December 19, 2017

240 years ago
1777

War
Continental Army General George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to camp for the winter.

200 years ago
1817

Born on this date
James J. Archer. U.S. and C.S. military officer. Major Archer served in the United States Army in the Mexican-American War in the 1840s and was a Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was taken prisoner on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, and died after a period of declining health on October 24, 1864 at the age of 46.

110 years ago
1907

Disasters
239 coal miners died in the Darr Mine Disaster in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.

100 years ago
1917

Hockey
NHL
Montreal Wanderers 10 @ Toronto 9
Montreal Canadiens 7 @ Ottawa 4

The first National Hockey League regular season game began at 8:15 P.M. at Toronto Arena; Wanderers' defenseman Dave Ritchie scored what was probably the first NHL goal at 1:32 of the 1st period. The first referees were Jack Marshall or Tom Melville. Wanderer Art Ross received the first NHL penalty. The first NHL goalie to record a win was Bert Lindsay, father of NHL legend Ted Lindsay. This was the only victory the Wanderers recorded in the NHL: on January 2, 1918, a fire destroyed the Montreal Arena, home to both the Wanderers and the Canadiens. The Canadiens relocated to the 3,000-seat Jubilee Arena, but the Wanderers withdrew from the league, citing a lack of available players due to World War I.

Joe Malone, a two-time National Hockey Association scoring champion, scored 5 goals, including the first “natural” hat trick ever scored in the NHL, as the Canadiens beat the Senators at Ottawa Arena.

90 years ago
1927

Died on this date
Roshan Singh, 35; Ram Prasad Bismil, 30; Ashfaqulla Khan, 27. Indian terrorists. Messrs. Singh, Bismil, and Khan were associated with the Hindustan Republican Association, which was opposed to British rule in India. They were executed by British authorities for participation in the Kakori train robbery on August 9, 1925.

Boxing
Albert "Frenchy" Belanger (26-4-10) of Toronto won the vacant National Boxing Association world flyweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over Ernie Jarvis (83-33-18) at Toronto Coliseum.

75 years ago
1942

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): White Christmas--Bing Crosby (8th week at #1)

Died on this date
Frances Stevens Hall, 68. U.S. accused criminal. Mrs. Hall was acquitted in 1926 of murdering her husband and a choir singer.

War
German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler conferred with German and Italian commanders and French Prime Minister Jean-Francois Laval on war strategy. British headquarters in New Delhi announced that in the past few days, U.K. troops had occupied the Maungdaw-Buthidaung area, about 60 miles northwest of Akyab, Burma, without encountering opposition. Allied headquarters in Australia announced that U.S. and Australian planes were now dropping fragmentation bombs via parachute on Japanese forces.

Abominations
The Inter-Allied Information Commission stated that five million European Jews were facing extermination in Poland.

World events
The Bolivian government of President Enrique Peñaranda announced the foiling of a Nazi-fostered plot to overthrow the present government using the Revolutionary Party.

70 years ago
1947

Literature
Nobel Prize-winning Norwegian novelist Knut Hamsun was fined $85,000 in Oslo for writing articles favourable to the German occupation of Norway during World War II.

Diplomacy
Yugoslavian President Marshal Josip Broz Tito and Romanian Prime Minister Petru Groza signed a mutual assistance pact in Bucharest.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Congress adjourned a special session after voting for a compromise $540-million bill for stop-gap aid to France, Italy, Austria, and China, and hearing President Harry Truman's request for $17 billion to finance the full four-year European Recovery Program. The House of Representatives accepted the Senate's version of the anti-inflation bill passed the day before.

Labour
Leon Jouhaux and other non-Communist labour leaders left the French General Confederation of Labour in a disagreement over strike policy, and established a rival organization, the Workers Force.

Boxing
Sugar Ray Robinson (84-1-1) retained his world welterweight title with a technical knockout of Chuck Taylor (23-9-2) at 2:07 of the 6th round at Olympia Stadium in Detroit. The fight was stopped after Mr. Taylor was knocked down for the second time in round 6.

