September 2, 2013

300 years ago
1713

Canadiana
France took possession of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia.

130 years ago
1833

Academia
Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, the first American institution of higher learning to admit female and Negro students, was founded by John Jay Shipherd and Philo P. Stewart.

175 years ago
1838

Born on this date
Liliuokalani. Queen of the Hawaiian Islands, 1891-1893. Liliuokalani, born Lydia Lili'u Loloku Walania Wewehi Kamaka'eha, succeeded to the throne on the death of her brother Kalākaua on January 29, 1891, and was deposed by a U.S. military coup on January 17, 1893. After a failed counter-revolution in 1895, she was placed under house arrest, but officially abdicated the throne and was pardoned after a year. Liliuokalani lived in Washington Place, a palace in Honolulu, until her death at the age of 79 on November 11, 1917.

170 years ago
1843

Transportation
Thomas MacKay cut a ribbon to celebrate completion of the Union Suspension Bridge, between Bytown (now Ottawa), Canada West and Hull, Canada East, to replace the Chaudière Falls wooden truss bridge, which had collapsed from rot. A ferry service had been the only way to cross the river for the past seven years. The Second Union Bridge was a magnificent 242-foot (74-metre) iron suspension bridge, Canada’s first, designed by civil engineer Samuel Keefer, and built by contractor Alexander Christie; it opened for traffic on September 17.

75 years ago
1938

Football
CRU
WIFU
Calgary (0-1) 0 @ Winnipeg (1-0) 7
Edmonton (0-1) 0 @ Regina (1-0) 11

Wayne Sheley scored the game's only touchdown as the Blue Bombers blanked the Bronks before 6,000 fans at Osborne Stadium. It was the first game for Reg Threlfall as Winnipeg coach; his predecessor, Bob Fritz, had moved to Edmonton to become coach of the Eskimos.

The loss to the Roughriders before 3,000 fans at Parc de Young was the Eskimos' first game in the Western Interprovincial Football Union, and their first game of senior football since 1932.

70 years ago
1943

War
U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill conferred in Washington about the war with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall, and British military and supply mission members. The U.S. War and Navy Departments announced that there had been 104,658 U.S. war casualties since the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, including 19,875 dead. U.S.S.R. forces captured Sumy, 87 miles northeast of Kharkov, and cut the Bryansk-Kiev railroad by taking Krolevets and Yampol. On the coast of the Sea of Azov, Soviet forces captured Budennovka, 20 miles east of Mariupol. Allied troops overran Japanese positions south and southeast of the airport at Salamaua, New Guinea, and were closing in from the coast.

Labour
Cuban Maritime Union officers resigned from the Confederation of Cuban Workers, charging that it was controlled by the Communist Party.

60 years ago
1953

On the radio
I Was a Communist for the FBI, starring Dana Andrews
Tonight’s episode: The Inhuman Element

Boxing
Sonny Liston made his professional debut, scoring a technical knockout over Don Smith (3-2) just 33 seconds into the 1st of a scheduled 4 rounds in a heavyweight bout at St. Louis Arena.

Football
IRFU
Toronto (1-1) 7 @ Montreal (1-1) 15

Virgil Wagner and Joe Scott rushed for touchdowns as the Alouettes beat the defending Grey Cup champion Argonauts before 13,267 fans at Delorimier Stadium in Montreal. For Mr. Scott, it was his second and last game in a Montreal uniform. Quarterback Nobby Wirkowski scored the Toronto touchdown.

50 years ago
1963

Television
CBS Evening News became U.S. network television's first half-hour weeknight news broadcast when it was lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.

Music
The Beach Boys went into Western Studios in Hollywood and recorded the last 8 of the 12 songs on their Little Deuce Coupe album, released on October 7. Al Jardine, who had left the group in the spring of 1962, had rejoined the group, but wasn't pictured on the album cover.

Football
CFL
Ottawa (1-3) 15 @ Monteal (2-2) 37
Toronto (1-4) 1 @ Hamilton (3-2) 7
Winnipeg (3-3) 9 @ Saskatchewan (3-3) 15
Edmonton (1-4) 11 @ Calgary (5-1) 13

George Dixon rushed for 234 yards, including a league record 109-yard touchdown run, as the Alouettes beat the Rough Riders at Molson Stadium. Don Clark scored 2 Montreal touchdowns, and Dave Hoppman added another. Gene Gaines and Ron Stewart scored Ottawa touchdowns.

