November 10, 2017

175 years ago
1842

Diplomacy
The Webster–Ashburton Treaty, signed on August 9, 1842 by U.S. representative Daniel Webster and U.K. representative Baron Ashburton, was proclaimed. It established the north-west corner of Lake of the Woods as latitude 49 degrees 23'55 north and in longitude 95 degrees 14'38 west, determined that the Boundary runs south from that point to the 49th degree of parallel and and re-iterated that it runs westward along said parallel to the apex of the Rocky Mountains.

130 years ago
1887

Died on this date
Louis Lingg, 23. German-born U.S. anarchist. Mr. Lingg was an apprentice carpenter who moved to the United States in 1885. He was convicted of manufacturing the bomb that had exploded at the conclusion of a labour protest at Haymarket Square in Chicago on May 4, 1886, killing Chicago policeman Matthias Degan. The day before he was supposed to hang, Mr. Lingg put a blasting cap in his mouth, chewing on it as if it were a cigar; it exploded and blew off his lower jaw and much of his face, but Mr. Lingg survived for six hours before finally dying.

Crime
Illinois Governor Richard James Oglesby commuted the death sentences of anarchists Samuel Fielden and Michael Schwab to life imprisonment for their participation in the 1886 Haymarket Square bombing.

110 years ago
1907

Born on this date
Jane Froman. U.S. singer. Miss Froman was a popular singer on stage and radio in the 1930s and '40s. She was one of 15 survivors, but was seriously injured, in the crash of a United Services Overseas plane near Lisbon on February 22, 1943. Miss Froman suffered multiple fractures to her right arm and almost had both legs amputated, but was able to resume her career within a year. She underwent several dozen operations and wore a leg brace for the rest of her life. Her story was the subject of the movie With a Song in My Heart (1952), and Miss Froman provided the singing and served as the film's technical adviser. She retired from performing in 1961, devoting her time to several charities. Miss Froman died on April 22, 1980 at the age of 72 of cardiac arrest caused by chronic heart and lung disease, four months after being injured in a car accident.

125 years ago
1892

Football
CRU
Dominion Final @ Rosedale Field, Toronto
Montreal 5 @ Osgoode Hall 45

Osgoode Hall scored 8 tries (touchdowns) as they routed the Montreal Football Club before 2,000 fans on a wet field to win the first national championship to be played under the auspices of the Canadian Rugby Union. Mr. Peterson scored 2 touchdowns and a single for Osgoode Hall, with other tries coming from Harry Senkler, Mr. Blake, Mr. Pope, Mr. Kerr, Mr. Morin, and Casey Wood. Mr. Senkler kicked a field goal--then worth 5 points--and added a single. Mr. Miller kicked a field goal in the 1st quarter for Montreal. Osgoode Hall led 26-5 at halftime.

90 years ago
1927

Football
IRFU
Hamilton (5-1) 1 @ Toronto (2-3-1) 13

Canadian university
McGill (2-2) 5 @ Queen's (3-1) 11

75 years ago
1942

War
British forces under the command of Bernard Montgomery defeated German forces under the command of Erwin Rommel in the Second Battle of El Alamein. In Europe, German troops occupied Vichy France, following French Admiral François Darlan's agreement to an armistice with the Allies in North Africa (see also here). British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, discussing the recent victory over Rommel at El Alamein, Egypt, said, "No, this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler, French Prime Minister Pierre Laval, and Italian Foreign Minister Count Ciano met in Munich to discuss the military alliance between the Axis and France and countermeasures against a U.S. invasion of North Africa. U.S. forces captured the Algerian port of Oran with its Mer el Kebir naval base, and proceeded to attack Casablanca. Allied forces enveloped the Japanese position at Gorari, near Oivi, in the Owen Stanley Mountains in New Guinea. Chilean President Juan Antonio Rios sent a message to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, saying that Chile would aid the United States in its North Africa campaign by increasing war production and suppressing Nazi propaganda and espionage. The U.S. House of Representatives ratified the conference agreement on lowering the draft age to 18.

Diplomacy
Cuban President Fulgencio Batista announced that his country was breaking diplomatic relations with the Vichy French regime.

