Today in History for April 3:
In 1327, Marsilius of Padua and his copyist, John of Jandun, were forced to flee Paris for asylum in Bavaria after the pope issued a bull denouncing them as “sons of perdition and fruits of malediction.” In his book “Defensor pacis,” Marsilius had denounced the corruptions of the Roman church leadership and called for a radical reformation of the institution.
In 1593, metaphysical poet George Herbert, known for his mastery of metrical form and allegory as well as his themes of Christian devotion, was born in Montgomery Castle, Wales.
In 1669, King Louis XIV of France ordered a permanent militia for Canada. All Canadian males aged 16 to 60 were ordered to join militia companies and undergo military training. They used canoes, snowshoes, moccasins, and leggings, and learned hit-and-run tactics. The Canadian militia formed the backbone of the colony’s military forces until the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763).
In 1756, the Marquis de Montcalm sailed from France to take over field command of French forces in New France. Despite long years of service he was not considered a senior officer, and was only chosen to go to North America because war was looming in Europe and the higher-ranking officers were needed there. He died during the 1759 British victory at the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City.
In 1826, a financial panic hit New Brunswick upon word that banks in London had failed and the timber trade had collapsed.
In 1850, English poet William Wordsworth died at 80.
In 1860, the Pony Express began service between St. Joseph, Mo., and Sacramento, Calif. The service became legendary, despite lasting less than two years, giving way to the Transcontinental Telegraph.
In 1882, American outlaw Jesse James was shot to death in Missouri by Robert Ford, his cousin and a member of his own gang.
In 1897, German pianist and composer Johannes Brahms died of liver cancer at age 63.
In 1907, a bill establishing the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon was passed by the provincial legislature.
In 1933, Ken Doraty’s goal at 4:46 of the sixth overtime gave the Toronto Maple Leafs a 1-0 win over the visiting Boston Bruins in a Stanley Cup semifinal game. It’s the second-longest game in NHL history, topped only by a 1936 marathon between Detroit and the Montreal Maroons, which lasted 12 minutes longer.
In 1936, Bruno Hauptmann was electrocuted in Trenton, N.J., for the kidnapping and murder of the infant son of American aviator Charles Lindbergh.
In 1940, the Earl of Athlone was appointed governor general of Canada.
In 1946, Canada paid the United States $108 million for its portion of the Alaska Highway. The sum covered telephone systems, buildings and other assets.
In 1946, Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma, the Japanese commander responsible for the “Bataan Death March,” was executed by firing squad outside Manila.
In 1948, U.S. president Harry Truman signed the Marshall Plan, which allocated more than $5 billion in aid for 16 European countries to rebuild after the Second World War and resist Communism.
In 1968, the day before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “mountaintop” speech to a rally of striking sanitation workers.
In 1973, the first private cellphone call was made. Motorola Corp. executive Martin Cooper tested his company’s new invention by calling a friend at Bell Laboratories from a New York street.
In 1974, a tornado killed eight people and injured 20 in Windsor, Ont.
In 1978, the federal government set the stage for a clash with Quebec in a proposed bill allowing a national referendum on national unity.
In 1985, the landmark Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood closed its doors after 56 years.
In 1992, the Congregation of Christian Brothers formally apologized to victims of physical and sexual abuse at the Mount Cashel orphanage in St. John’s, Nfld. The apology came nearly two decades after boys first complained of abuse. The Congregation also ordered the 94-year-old building razed to the ground, with proceeds from the sale of the land to aid victims.
In 1996, Theodore Kaczynski, a 53-year-old former University of California math professor, was detained by the FBI on suspicion of being the so-called “Unabomber.” The terrorist left a 17-year trail of bombings that killed three people and maimed 23. Kaczynski later pleaded guilty and received a life sentence.
In 1997, Toronto Stock Exchange computers crashed for the third day in a row due to massive trading in Calgary-based Bre-X Minerals, whose gold find in Indonesia later proved to be bogus. It’s estimated investors lost $3 billion. Insider trading charges were laid in 1999 by the Ontario Securities Commission against former Bre-X chief geologist John Felderhof, who made $84 million by selling stock before the hoax was revealed. The trial concluded on July 31, 2007, with a not guilty verdict.
In 2003, Paul Tellier unveiled a plan to overhaul Bombardier Inc. by raising $800 million in equity and shedding the snowmobile-making unit that launched the company more than 60 years earlier.
In 2005, Frank Clair, who turned a down-and-out Ottawa Rough Riders franchise into a CFL powerhouse in the 1960s, died in Florida at 87.
In 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Ottawa would establish a bill of rights and an ombudsman for veterans, which will allow the government to respond quickly and fairly to any concerns of veterans.
In 2008, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s party lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since taking power in 1980 in general elections.
In 2008, Vancouver’s Park Board commissioners voted to cut down a 1,000-year-old hollow giant red cedar tree in Stanley Park following a series of severe storms in 2006 that devastated much of the park.
In 2009, a gunman opened fire on a room where immigrants were taking a citizenship exam in downtown Binghamton, N.Y., killing 13 people before committing suicide.
In 2009, Tom Wardell Braden, who once worked for the CIA and helped launch CNN’s political debate show “Crossfire,” died at age 92. He also was known for writing “Eight is Enough,” a 1975 book about his eight children that inspired the namesake TV show that ran on ABC from 1977-81.
In 2009, Dave Devall retired following 48 years as CTV Toronto’s weather specialist. Guiness World Records recognized that as the longest career as a weather forecaster.
In 2010, Apple’s highly anticipated iPad was officially released to stores in the U.S., selling more than 300,000 units.
In 2010, the coal-carrying ship Chinese Shen Neng 1 strayed outside a shipping lane and ran aground on Douglas Shoals, a protected part of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. It cut a scar the length of 10 city blocks into the shoal that could take marine life 20 years to recover. Three tonnes of oil also leaked from a ruptured fuel tank but was dispersed by chemical sprays.
In 2011, Ontario held its first sanctioned mixed martial arts show at Casino Rama.
In 2012, once his father’s heir apparent, James Murdoch stepped down as chairman of British Sky Broadcasting, surrendering one of the biggest jobs in the Murdoch media empire as fallout continued from the telephone hacking and alleged bribery scandal.
In 2012, the Harper government froze spending on the multibillion-dollar plan to buy 65 new F35 stealth fighter jets after new auditor general Michael Ferguson concluded the Defence Department low-balled estimates and kept Parliament in the dark about spiralling problems with the project.
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(The Canadian Press)