Jamie Caleb's 2-yard touchdown run, converted by Dave Viti, gave the Tiger-Cats their win over the Argonauts at Civic Stadium.

Rookie fullback George Reed rushed for touchdowns in the 3rd and 4th quarters as the Roughriders defeated the Blue Bombers at Taylor Field in Regina. Jerry Jones scored the Winnipeg touchdown.

Lovell Coleman rushed 1 yard for a touchdown in the 2nd quarter and Larry Robinson added a convert and 2 field goals as the Stampeders edged the Eskimos at McMahon Stadium. Don Getty and Tom Maudlin split the quarterbacking duties for the Eskimos. Mr. Maudlin, a former Toronto Argonaut playing his first game for Edmonton, connected with Tommy-Joe Coffey for a 38-yard touchdown. Bill Mitchell converted and added a field goal. Bobby Walden, whom the Eskimos had traded to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats several weeks earlier, had been released after just one game with Hamilton and reactivated by the Eskimos. He punted for a single in what turned out to be his last CFL game. Mr. Walden then spent 13 seasons from 1964-1976 as a punter with the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers.

40 years ago
1973

Died on this date
J. R. R. Tolkien, 81. U.K. author. Mr. Tolkien, a native of the Orange Free State (now part of South Africa), was a philologist who became famous for his fantasy works The Hobbit (1937); The Lord of the Rings (three volumes, 1954-1955); and The Silmarillion (1977).

Carl Dudley, 62. U.S. film producer and director. Mr. Dudley produced and directed travleogues in the 1950s and was one of five directors of South Seas Adventure (1958), one of the few feature films to be made in the widescreen Cinerama projection process.

Transportation
Canadian railways resumed operation, the day after the Canadian Parliament had passed emergency legislation ending a 9-day strike.

Oil
The day after nationalizing all foreign oil companies operating in Libya, the Libyan government announced a price increase of more than $1 per gallon and said that U.S. dollars would not be accepted in payment. Libya also announced that it would pay a yet undetermined compensation to the oil companies.

30 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Flashdance...What a Feeling--Irene Cara (6th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Codo--DÖF (5th week at #1)

War
The Lebanese army reestablished firm control over western Beirut after several days of skirmishes with Muslim militias.

Politics and government
In a secret ballot, the central committee of Israel's governing Herut Party chose Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir to succeed the retiring Menachem Begin as the country's prime minister. Mr. Shamir received 436 votes to 302 for Deputy Prime Minister David Levy.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate had increased to 9.4% in August.

Football
CFL
British Columbia (6-2) 19 @ Ottawa (3-5) 49

Quarterback J.C. Watts threw 4 touchdown passes and rushed for 2 TDs of his own to lead the Rough Riders to a rout of the Lions before 22,234 fans at Lansdowne Park. Mr. Watts completed 2 touchdown passes to Dave Newman and 1 each to Michael Collymore and Tyron Gray. Starting quarterback Roy Dewalt and backup running back Don Taylor scored the B.C. touchdowns.

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Girl You Know it's True--Milli Vanilli (3rd week at #1)

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate had increased for the second straight month, to 5.5% in August.

20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Keep On Dancing--DJ Bobo

Defense
Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell announced that the number of helicopters to be purchased for the Canadian Armed Forces would be reduced from 50 to 43 in the hope of saving $1 billion.

Politics and government
United States Senator John Kerry (Massachusetts) announced his intention to seek the Democratic party nomination for President of the United States of America in the November 2004 election.

Football
CFL
Sacramento (2-8) 12 @ Edmonton (6-3) 13

Quarterback Damon Allen rushed 2 yards for the Eskimos' only touchdown in the 2nd quarter of their win over the Gold Miners before 37,042 fans at Commonwealth Stadium in a game that wasn't as interesting as the score indicated. With little more than a minute remaining in regulation time and the Eskimos leading 13-4, Sacramento quarterback David Archer completed a 1-yard touchdown pass to Rod Harris. Head coach Kay Stephenson opted for a 1-point convert instead of a 2-point convert attempt that would have pulled the Gold Miners to within 1 point. Jim Crouch kicked the convert and then added a single on the kickoff to make the score 13-12, but the Eskimos were then able to keep possession of the ball and run out the clock. Henry "Gizmo" Williams of the Eskimos returned 7 punts for 113 yards to give him 6,427 yards for his CFL career, 77 yards more than the record previously held by Paul Bennett.