TODAY IN history

In 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh was executed in London on charges of treason against King James I. Raleigh had defied the King’s instructions by attacking the Spanish while on an expedition to search for the fabled “Golden Land.”

In 1835, the Morse alphabet code for telegraphy was patented.

In 1897, Joseph Goebbels, Nazi leader and propagandist, was born in Germany.

In 1923, Canada’s Bluenose defeated the Columbia in an international boat race.

In 1929, the Great Depression began when the New York stock

market virtually collapsed. A total of 16.4 million shares changed hands on what is known as “Black Tuesday,” the most disastrous day in the history of the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1958, rescue workers in Springhill found 12 coal miners alive seven days after they were buried in a cave-in.

In 1958, the first implantable heart pacemaker was inserted into the chest of Swedish cardiac patient Arne Larson in Stockholm.

In 1961, Syria seceded from the United Arab Republic to form the Syrian Arab Republic.

In 1964, Tanganyika and Zanzibar became known as Tanzania when they united.

In 1967, Expo 67, which opened in Montreal on April 27, closed with a final attendance total of more than 50 million.

In 1972, Palestinian guerrillas hijacked a German airliner and gained the release of three people seized in the massacre at the Munich Olympics.

In 1975, a man hijacked a Toronto transit subway train, demanding to be taken to Queen’s Park station.

In 1979, on the 50th anniversary of the great stock market crash, anti-nuclear protesters tried but failed to shut down the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1984, General Motors workers in Canada, who had gone on strike almost two weeks earlier, voted overwhelmingly in favour of a three-year settlement with the automaker.