Politics and government
General Paul Le Gentilhomme, a member of Gen. Charles de Gaulle's Free French government, was named High Commissioner of Madagascar.

Labour
U.S. President Roosevelt released the report of the War Manpower Commission's Management-Labor Committee, opposing legislation to draft labour and calling for greater cooperation between labour and management.

70 years ago
1947

Movies
A Boxoffice poll rated Ingrid Bergman as the year's most popular actress and Bing Crosby as the most popular actor.

Literature
The Reprieve, the second novel in Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialist trilogy, was published by Alfred A. Knopf.

Politics and government
Siamese military dictator Luang Pibul Songgram named a new cabinet, promised legislative elections within three months, and introduced constitutional changes restoring some powers to the monarchy.

India took over administration of the predominantly Hindu state of Junagadh on the western coast, pending a plebiscite.

Law
The U.S. military government in Germany proposed a restitution law allowing original owners to file claims for property seized by the Nazis.

Basketball
PBLA
Grand Rapids (3-2) 62 @ Kansas City (1-4) 58
Tulsa (5-3) 30 @ Oklahoma City (2-3) 41
Omaha (1-4) 63 @ Waterloo (1-5) 61
St. Paul (6-2) 76 @ St. Joseph (1-6) 57
Chicago (7-0) 75 @ Springfield (1-7) 61

60 years ago
1957

On television tonight
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Reward to Finder, starring Jo Van Fleet and Oscar Homolka

Died on this date
Henderson Lanham, 69. U.S. politician. Mr. Lanham, a Democrat, sat in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1929-1933 and 1937-1940, and represented Georgia's 7th District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 until his death in a car accident in Rome, Georgia. He was one of 101 members of Congress to sign the 1956 Southern Manifesto in opposition to racial integration of public places.

Diplomacy
Responding to Iraqi offers to mediate between Egypt and Jordan, Jordan's King Hussein charged that Egypt's rulers had "sold themselves to Communism" and had exploited "Arab nationalism to divert Egyptian public opinion from the deteriorating situation at home."

Defense
A joint Dutch-Belgian report prepared for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Military Committee charged that NATO strategy had been developed as an adjunct to U.S. and U.K. nuclear power, leaving Western Europe with inadequate air and land defenses.

Journalism
The London Sunday newspaper The People offered a $140,000 prize for the first man to reach and return from the Moon during the next 10 years.

Golf
Charlie Sifford won the Long Beach Open, becoming the first Negro to win a notable U.S. professional tournament. First prize money was $1,200.

50 years ago
1967

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: The Last Waltz--Engelbert Humperdinck

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 I Can See for Miles--The Who (2nd week at #1)
2 Run, Run, Run--The Third Rail
3 The Letter--The Box Tops
4 The Rain, the Park and Other Things--The Cowsills
5 Let it All Hang Out--The Hombres
6 Hush--Billy Joe Royal
7 Sunshine Games--The Music Explosion
8 Beg, Borrow and Steal--Ohio Express
9 Holiday--The Bee Gees
10 Love is Strange--Peaches and Herb
Pick hit of the week: Daydream Believer--The Monkees
New this week: The Thinking Animal--The Sons of Adam
In and Out of Love--Diana Ross and the Supremes
(Alone) In My Room--Willie & the Walkers
What's it Gonna Be--Dusty Springfield
Georgia Pines--The Candymen

At the movies
Tony Rome, directed by Gordon Douglas, and starring Frank Sinatra, Jill St. John, Gena Rowlands, Sue Lyon, and Richard Conte, opened in theatres.



Space
The U.S. probe Surveyor 6 made a soft landing on the Moon in Sinus Medii (Central Bay), three days after launch.

The United States launched the weather satellite Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA)-6 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California into a polar orbit, carrying two television systems used for the Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) ground stations.

40 years ago
1977

On television tonight
James at 15, starring Lance Kerwin, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Kathy's in the Shower



30 years ago
1987

Died on this date
Jackie Vernon, 63. U.S. comedian. Mr. Vernon was known for his deadpan delivery and self-deprecating manner. He's probaby best known as the voice of the title character in the television cartoon Frosty the Snowman (1969).

