TODAY IN HISTORY

In 1302, according to William Shakespeare, Romeo Monteveccio and Juliet Cappelleto were married in Citadela, Italy.

In 1903, bandleader Lawrence Welk was born in Strasburg, N.D. He led his own polka and sweet dance bands from the mid-1920s well into the 1970s. Welk began his national TV show in 1955, and his simple, tuneful melodies proved an instant hit. His show was near the top of the ratings throughout the 1950s and ‘60s. Among those who gained prominence on the Welk TV show were The Lennon Sisters and clarinetist Pete Fountain. When ABC cancelled his show in 1971, Welk took it into syndication, and it ran on more stations than ever before. Welk died on May 17, 1992.

In 1990, Mohawks erected a barricade across a dirt road barring access to land they claimed near Oka, Que.

In 1996, the Montreal Canadiens played their last game at the 72-year-old Montreal Forum. They defeated the Dallas Stars 4-1. In 1997, Premier Ralph Klein’s Conservatives were re-elected with a massive majority in Alberta’s general election.

In 2004, the NHL suspended Vancouver Canucks’ Todd Bertuzzi for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs for his vicious attack on Steve Moore of the Colorado Avalanche during a game in Vancouver and fined the club US$250,000.

In 2012, sixteen Afghan villagers — mostly women and children — were shot dead as they slept by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.