On this day in history

In 1302, Pope Boniface VIII sentenced Italian poet and politician Dante Alighieri, author of “The Divine Comedy,” to be burned to death for political reasons. Dante fled into exile.

In 1496, Christopher Columbus concluded his second visit to the Western Hemisphere as he left Hispaniola for Spain.

In 1804, the United States acquired control of the Louisiana Territory in a deal with France.

In 1842, Queen’s University was founded in Kingston, Ont.

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell conducted the first successful test of the telephone in Boston. Bell told his assistant, “Come here, Watson. I need you.” Bell had patented the device three days earlier.

In 1910, Prince Rupert, B.C., was incorporated as a city.

In 1924, Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians made their first recordings at a session in Richmond, Ind. Two songs were released on the Gennett label.

In 1947, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King announced that the Canadian garrison was withdrawing from Germany.

In 1956, Heartbreak Hotel reached No. 1, making Elvis Presley a bonafide star.

In 1974, a former Japanese officer surrendered on Lubang Island after hiding in the Philippine jungle for 30 years. Lieutenant Hiroo Onada did not know the Second World War had ended.

In 1980, “Scarsdale Diet” author Dr. Herman Tarnower was shot to death at his home in Purchase, N.Y. Tarnower’s former lover, Jean Harris, was convicted of his murder. She served nearly 12 years in prison before being released in January, 1993.

In 1985, Soviet President Konstantin Chernenko died at age 73.

In 1988,Andy Gibb, younger brother of the three Bee Gees, died of a heart condition in a hospital in Oxfordshire, England. The “Shadow Dancing” singer was 30.

In 1995, for the first time in Canadian history, two prison guards were charged with manslaughter in the death of an inmate. Sean Wylie, 31, and Barry Aitchison, 39, were charged with one count each of manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death after Robert Gentles was asphyxiated in1993.

In 2004, teenage sniper Lee Boyd Malvo, convicted for a 2002 killing spree in the Washington, D.C., area that left 10 people dead, was formally sentenced to life in prison.