March 9, 2015

250 years ago
1765

Crime
After a campaign by the writer Voltaire, judges in Paris posthumously exonerated Jean Calas of murdering his son Marc-Antoine. Mr. Calas had been tortured and executed in 1762 on the charge, though Marc-Antoine may have actually committed suicide, which was then a crime.

160 years ago
1855

Transportation
The first Great Western Railway locomotive crossed the Niagara Falls suspension bridge to Niagara Falls, New York, giving Canada West direct rail connection to New York.

125 years ago
1890

Born on this date
Vyacheslav Molotov. U.S.S.R. politician. Mr. Molotov held various positions with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, but was best known as the U.S.S.R.'s Foreign Minister from 1939-1949 and 1953-1956. He died on November 8, 1986 at the age of 96.

120 years ago
1895

Died on this date
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, 59. Austrian journalist and author. Mr. Sacher-Masoch was known for promoting socialism and humanism in fiction and non-fiction, and was known for romantic stories of Galician life. His best-known work was the novella Venus im Pelz (Venus in Furs) (1870), in which he expressed his fantasies about being dominated by women. Mr. Sacher-Masoch spent his later years under psychiatric care, and contemporary Austrian psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing coined the term "masochism" to describe such fantasies.

Hockey
Stanley Cup
Queen's College 1 @ Montreal Hockey Club 5

Haviland Routh scored 2 goals, with Clarence Mussen, Clarence McKerrow, and Archie Hodgson each scoring a goal, as the 1894 champions defeated Queen's, champions of the Ontario Hockey Association, at Victoria Arena. George McKay scored for Queen's. The Montreal win meant that the Montreal Victorias, who had clinched the 1895 Amateur Hockey Association of Canada championship the previous day, were declared the 1895 Stanley Cup champions, according to a ruling of Stanley Cup trustees.

110 years ago
1905

Hockey
Stanley Cup
Rat Portage (Kenora) Thistles 2 @ Ottawa Silver Seven 4 (Best-of-three challenge series tied 1-1)

90 years ago
1925

War
Wing Commander Richard Pink began the first Royal Air Force operation conducted independently of the British Army or Royal Navy, a campaign against rebellious Mahsud tribesmen in northwestern India.

80 years ago
1935

Track and field
Jesse Owens of Ohio State University set a world record in the 60-yard dash with a time of 6.1 seconds at the 25th annual Western Conference indoor meet in Chicago, putting him on the national stage for the first time.

75 years ago
1940

War
The British Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Dunedin and Royal Canadian Navy destroyer HMCS Assiniboine seized the German merchant ship MV Hannover between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. The French and British governments asked Norway and Sweden to permit increased Allied aid to be shipped to Finland. U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Key Pittman (Democrat-Nevada) urged a 30-day truce in Europe to permit neutrals to negotiate a peace settlement.

Diplomacy
The U.K. released Italian coal ships on Italy's promise not to send any more ships for German coal.

Swimming
Patty Aspinwall, 13, set a 220-yard breaststroke record of 3:01.1 at Miami Beach, Florida.

70 years ago
1945

War
The U.S. 1st Army captured Bonn. Soviet forces drove from three directions at Danzig and reached to within 9 miles of the port. The 19th British Indian Division drove its way into Mandalay, breaking out of its bridgehead on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, as Japanese forces put up fierce resistance. U.S. troops in the Philippines drove 12 miles north along the west coast of Luzon, seizing the town of Aringay.

Diplomacy
The ambassadors to the United Kingdom of both Syria and Lebanon filed protests with British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden over the failure to invite their countries to the forthcoming conference in San Francisco for the founding of the United Nations.

A British Foreign Office spokesman said that the U.K. embassy in Bucharest was sheltering former Romanian Prime Minister General Nicolai Radescu.

Americana
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the population of the South and West had increased by nearly four million between 1940-1944.

Politics and government
North Dakota Governor Fred Aandahl (Republican) named State Senator Milton Young (Republican) to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the death of John Moses (Democrat).

Environment
The Quebec Legislative Assembly passed a Land Drainage Act, which allowed the practice of draining land already delivered for cultivation, but liable to flood. The act also allowed the expansion of the arable area by the drying up of savannahs and swamps.

