TODAY IN HISTORY: U.S. attacks Canada

In 1718, James Puckle, a London lawyer, patented the world’s first machine-gun.

In 1814, during the war of 1812, about 500 U.S. troops crossed the border into Canada from Erie, Pa., and destroyed the town of Port Dover.

In 1879, a protective tariff was adopted by Canada as national policy.

In 1885, the North-West Rebellion ended when Metis leader Louis Riel surrendered in Batoche, Sask.

In 1912, the boundaries of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec were extended.

In 1919, the Winnipeg General Strike began and the city was paralyzed for about six weeks. An armed charge by the North West Mounted Police on June 21, which became known as “Bloody Saturday,” killed one and injured 30, with one of the injured later dying of gangrene. The Robson Commission, which later investigated the walkout by 30,000 workers, found it had been aimed only at improving wages and labour’s bargaining position. But most government bodies feared a Bolshevik revolution was brewing. A number of labour leaders were jailed under wartime sedition laws, which were not repealed until 1936.

In 1930, registered nurse Ellen Church, the first airline stewardess, went on duty aboard an Oakland-to-Chicago flight operated by Boeing Air Transport (a forerunner of United Airlines).

In 1941, New York Yankees outfielder Joe DiMaggio began his record 56-game hitting streak with a single off Edgar Smith of the

Chicago White Sox.

In 1944, 14,000 Jews from Munkacs, Hungary, were deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi occupied Poland.

In 1972, U.S. Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace was shot and left paralyzed while campaigning in Maryland.

In 1995, China conducted an underground nuclear test, just days after it had agreed to an extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

In 2006, Iraqi officials formally charged Saddam Hussein with crimes against humanity, including the torture of women and children, murder and the illegal arrest of 399 people in a crackdown against Shiites in the 1980’s. He was later executed.