The Canoe River train crash occurred on November 21, 1950, near Valemount in eastern British Columbia, Canada. A westbound troop train collided head-on with the eastbound Canadian National Railway's Continental Limited, and 21 people were killed. Of these, 17 were Canadian soldiers en route to the Korean War (memorial pictured). The investigation found that the order sent to the troop train was missing crucial words, causing the troop train to proceed rather than halt on a siding, which caused the collision. A telegraph operator, John Atherton, was charged with manslaughter; the prosecution alleged that he was negligent. His family hired his member of Parliament, John Diefenbaker, as defence counsel. Diefenbaker obtained Atherton's acquittal, which became an asset during his political rise to become prime minister of Canada.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canoe_River_train_crash> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1920: Irish War of Independence: On Bloody Sunday in Dublin, the IRA assassinated a group of British intelligence agents, and British forces killed 14 civilians at a Gaelic football match at Croke Park. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_%281920%29> 1945: Manzanar, a camp in California for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, was closed. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manzanar> 1980: A fire broke out at the MGM Grand Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, killing 85 people and injuring 650 others. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MGM_Grand_fire> 2015: The Belgian government imposed a four-day security lockdown in Brussels based on information about potential terrorist attacks. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Brussels_lockdown> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: jetty: 1. (architecture) A part of a building that jets or projects beyond the rest; specifically, an upper storey which overhangs the part of the building below. 2. (by extension) 3. A structure of stone or wood which extends into a river or sea to protect a bank, beach, harbour, etc., from currents or tides; a breakwater. 4. (nautical) A dock or wharf extending into a river from a bank, or into a sea from a shore, for boats to land or moor at; a pier. 5. A natural piece of land projecting into a body of water; a peninsula, a promontory. 6. (aviation) In full air jetty: synonym of jet bridge (“an elevated, usually enclosed, corridor connecting an airport to an aeroplane for embarking and disembarking crew and passengers”). 7. (obsolete) Synonym of bulwark (“a defensive rampart or wall”). 8. (transitive) 9. (architecture) Sometimes followed by out: to construct (a part of a building) so that it jets or projects beyond the rest. 10. (by extension) To provide (a riverbank, seashore, etc.) with a jetty (“breakwater; dock or wharf”) (noun sense 2.1 or sense 2.2). 11. (intransitive) 12. (architecture) Sometimes followed by out or over: of (a part of) a building: to jet or project beyond the rest of the building or other structures. 13. (by extension) To provide a riverbank, seashore, etc., with a jetty (noun sense 2.1 or sense 2.2). [...] <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jetty> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: Lawfulness. A general order or regulation is lawful unless it is contrary to the Constitution, the laws of the United States, or lawful superior orders or for some other reason is beyond the authority of the official issuing it. --Uniform Code of Military Justice <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Uniform_Code_of_Military_Justice> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe write to: [email protected] Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
