Lunatic shoots Reagan

In 1809, the Labrador Act gave Labrador to Newfoundland. This was later disputed by Quebec and a final decision was not made until 1927.

In 1842, ether was first used as an anesthetic by Dr. Crawford Long in Jefferson, Ga. His patient paid $2 for the anesthesia before having a cyst removed.

In 1853, artist Vincent Van Gogh was born in the Netherlands. He committed suicide in France in 1890.

In 1858, the first pencil with an attached rubber eraser was patented by Hyman L. Lipman of Philadelphia.

In 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million, a deal roundly ridiculed as “Seward’s Folly.”

In 1870, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving all citizens the right to vote regardless of race, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish.

In 1874, Louis Riel arrived in Ottawa to claim the Manitoba Commons seat of Provencher, to which he’d been elected that year. Riel, a fugitive since the 1869 Red River Uprising, took the oath of office but never entered the Commons.

In 1939, Prime Minister Mackenzie King said Canada would not conscript men for foreign service. That commitment was scrapped in 1944.

In 1972, Canadian sailors got a daily rum ration for the last time, ending a navy tradition dating back to 1667.

In 1973, the U.S. military role in Vietnam formally ended when the last American prisoner was released and the last soldier withdrew.

In 1981, U.S. President Ronald Reagan was shot while leaving a Washington hotel. The gunman, 25year-old John Hinckley, was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to a mental hospital. Reagan recovered fully after surgery. Also wounded were White House press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty. Brady suffered permanent brain damage.

In 2002, Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, died at the age of 101.