Maurice Richard suspended sparking Montreal riots
In AD 37, Roman emperor Tiberius died. He was succeeded by Caligula.
In 1521, the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Philippine Islands.
In 1649, Jesuit martyrs Jean de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalement were tortured and put to death by the Iroquois at the Huronia village of St-Ignace, in what is now Simcoe County in Ontario. Brebeuf had laboured for 15 years trying to make peace with the Iroquois, but they continued their war against the Hurons and destroyed their villages and Jesuit missions in 1648. Later, the Iroquois captured Brebeuf and Lalement and killed them. Brebeuf was canonized in 1930 and is now a patron saint of Canada.
In 1660, the British “long Parliament of the Puritans” ended after sitting for 20 years.
In 1751, James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, was born.
In 1802, U.S. President Thomas Jefferson signed a measure authorizing the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.
In 1815, William of Orange was proclaimed King of the Netherlands and became William I.
In 1830, the New York Stock Exchange had its slowest day in history – just 31 shares were traded.
In 1850, U.S. author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel “The Scarlet Letter” was published. It sold out in 10 days.
In 1898, Aubrey Beardsley, an illustrator and designer whose work epitomized the Art Nouveau style, died.
In 1900, Lord Strathcona’s Horse, a unit of 537 mounted troops recruited in Manitoba, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories for the Boer War, sailed to South Africa. The commander was Strathcona (Donald Smith), Canada’s wealthy high commissioner to the United Kingdom. It was the third contingent of Canadian troops sent to South Africa.
In 1917, Prince Michael Romanoff abdicated as czar of Russia after one day on the throne.
In 1926, the first liquid-fuelled rocket was launched by Dr. Robert Goddard in Auburn, Mass. It reached an altitude of 12.5 metres and travelled 56 metres.
In 1946, one of Canada’s most sensational murder cases began when the torso of 40-year-old railway worker John Dick was found in Hamilton, Ont.
Police later found Dick’s teeth and bone fragments in the home of his estranged wife, Evelyn, along with the body of her seven-month-old son. Evelyn Dick was sentenced to death for John’s murder, but the conviction was overturned on appeal. She was also convicted of her son’s death and imprisoned until 1958. Her father was sentenced to five years for his part in the crimes.
In 1955, NHL president Clarence Campbell suspended Montreal Canadiens star Maurice Richard for the balance of the season and the playoffs for abusing an official. The decision sparked the “Richard Riot” the next night in Montreal.
In 1959, RCMP commissioner L.H. Nicholson resigned to protest the government’s decision not to reinforce the RCMP in Newfoundland in the face of logging strike violence.
In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled Tibet as anti-Communist uprisings spread throughout the country.
In 1968, U.S. troops, the men of Charlie Company, entered the village of My Lai in Vietnam and massacred about 500 women, children and old people. The men of the village had left to work in the fields or at sea.