TODAY IN HISTORY
In 1867, a hurricane sank more than 50 vessels at the Caribbean island of St. Thomas, drowning 1,000. 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. The Toronto Stock Exchange also suffered huge losses. Canada was particularly affected by the ensuing collapse in world trade because one-third of its economy depended on exports. The four western provinces, which depended almost exclusively on primary-product exports, were the most affected.
In 1936, future Prime Minister John Diefenbaker was chosen leader of the Saskatchewan Conservative party.
In 1958, rescue workers in Springhill, N.S., found 12 coal miners alive seven days after they were buried in a cave-in.
In 1971, Duane Allman, lead guitarist for The Allman Brothers Band, died in a motorcycle crash in Macon, Ga. He was 24. At the time of Allman’s death, the band was considered one of the best rock ‘n’ roll groups in the U.S., largely on the strength of Allman’s blues-based guitar playing. The Allman Brothers Band decided not to replace Duane. Tragedy struck again a year later when the band’s bass guitarist, Berry Oakley, was killed in another motorcycle crash less than three blocks from where Duane Allman died.
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 1983, Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” became the longest-running album on the Billboard 200 album chart, with a total of 491 weeks. It dropped off the chart in Oct. 1988 after 741 consecutive weeks. (It has since reappeared on the chart and as of mid-October 2017, reached a total of 933 weeks.) The album resurfaced when Billboard created the Top Pop Catalog Album chart in March 1991 and has been a mainstay there ever since. Cumulatively, the album has been on Billboard charts for over 2,100 weeks.
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.
In 1998, South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission released a report calling apartheid a crime against humanity.
In 1999, China declared the Falun Gong spiritual movement a dangerous cult.