Economics and finance
Italian Prime Minister Ivanoe Bonomi and Spurgeon Keeny, chief of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration's mission to Italy, signed an agreement governing the use of $50 million worth of relief to Italy.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt told a press conference that a voluntary system was inadequate to supply the manpower needed to carry on war production.

Labour
The U.S. Southern Coal Producers Association petitioned the National War Labor Board to abandon plans for a strike poll of soft coal miners scheduled for March 28.

Boxing
Rocky Graziano (36-6-5), a 6-1 underdog, knocked Billy Arnold (26-2-1) down 3 times as he scored a technical knockout at 1:54 of the 3rd round of a welterweight bout at Madison Square Garden in New York. Among the 14,037 fans in attendance was U.S. Vice President Harry Truman. The careers of the two boxers went in opposite directions after this fight; Mr. Graziano went on to win the world middleweight title in 1947, while Mr. Arnold retired in 1948 at the age of 22 after losing his last five fights.



60 years ago
1955

At the movies
East of Eden, starring James Dean, Richard Davalos, and Raymond Massey, received its premiere screening in New York City.



Died on this date
Denis Conan Doyle, 45. U.K. literary scion. Mr. Doyle was the son of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the first child of his second wife Jean. Denis studied medicine at Cambridge University and delivered some speeches in support of the British cause during World War II, but left no published writings behind, as far as I know. He died of a heart attack while on a big game hunt in Africa, eight days before his 46th birthday.

50 years ago
1965

On television tonight
The Fugitive, starring David Janssen, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Everybody Gets Hit in the Mouth Sometimes, with guest stars Jack Klugman, Geraldine Brooks, Michael Constantine, and Barry Atwater

Economics and finance
U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed his first "Great Society" bill, a $1-billion aid program for the 11-state Appalachian area.

40 years ago
1975

Died on this date
Bob Celeri, 47. U.S. football player. Mr. Celeri was a quarterback and punter with the New York Yanks (1951) and Dallas Texans (1952) of the National Football League before moving to Canada, where he played briefly with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1953 before joining the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen of the Ontario Rugby Football Union in 1954, leading the Dutchmen to four consecutive ORFU championships from 1954-1957, and winning the Imperial Oil Trophy as the ORFU's Most Valuable Player in all four seasons. He coached the Waterloo Lutheran University Golden Hawks from 1960-1967, leading the team to an appearance in the Canadian College Bowl in 1966. Mr. Celeri joined the Buffalo Bills as a scout in 1968, and died at his home in Williamsville, New York, of an apparent heart attack; his funeral took place in Kitchener.

Hockey
NHL
The Vancouver Canucks traded centre Gerry Meehan to the Atlanta Flames for defenceman Bob Murray. Mr. Meehan, in his sixth NHL season, had been acquired by the Canucks from the Buffalo Sabres on October 14, 1974, and had scored 10 goals and 15 assists in 57 games with Vancouver. Mr. Murray was in his second NHL season, and had scored 3 goals and 3 assists in 42 games with Atlanta in 1974-75.

Montreal 5 @ New York Rangers 3

Pete Mahovlich scored 2 goals and assisted on goals by Guy Lapointe, Yvan Cournoyer, and Steve Shutt as the Canadiens built a 5-0 lead after 2 periods and held on to defeat the Rangers before 17,500 fans at Madison Square Garden in the weekly Sunday CBC radio broadcast. The first 2 goals of the game, by Messrs. Mahovlich and Lapointe, were both on the powerplay, giving Montreal 82 powerplay goals for the season, beating the record set by the Boston Bruins in 1969-70. Steve Vickers scored twice for the Rangers in the 3rd period, and Bert Wilson closed the scoring with 4:11 remaining in the game, scoring just 10 seconds after Mr. Vickers had made the score 5-2.

30 years ago
1985

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Noi Ragazzi Di Oggi--Luis Miguel (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Shout--Tears for Fears (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Shout--Tears for Fears (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): I Know Him So Well--Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K.: You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)--Dead or Alive

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Can't Fight This Feeling--REO Speedwagon

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Careless Whisper--Wham! (4th week at #1)
2 Can't Fight This Feeling--REO Speedwagon
3 California Girls--David Lee Roth
4 Easy Lover--Philip Bailey (with Phil Collins)
5 Sugar Walls--Sheena Easton
6 The Heat is On--Glenn Frey
7 Loverboy--Billy Ocean
8 I Want to Know What Love Is--Foreigner
9 Mr. Telephone Man--New Edition
10 Neutron Dance--Pointer Sisters

Singles entering the chart were Forever Man by Eric Clapton (#62); Scientific Love by Midnight Star (#89); and Emotion by Barbra Streisand (#90).

