Today in history: Janey Canuck born
In 1794, Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, an invention that revolutionized America's cotton industry.
In 1843, James Douglas of the Hudson's Bay Co. founded Victoria when he landed at Clover Point with 15 men. The company had sent Douglas to formally occupy the southern part of Vancouver Island and build a base for the company when the partition of Oregon Territory became imminent. This was done to strengthen British claims to the whole island and those claims were recognized in the 1846 partition. Douglas was governor of Vancouver Island from 185163 and of British Columbia from 1858-64.
In 1864, Sir Etienne Tache and John A. Macdonald formed a government that led to the first Confederation negotiations. Macdonald became Canada's first prime minister. Tache died just over a year later.
In 1868, Emily Murphy, the British Empire's first female judge, was born in Cookstown, Ont. A prolific writer, she took the pen name Janey Canuck. In 1916, Murphy was appointed police magistrate for Edmonton. Murphy was among the "Famous Five" women who led the battle to have women declared legal “persons” under the British North America Act.
In 1883, German philosopher Karl Marx died in London at age 64.
In 1923, CKCK Regina radio broadcaster Pete Parker made the world's first complete play-by-play of a professional hockey game when the Regina Capitals hosted the Edmonton Eskimos in a Western Canada Professional Hockey League match.
In 1939, the republic of Czechoslovakia was dissolved, opening the way for the Nazi occupation of Czech areas and the separation of Slovakia.
In 1946, Fred Rose, the only Communist MP in Canadian history, was charged with conspiracy to transmit wartime secrets to the Soviet Union. In 1945, Igor Gouzenko, a clerk in the Soviet Embassy, defected to Canada to give evidence that Rose and others were part of a widespread Soviet spy ring. Rose served four years in prison and then moved back to his native Poland.
In 1950, Albert Guay was sentenced in Quebec City to be hanged for the murder of his wife, who was among 23 people killed when a time-bomb exploded aboard a Canadian Pacific Airlines plane in September, 1949.
In 1951, during the Korean War, United Nations forces recaptured Seoul.
In 1964, Jack Ruby was convicted of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of U.S. president John F. Kennedy the previous November. Ruby was sentenced to death. The conviction and death sentence were later overturned, but Ruby died in 1967 before he could be re-tried.
In 1972, Howard Hughes, the billionaire U.S. recluse, arrived in Vancouver with a staff of about 14 and took over the top floor of a hotel. In June,