60 years ago
1957

Theatre
The Music Man, written by Meredith Willson and starring Robert Preston, opened at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway in New York.

Died on this date
John Van Druten, 56. U.K.-born playwright and director. Mr. Van Druten was one of the most successful British playwrights of the late 1920s and early 1930s, and continued to be successful after moving to the United States in the late '30s. His plays included The Voice of the Turtle (1943) and I am a Camera (1951).

Defense
Following four days of meetings in Paris, North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of government issued a communique announcing an agreement to "establish stocks of nuclear warheads" under NATO authority in Western Europe.

The 60th annual edition of Jane's Fighting Ships reported that the Soviet Navy was now designing nuclear submarines capable of firing 50-ton missiles of a 1,500-mile range.

U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Maxwell Taylor announced the development of a jam-proof guidance system for the Jupiter missile.

50 years ago
1967

Diplomacy
The United Nations approved a treaty whereby spacemen who came down in the high seas or alien territory should be assisted and speedily returned to their homeland.

Politics and government
Country Party leader and Trade Minister John McEwen was named interim Prime Minister of Australia, two days after Harold Holt disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach and was presumed drowned.

Economics and finance
France again successfully opposed British entry into the European Economic Community.

40 years ago
1977

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Mull of Kintyre--Wings (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): UFO--Pink Lady

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Ma Baker--Boney M.

Politics and government
A centre-right coalition led by Christian Democratic Party leader Andreas Van Agt took office in the Netherlands. Several attempts had been made since the May 25 general election to form a coalition, but the Christian Democrats and Liberals were able to forge a four-vote parliamentary majority.

Crime
Filipina Narciso, 32, and Leonora Perez, 33, nurses at a U.S. Veterans Administration hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan who had been convicted on July 13 of poisoning five patients, won a new trial when U.S. Federal District Judge Philip Pratt accused government prosecutors of "persistent misconduct" in the original trial. The ruling was considered unusual because Judge Pratt had presided over the first trial and allowed it to run its full course. The two Filipina women were accused of injecting a muscle-paralyzing drug into the patients' intravenous medicine tubes.

Economics and finance
The government of Canada ended commercial relations with South Africa, to protest that country's Apartheid racial policies.

Energy
Canada resumed uranium shipments to the European Economic Community; the EEC agreed to follow 1974 Canadian nuclear safeguards.

Football
NCAA
Liberty Bowl
Nebraska 21 North Carolina 17

30 years ago
1987

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy: La Bamba--Los Lobos (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Faith--George Michael (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Faith--George Michael (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Fairytale of New York--The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): When I Fall in Love--Rick Astley

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Always on My Mind--Pet Shop Boys

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Faith--George Michael (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Faith--George Michael (2nd week at #1)
2 Heaven is a Place on Earth--Belinda Carlisle
3 Is This Love--Whitesnake
4 Should've Known Better--Richard Marx
5 Shake Your Love--Debbie Gibson
6 So Emotional--Whitney Houston
7 Don't You Want Me--Jody Watley
8 Got My Mind Set on You--George Harrison
9 We'll Be Together--Sting
10 Catch Me (I'm Falling)--Pretty Poison

Singles entering the chart were Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley (#80); She's Like the Wind by Patrick Swayze (featuring Wendy Fraser) (#83); I Need a Man by Eurythmics (#84); Dear Mr. Jesus by PowerSource (#85); Hot Hot Hot by Buster Poindexter and Banchees of Blue (#86); 853-5937 by Squeeze (#88); Lover's Lane by Giorgio (#89); and Never Thought (That I Could Love) by Dan Hill (#90).