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 I Want to Know What Love Is--Foreigner (3rd week at #1)
2 Neutron Dance--Pointer Sisters
3 Easy Lover--Philip Bailey (with Phil Collins)
4 Careless Whisper--Wham! featuring George Michael
5 Solid--Ashford & Simpson
6 You're the Inspiration--Chicago
7 Method of Modern Love--Daryl Hall John Oates
8 California Girls--David Lee Roth
9 The Heat is On--Glenn Frey
10 One More Night--Phil Collins

Singles entering the chart were All She Wants to Do is Dance by Don Henley (#81); Some Like it Hot by Power Station (#86); Along Comes a Woman by Chicago (#88); Missing You by Diana Ross (#91); Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds (#96); Turn Up the Radio by Autograph (#97); Lucky by Greg Kihn (#98); and Let's Talk About Me by Alan Parsons Project (#99).

25 years ago
1990

Politics and government
Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells confirmed that his province would be rescinding its approval of the Meech Lake constitutional accord. In the speech from the throne opening the new session of the Newfoundland House of Assembly, Premier Wells, through Lieutenant-Governor James McGrath, said he was taking this action because Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa were unwilling to amend the accord, which Mr. Wells said was unacceptable in its present form. He objected to Meech’s granting of special status to Quebec, and a provision that would make Senate reform more difficult. Federal Trade Minister John Crosbie, a fellow Newfoundlander, accused Mr. Wells of "constitutional vandalism," while federal Environment Minister Lucien Bouchard said that Mr. Wells’ position might force Canada to choose "between Newfoundland and Quebec."

Dr. Antonia Novello was sworn in as both the first Hispanic and woman to be U.S. Surgeon General.

Scandal
Former U.S. National Security Council staff member Oliver North, testifying as a prosecution witness at the trial of former national security adviser John Poindexter, sought to resist implicating Adm. Poindexter in a cover-up, and said, "No one told me to lie to Congress." Adm. Poindexter was on trial for his role in the Iran-Contra arms deal of 1986.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Labor Department reported that unemployment stood at 5.3% in February.

20 years ago
1995

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Club Bizarre--U96 (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
Edward Bernays, 103. Austrian-born U.S. publicist. Mr. Bernays, a nephew of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, has been called "the father of public relations" and one of the most influential Americans of the 20th century. He was born in Vienna, and moved with his family to New York City when he was an infant. Mr. Bernays worked with the U.S. Committee on Public Information's Bureau of Latin-American Affairs during World War I, and then worked as a "public relations counsel" in New York from 1919-1963 on behalf of businesses and governments. His advertising campaigns included the "Torches of Freedom" project in the 1920s to induce women to smoke cigarettes, and work on behalf of the United Fruit Company in the 1950s in connection with the Central Intelligence Agency's overthrow of the Guatemalan government of President Jacobo Arbenz. Mr. Bernays' books included Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923); Propaganda (1928); and Public Relations (1945).

Diplomacy
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip paid their first visit to Northern Ireland since the cease-fire between Loyalist forces and the Irish Republican Army had come into effect in 1994.

Canadian Fisheries Minister Brian Tobin ordered a Canadian fisheries patrol vessel to seize a Spanish trawler for illegally taking undersized turbot outside Canada's 200-mile offshore limit. The boat fired warning shots across bow of Spanish trawler Estai. The incident led to a dispute between Canada and the European Union.

The U.S. administration of President Bill Clinton announced that Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein--the political arm of the Irish Republican Army--would be allowed an unlimited number of visits to the United States over the next three months, and would be permitted to raise money.

Economics and finance
Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon announced new austerity measures in response to conditions tied to the $50 million international aid package. To increase revenue, Mr. Zedillo raised the price of state-produced gasoline and electricity, and increased the value-added tax from 10%-15%. The federal budget would be cut by 10%.