TODAY IN HISTORY: Milgaard wins his freedom
In 1793, during the French Revolution, King Louis XVI, condemned for treason, was sent to the guillotine.
In 1815, the Lower Canada parliament began a session that dealt with publishing maps of Canada, encouraging vaccination and setting up a parliamentary library.
In 1900, a second contingent of Canadian troops sailed to the Boer War to support Britain in its fight with the South African republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State.
In 1908, New York City Council enacted an ordinance making smoking in public by women punishable by a fine of up $25. Mayor George McClellan vetoed the measure two weeks later.
In 1915, the Kiwanis Club was founded in Detroit.
In 1924, Soviet revolutionary leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died of a stroke at age 54. After a brief period of collective leadership, control of the government passed to Josef Stalin.
In 1936, Edward, Prince of Wales, was proclaimed Britain's king, one day after the death of his father, King George V. Edward reigned for only 11 months, abdicating on Dec. 11 to marry a divorced American, Wallis Warfield Simpson. Edward took the title of Duke of Windsor. He died of cancer in 1972 at the age of 78.
In 1975, Montreal firefighters discovered the bodies of 13 people inside a closet at a bar. Police described the deaths as underworld grudge killings.
In 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter pardoned all Vietnam war draft evaders except those who deserted from the military or used violence.
In 1980, for the first time, photographers were allowed to take pictures in the House of Commons.
In 1983, Joann Wilson, the ex-wife of Saskatchewan politician Colin Thatcher, was found beaten and shot to death in the garage of her Regina home. Thatcher was later found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
In 1992, the Supreme Court of Canada began its review of David Milgaard's murder conviction in the death of Saskatoon nursing aide Gail Miller. The high court quashed the conviction a few months later and Saskatchewan decided not to retry Milgaard. On April 16, after nearly 23 years in jail, he was freed from the Stony Mountain Penitentiary in Manitoba.
In 1992, a jury in Manassas, Va., acquitted Lorena Bobbitt by reason of temporary insanity of maliciously wounding her husband John. She had cut off his penis.
In 1998, the first news accounts appeared of an alleged affair between U.S. President Bill Clinton and a former White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The affair, which Clinton denied for many months, led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives. But the Senate failed to convict him and he finished out his term in January 2001.