The Associated Press (AP) - Today in History for April 19:
On this date:
In 1529, eight years after the Diet of Worms was convened by the Holy Roman Emperor, a protestation was published against it by several cities including Strasbourg, Nuremberg and Ulm, and from that evolved the term Protestant.
In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began with the battles of Lexington and Concord.
In 1824, English poet Lord Byron died in Greece of malaria at age 36.
In 1839, the Treaty of London made Belgium and Holland separate countries.
In 1850, Britain and the United States signed a treaty to build the Panama Canal. Washington later built the canal on its own.
In 1862, Simon Fraser, who explored the B.C. river that bears his name, died in St. Andrews West, Ont., at 85.
In 1877, Ole Evinrude, the Norwegian-American who invented the outboard motor in 1909, was born.
In 1882, Charles Darwin, originator of the theory of organic evolution through natural selection, died at 73.
In 1883, Quebec’s Parliament buildings burned down.
In 1897, the first Boston Marathon was held. Winner John J. McDermott ran the course in two hours, 55 minutes and 10 seconds.
In 1904, fire raged through downtown Toronto, causing an estimated $12 million in damage and destroying 104 buildings. Amazingly, there were no deaths.
In 1906, Pierre Curie, who with his wife, Marie, discovered radium, was struck and killed by a cart in Paris. He was 47.
In 1907, Tom Longboat, from Ontario’s Six Nations Onondaga Reserve, became the first Canadian to win the Boston Marathon.
In 1910, after weeks of being viewed through telescopes, “Halley’s Comet” was reported visible to the naked eye on the Caribbean island of Curacao.
In 1912, Nova Scotia’s mystery man, “Jerome,” died at age 58. He was found on a beach with both legs amputated. He refused to talk or write, and died unidentified.
In 1927, the New Brunswick government took control of liquor sales in the province.
In 1939, Connecticut became the last of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Bill of Rights, 147 years after it took effect.
In 1943, thousands of Jews living in the Warsaw Ghetto began an uprising against Nazi occupation forces after they discovered they would be moved to the gas chambers at Treblinka. By the time the Nazis crushed the revolt by May 16th, more than 40,000 Jews had been killed or deported.
In 1948, Gerard Cote of St. Barnabe, Que., won the Boston Marathon for the fourth time.
In 1951, General Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his Far East command by U.S. President Harry S. Truman, bid farewell in an address to Congress in which he quoted a line from a ballad: “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.”
In 1967, women competed in the Boston Marathon for the first time, but not as official entrants.
In 1982, astronauts Sally K. Ride and Guion S. Bluford Jr. became the first woman and first African-American to be tapped for U.S. space missions.
In 1990, Nicaragua’s nine-year civil war neared an end as the Contra guerrillas, Sandinistas and incoming government agreed to a truce and a deadline for the rebels to disarm.
In 1992, after six days, engineers plugged a tunnel leak under the Chicago River. The leak had caused an underground flood that virtually shut down business in the heart of the city.
In 1993, 80 Branch Davidian cult members and their leader, David Koresh, died in a fire that broke out when federal officers tried to end a 51-day siege at the compound near Waco, Texas.
In 1994, a Los Angeles jury awarded Rodney King US$3.8 million in damages for his 1991 beating by police.
In 1995, 168 people died and hundreds were injured in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols chose the date to coincide with the anniversary of the Waco tragedy, which some U.S. militia groups blamed on the American government. McVeigh was tried, convicted and executed, while Nichols received a life sentence.
In 1999, about 7,800 Toronto Transit Commission drivers, fare collectors and maintenance staff walked off the job. The walkout shut down the transit service in Canada’s biggest city and left 800,000 riders scrambling to find a way to get to work. The strike was called off two days later when the commission and the union reached an agreement that allowed an arbitrator to settle the dispute over higher wages and benefits.
In 2001, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield began his second spaceflight as the shuttle “Endeavour” was launched. On the fourth day of the 13-day mission, Hadfield became the first Canadian to walk in space.
In 2004, Norris McWhirter, originator and co-founder of “The Guinness Book of Records,” died at age 78.
In 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was elected Pope in the first conclave of the new millennium. The 78-year-old cardinal, who chose the name Benedict XVI, was installed the 265th Pope on April 24. He resigned on Feb. 28, 2013, the first pontiff to do so since 1415.
In 2005, Canada became the first country in the world to approve a cannabis-based drug called Sativex for the relief of neuropathic pain in adults with multiple sclerosis.
In 2005, Conrad Black’s private holding company, Ravelston, filed for bankruptcy protection.
In 2005, Kuwait’s parliament approved a law to allow women to vote and run for the first time in municipal elections, a measure that required more legislative action before it became law a month later.
In 2008, the first-ever UFC event in Canada took place in Montreal at the Bell Centre. Jonathan “The Road Warrior” Goulet made history, becoming the first Canadian fighter to win a UFC bout on home soil when he stopped Kuniyoshi Hironaka. Montreal’s George St. Pierre defeated Matt Sera to become the undisputed Welterweight Champion.
In 2010, Toyota Motor Corp. agreed to a fine of more than US$16 million, the largest government penalty levied against an automaker, for a four-month delay in telling U.S. federal authorities about defective gas pedals on its vehicles. (In December, Toyota agreed to an additional $32.5 million in fines to settle the investigation.)
In 2011, Waterloo-Ont.-based Research in Motion (now BlackBerry) launched its new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet in Canada to little fanfare. Few lined up to buy it, a stark contrast to the hoopla surrounding the launch of Apple’s iPad and iPad 2 tablets.
In 2011, Raul Castro was named first secretary of Cuba’s Communist party, with his aging brother Fidel not included in the leadership for the first time since the party’s creation 46 years ago.
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