peniston (#90); Good Enough by Bobby Brown (#92); and How Do You Do! by Roxette (#94).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough--Patty Smyth with Don Henley (5th week at #1)
2 Do I Have to Say the Words?--Bryan Adams
3 Nothing Broken But My Heart--Celine Dion
4 End of the Road--Boyz II Men
5 Enid--Barenaked Ladies
6 Layla--Eric Clapton
7 Not Enough Time--INXS
8 Walking on Broken Glass--Annie Lennox
9 Humpin' Around--Bobby Brown
10 Digging in the Dirt--Peter Gabriel

Singles entering the chart were Erotica by Madonna (#58); Please Don't Go by K.W.S. (#64); Locked in the Trunk of a Car by the Tragically Hip (#77); Love is on the Way by Saigon Kick (#80); Ain't No Doubt by Jimmy Nail (#85); River of Dreams by Glenn Frey (#86); Dance Without Sleeping by Melissa Etheridge (#87); The Last Song by Elton John (#91); Cracked by the Watchmen (#93); Chains Around My Heart by Richard Marx (#95); and I Wanna Make Love to You by Rythm Syndicate (#97).

Died on this date
Yoshihiro Hattori, 16. Japanese student. Mr. Hattori was a high school student who was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as part of an American Field Service exchange program. He went to the wrong house for a Halloween party, and was shot and killed by the homeowner, Rodney Peairs, who believed Mr. Hattori to be a criminal trespasser. Mr. Peairs was acquitted of manslaughter in a criminal trial, but found liable in a civil trial.

Hockey
NHL
Jari Kurri of the Los Angeles Kings, playing with his former Edmonton Oiler linemate Wayne Gretzky, scores his 500th career National Hockey League goal, tallying an empty-net marker in an 8-6 win over the Boston Bruins.

Baseball
World Series
Toronto Blue Jays 1 @ Atlanta Braves 3 (Atlanta led best-of-seven series 1-0)

Damon Berryhill hit a 3-run home run in the 6th inning, and Tom Glavine pitched a 4-hitter as the Braves defeated the Blue Jays before 51,763 fans at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. One of the 4 hits off Mr. Glavine was a home run by Joe Carter in the top of the 4th inning. Jack Morris was the losing pitcher.



20 years ago
1997

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Candle in the Wind 1997--Elton John (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Something About the Way You Look Tonight/Candle in the Wind 1997--Elton John (4th week at #1)

Television
CTV News Channel began broadcasting from Toronto.

10 years ago
2007

Died on this date
Joey Bishop, 89. U.S. comedian, actor, and talk show host. Mr. Bishop, born Joseph Gottlieb, began his career as a stand-up comedian, but had more success as a television talk show host and as a member of Frank Sinatra's "Rat Pack" in the 1960s. He served as guest host of Tonight in the absence of Johnny Carson at least 175 times in the 1960s and '70s, and hosted The Joey Bishop Show (1967-1969), which was a competitor to Tonight. The Joey Bishop Show was also the title of a situation comedy series in which Mr. Bishop starred from 1961-1965. Mr. Bishop's movies included the Rat Pack comedies Ocean's 11 (1960) and Sergeants 3 (1962).

Teresa Brewer, 76. U.S. singer. Miss Brewer, born Theresa Breuer, was one of the most popular singers of the first half of the 1950s, with hit singles such as Music! Music! Music! (1950); Till I Waltz Again with You (1952); and A Tear Fell (1956). She died of the neuromuscular disease progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).

Diplomacy
U.S. President George W. Bush presented the Dalai Lama with the Congressional Gold Medal and urged Chinese leaders to welcome the Tibetan Buddhist leader to Beijing. The Chinese government were not amused.

Politics and government
Floyd Roland was selected as the new Premier of the Northwest Territories.