October 24, 2018

370 years ago
1648

War
The Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War and, effectively, the Holy Roman Empire.

130 years ago
1888

Baseball
World Series
New York Giants 5 @ St. Louis Browns 7 (8 innings) (New York led best-of-ten series 5-2)

The Browns scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to take the lead, after which the game was called because of darkness. Silver King pitched a complete game for his first win of the series after 3 losses, while Ed Crane pitched a complete game in suffering his first loss of the series. Attendance at Sportsman's Park was 4,624.

90 years ago
1928

Diplomacy
U.S. President Calvin Coolidge received newly-appointed Japanese Ambassador to the United States Katsuji Debuchi, who presented his letters of credence. Ambassador Debuchi succeeded Ambassador Tsuneo Matsudaira, father of the bride to the heir apparent.

Politics and government
Montreal Mayor Camilien Houde, running as a Conservative Party candidate, won a provincial by-election in the riding of Sainte-Marie, receiving 3,526 votes, 780 more than runner-up Ernest Langlois, the Liberal Party candidate.

Canadiana
The Canadian Post Office issued Canada's first bilingual stamp series, with a bust of King George V and the words "Postes" and "Postage."

Religion
The first synod of the Anglican Diocese of London held since the Reformation turned down the plea of the Bishop of London for sanction of the use of the version of the prayer book rejected by Parliament, including the reservation regarding the sacrament for the sick.

75 years ago
1943

Died on this date
Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau, 31. Canadian poet and artist. Mr. Garneau, a native of Montreal, was a successful painter in the 1930s. He had just one book of poetry published in his lifetime: Regards et jeux dans l'espace (1937). Mr. Garneau, who had a rheumatic heart problem, died of an apparent heart attack while canoeing alone. Collections of his poems were published after his death and translated into English and earned Mr. Garneau the reputation of being Quebec's first truly modern poet.

Len Siffleet, 27. Australian soldier. Sergeant Siffleet was on an Australian Army reconnaissance mission in Papua New Guinea when he and his two companions were captured by partisans and handed over to Japanese forces. They were tortured and beheaded; the photograph of the blindfolded Sgt. Siffleet kneeling just before his beheading was discovered by American troops on the body of a dead Japanese officer in April 1944, and was shown around the world.

War
Soviet forces in Ukraine enlarged their bridgehead on the west bank of the Dnieper River south of Rechitsa. Allied forces took Sparanise on the west flank of the German defense line in Italy.

Politics and government
The executive committee of the American Jewish Committee voted to quit the American Jewish Conference because of the Conference's emphasis on the establishment of a Jewish commonwealth in Palestine.

Baseball
The Washington Nationals signed manager Ossie Bluege for two more years; in his first season as maanger, Mr. Bluege had led the Nationals to a record of 84-69 in 1943, second in the American League, 13 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees.

70 years ago
1948

On the radio
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring John Stanley and George Spelvin (Wendell Holmes), on MBS
Tonight's episode: The Fabulous Windmill

Died on this date
Franz Lehár, 78. Austro-Hungarian composer. Mr. Lehár wrote works of various types, but was best known for his operettas, most notably Die lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow) (1905).

Frederic L. Paxson, 71. U.S. historian. Dr. Paxson taught at the Universities of Wisconsin (1910-1932) and California (1932-1947). He was an authority on the American frontier, and won the Pulitzer Prize for History for his book History of the American Frontier, 1763-1893 (1924).

War
The focus of fighting in Palestine shifted to the northern half, with Israelis checking Syrian advances in the northern Gallilee and Iraqi forces attacking in the Nablus area southeast of Haifa.

World events
A Soviet military court convicted six Berlin anti-Communist leaders, including City Assembly President Otto Suhr and Assembly member Franz Neumann, of agitating for war and a revival of fascism.

Politics and government
The German People's Council of the Soviet zone adopted a constitution based on that of the U.S.S.R., to be enacted after the end of the occupation.

Golf
Patty Berg defeated Babe Didrikson Zaharias to win the Hardscrabble Women's Open in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Football
CRU
IRFU
Ottawa (8-2) 13 @ Montreal (6-4) 35

60 years ago
1958

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Carolina Moon/Stupid Cupid--Connie Francis (5th week at #1)

World events
Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah was ordered to stand trial in Jammu on charges of trying to overthrow the Kashmiri government "by criminal force."