Canada’s top 10 (RPM)
1 Faith--George Michael
2 (I've Had) The Time of My Life--Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes
3 Heaven is a Place on Earth--Belinda Carlisle
4 I Think We're Alone Now--Tiffany
5 Pop Goes the World--Men Without Hats
6 Got My Mind Set on You--George Harrison
7 Mony Mony (Live)--Billy Idol
8 Try--Blue Rodeo
9 We'll Be Together--Sting
10 So Emotional--Whitney Houston

Singles entering the chart were Seasons Change by Expose (#87); Pump Up the Volume by M/A/R/R/S (#89); Hungry Eyes by Eric Carmen (#90); Connect Me by Platinum Blonde (#92); Hot in the City by Billy Idol (#94); Crying by Roy Orbison and k.d. lang (#95); and Showdown at Big Sky by Robbie Robertson (#96).

Hockey
NHL
Ken Linseman of the Boston Bruins and Doug Gilmore of the St. Louis Blues set a National Hockey League record by scoring goals 2 seconds apart in a game at Boston Garden.

25 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (ARIA): I Will Always Love You--Whitney Houston

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Kiss Me--Kyosuke Himuro

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

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Because the Night--Co.Ro featuring Tarlisa (7th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Highland--One More Time

#1 single in France (SNEP): Dur dur d'être bébé!--Jordy (10th week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): I Will Always Love You--Whitney Houston (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Chart Information Network): I Will Always Love You--Whitney Houston (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): I Will Always Love You--Whitney Houston (4th week at #1)

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 I Will Always Love You--Whitney Houston (3rd week at #1)
2 If I Ever Fall in Love--Shai
3 Rump Shaker--Wreckx-N-Effect
4 The (Elvis) Letter--Wayne Newton
5 In the Still of the Nite--Boyz II Men
6 How Do You Talk to an Angel--The Heights
7 I'd Die Without You--PM Dawn
8 Good Enough--Bobby Brown
9 Rhythm is a Dancer--Snap!
10 To Love Somebody--Michael Bolton

Singles entering the chart were Heal the World by Michael Jackson (#78); Homies by Lighter Shade of Brown (#81); Pleasure by Soup Dragons (#83); Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion) by Def Leppard (#85); Shamrocks and Shenanigans (Boom Shalock Lock Boom) by House of Pain (#86); Revolution by Arrested Development (#88); The Right Kind of Love by Jeremy Jordan (#90); and Sexual by Goddess (#94).

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 I Will Always Love You--Whitney Houston
2 Song Instead of a Kiss--Alannah Myles
3 To Love Somebody--Michael Bolton
4 How Do You Talk to an Angel--The Heights
5 Keep the Faith--Bon Jovi
6 Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses--U2
7 Drive--R.E.M.
8 Layla--Eric Clapton
9 Do You Believe in Us--Jon Secada
10 Love Can Move Mountains--Celine Dion

Singles entering the chart were If I Had $1,000,000 by Barenaked Ladies (#73); A Whole New World by Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle (#77); Bigger Man by Tom Cochrane (#79); Is Your Mama Gonna Miss Ya by Bryan Adams (#84); Queen of Rain by Roxette (#85); Walk on the Ocean by Toad the Wet Sprocket (#90); and Child of the City by Triumph (#93). If I Had $1,000,000 was the B-side of the recent hit Enid. A Whole New World was from the movie Aladdin.

20 years ago
1997

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): It's Like That--Run-D.M.C. vs Jason Nevins

#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): I Will Come to You--Hanson (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Perfect Day--Various Artists (4th week at #1)

Died on this date
Masaru Ibuka, 89. Japanese industrialist. Mr. Ibuka and Akio Morita co-founded Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation in 1946, which became Sony Corporation in 1958.

Jimmy Rogers, 73. U.S. musician. Mr. Rogers, born Jay Arthur Lane, was a blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonicist based in Chicago. He performed in Muddy Waters' band in the 1950s, and had success on his own with singles such as That's All Right (1950) and Walking by Myself (1954).

Married on this date
U.K. Conservative Party leader William Hague married Ffion Jenkins at a ceremony in Westminster, London.

Disasters
SilkAir Flight 185, a Boeing 737-300 jet en route from Jakarta to Singapore, crashed into the Musi River near Palembang in Indonesia, killing all 97 passengers and 7 crew members aboard.