Noor Hossain, 26. Bangladeshi activist. Mr. Hossain was fatally shot by police while participating in the "Dhaka Siege" (Dhaka Blockade), a mass protest against the autocratic rule of President Hussain Muhammad Ershad.

Politics and government
Former Québec Premier Pierre-Marc Johnson announced his resignation as leader of the Parti Québecois. Mr. Johnson had succeeded René Lévesque as Premier, serving from October-December 1985, until the PQ lost the provincial election to Robert Bourassa's Liberals. Guy Chevrette was named interim leader of the Parti Québécois to succeed Mr. Johnson.

Economics and finance
The U.S. dollar slid to new post-World War II lows in value against the Japanese yen and West German mark.

25 years ago
1992

Died on this date
Chuck Connors, 71. U.S. baseball player and actor. Mr. Connors was a first baseman who spent most of his career in the minor leagues, playing 1 game with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949 and 66 games with the Chicago Cubs in 1951, compiling a .238 average with 2 home runs and 18 runs batted in. He broke into acting while playing for the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League. Mr. Connors was best known as the star of the television series The Rifleman (1958-1963).

Law
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Norman Inkster was named president of Interpol, becoming the second RCMP commissioner to hold the position.

20 years ago
1997

Hit parade
Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Tubthumping--Chumbawumba
2 Fly--Sugar Ray
3 The Sound Of--Jann Arden
4 Walkin' on the Sun--Smash Mouth
5 On My Own--Peach Union
6 Show Me Love--Robyn
7 I Don't Want to Wait--Paula Cole
8 Anybody Seen My Baby?--The Rolling Stones
9 4 Seasons of Loneliness--Boyz II Men
10 Foolish Games--Jewel

Singles entering the chart were As Long as You Love Me by Backstreet Boys (#68); Bad 4 You by Alannah Myles (#75); Everything is Automatic by the Matthew Good Band (#77); Moist by Gasoline (#81); Falling Down Blue by Blue Rodeo (#82); When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down) by Great Big Sea (#85); You Make Me Wanna by Usher (#86); and Babylon by the Tea Party (#89).

Politics and government
Mel Lastman, former Mayor of North York, was elected Mayor of Toronto's new megacity.

Labour
Classes resumed in Ontario following the settlement of the teachers' strike.

Crime
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, Judge Hillar Zobel reduced Louise Woodward's second-degree murder conviction to manslaughter and sentenced the English au pair to time served--279 days while awaiting trial--in the February 9, 1997 death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen.

Business
WorldCom and MCI Communications announced a $37 billion merger, the largest merger in U.S. history to date.

Baseball
Roger Clemens of the Toronto Blue Jays won the American League Cy Young Award for an unprecedented fourth time. Mr. Clemens, in his first season with Toronto after 13 years with the Boston Red Sox, posted a 21-7 record with an earned run average of 2.05, leading the AL in wins, ERA, and strikeouts (292), and tying teammate Pat Hentgen for the AL lead in innings pitched (264), complete games (9), and shutouts (3).

10 years ago
2007

Died on this date
Gus Hawkins, 100. U.S. politician. Mr. Hawkins, a Democrat, was a member of the California State Assembly from 1935-1963 before representing California's 21st District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1963-1975 and the state's 29th District from 1975-1991. He wrote more than 300 laws, especially dealing with civil rights and labour.

Laraine Day, 87. U.S. actress. Miss Day, born La Raine Johnson, played nurse Mary Lamont in seven Dr. Kildare movies (1939-1941) . Her other films included Foreign Correspondent (1940) and The High and the Mighty (1954). Miss Day was married to baseball manager Leo Durocher from 1947-1960.

Norman Mailer, 84. U.S. writer. Mr. Mailer was a novelist and essayist who drew attention to himself through frequent public appearances. His best-known novel was probably his first, The Naked and the Dead (1949). His novel The Executioner's Song (1979), a fictional account of real-life murderer Gary Gilmore, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1980. Mr. Mailer's non-fiction included the essay The White Negro (1957); Of a Fire on the Moon (1971); and Marilyn: A Biography (1973). He died of kidney failure.