Politics and government
The Chilean Congress elected industrialist and former Finance Minister Jorge Alessandri Rodriguez as President.

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave former Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Lewis Strauss a recess appointment as Commerce Secretary after accepting the resignation of Sinclair Weeks from the post.

Labour
Bulgarian Communist Party First Secretary Todor Zhivkov announced plans for a mass mobilization of labour to carry out land reclamation programs provided for in Bulgaria's five-year economic plan.

Boxing
Sonny Liston (21-1) won a 10-round unanimous decision over Bert Whitehurst (24-15-4) in a heavyweight bout at St. Louis Arena. Mr. Whitehurst was knocked out of the ring in the final seconds, and was attempting to get back in when the final bell rang at the count of 7. It was Mr. Liston's second win over Mr. Whitehurst in 1958.



50 years ago
1968

On television tonight
Dragnet 1969, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Homicide: DR-06



Aviation
Bill Dana flew to an altitude of 77,724 metres, reaching a speed of mach 5.38 in the 199th and last flight of the X-15 rocket plane.

40 years ago
1978

At the movies
The Wiz, directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, and others, opened in theatres.

Diplomacy
Syrian President Hafez al-Assad began a three day visit to Iraq to smooth over the 12-year feud between the nations and form a united "eastern front" against Israel.

Crime
Dr. Mario Jascalevich was acquitted of murdering three patients with curare in a New Jersey hospital in 1965-1966. The same day that the eight-month trial ended, New York Times reporter M.A. Farber was released from jail, where he had been held for 40 days on a contempt of court charge for refusing to hand over his investigative notes on the case. Dr. Jascalevich had been indicted in May 1976, following Mr. Farber's articles about mysterious deaths at the hospital. Mr. Farber and The New York Times had argued that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and New Jersey's shield law guaranteed reporters' rights to protect their sources.

Health
Figures released by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute showed that deaths from heart disease in the United States had dropped to a 14-year low in 1977, although heart disease remained the nation's number one killer.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Jimmy Carter, in a televised address, announced his voluntary anti-inflation wage and price guidelines, including a proposed tax rebate to complying workers if inflation exceeded 7% in 1978-79. The guidelines set a limit of 7% on wage increases and a limit on price increases of 1/2% below the average increase during 1976-77.

Disasters
Fires in Texas, California, and New Jersey took at least seven lives and caused millions of dollars worth of damage.

30 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Desire--U2

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Domino Dancing--Pet Shop Boys

Politics and government
The leaders of Canada's three major political parties--Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (Progressive Conservative), John Turner (Liberal), and Ed Broadbent (New Democratic Party) took part in the French-language debate during the federal election campaign.

Disasters
More than 300 people died when a ferry sank near Marippi Island in the Philippines.

25 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)--Meat Loaf (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): What's Up?--4 Non Blondes (11th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: What's Up?--4 Non Blondes (11th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)--Meat Loaf (2nd week at #1)

Football
CFL
British Columbia (10-6) 36 @ Hamilton (6-11) 19

Danny Barrett completed 2 touchdown passes to Darren Flutie and another to Mike Trevathan as the Lions beat the Tiger-Cats before 11,574 fans at Ivor Wynne Stadium. Sean Millington scored the final B.C. touchdown on a 60-yard rush in the 4th quarter. Cornell Burbage and Lee Knight caught touchdown passes for the Tiger-Cats.

Baseball
Nippon Series
Yakult Swallows 5 @ Seibu Lions 2 (Yakult led best-of-seven series 2-0)

20 years ago
1998

Space
The United States launched the Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Baseball
Nippon Series
Yokohama BayStars 17 @ Seibu Lions 5 (Yokohama led best-of-seven series 3-2)

The BayStars scored 3 runs in the 8th inning and 7 in the 9th to insure their win before 31,756 fans at Seibu Dome in Tokorozawa.

10 years ago
2008

Economics and finance
"Bloody Friday" saw many of the world's stock exchanges experience the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.

Football
CFL
Calgary (12-5) 28 @ Hamilton (3-14) 17

Joffrey Reynolds rushed for 128 yards and 2 touchdowns to help the Stampeders defeat the Tiger-Cats before 20,614 fans at Ivor Wynne Stadium and clinch first place in the West Division.