TODAY IN HISTORY: Houdini takes a fatal punch

In 1876, the first shipment of wheat from Western Canada to Ontario left Winnipeg.

In 1878, Canadians became known around the globe as great brewmasters when John Labatt's India Pale Ale won a gold medal at the International Exposition in Paris. Labatt himself developed the recipe for the light-coloured ale at his brewery in London, Ont.

In 1879, inventor Thomas Edison tested the first practical electric light bulb.

In 1880, John A. Macdonald and the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. signed a contract for the construction of a cross-Canada railway. The line was completed to the West Coast with the ceremony of the Last Spike on Nov. 7, 1885.

In 1926, magician Harry Houdini, appearing at the Princess Theatre in Montreal, received a fatal blow to the stomach. A McGill student asked him if he could shrug off blows to the body. Houdini said yes, but before he could brace himself, the blow was dealt. Houdini, who had perfected such feats as escaping from locked underwater boxes while handcuffed, died of a ruptured spleen 10 days later in Detroit.

In 1960, Queen Elizabeth launched Britain's first nuclear-powered submarine.

In 1966, a giant coal-slag avalanche buried a school and homes in Aberfan, Wales, killing 144 people, including 116 children.

In 1967, tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters began two days of demonstrations Washington, D.C.

In 1991, Roy Romanow’s NDP won a hefty majority in a Saskatchewan election, ending nine years of Conservative government under Grant Devine.

In 2004, the Royal Canadian Mint unveiled the world's first coloured circulation coin, a quarter that featured a red poppy embedded in the centre of a Maple Leaf, in homage to the 117,000 Canadians who had died serving the nation.

In 2012, Kateri Tekakwitha became the first indigenous woman from North America to become a Catholic saint. She was born in New York state in 1656 before fleeing to a Mohawk reserve outside Montreal to escape opposition to her Christianity.

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