IT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

— In 1793, during the French Revolution, King Louis XVI, condemned for treason, was sent to the guillotine. — In 1815, the Lower Canada parliament began a session that dealt with publishing maps of Canada, encouraging vaccination and setting up a parliamentary library. — In 1900, a second contingent of Canadian troops sailed to the Boer War to support Britain in its fight with the South African republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State. — In 1908, New York City Council enacted an ordinance making smoking in public by women punishable by a fine of up $25. Mayor George McClellan vetoed the measure two weeks later. — In 1915, the Kiwanis Club was founded in Detroit. — In 1924, Soviet revolutionary leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died of a stroke at age 54. After a brief period of collective leadership, control of the government passed to Josef Stalin. — In 1936, Edward, Prince of Wales, was proclaimed Britain's king, one day after the death of his father, King George V. Edward reigned for only 11 months, abdicating on Dec. 11 to marry a divorced American, Wallis Warfield Simpson. — In 1975, firefighters called to a blaze at a Montreal bar discovered the bodies of 13 people in a closet. Police described the deaths as underworld grudge killings. — In 1976, the supersonic Concorde jet was put into service by Britain and France, with flights from London to Bahrain and from Paris to Rio de Janeiro. — In 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter declared a full pardon for all Vietnam war draft evaders except those who deserted from the military or used violence. — In 1983, Joann Wilson, the ex-wife of Saskatchewan politician Colin Thatcher, was found beaten and shot to death in the garage of her Regina home. Thatcher was later found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. He served 22 years behind bars before being granted full parole on Nov. 20, 2006. Thatcher has always maintained his innocence. — In 1989, Brian Peckford resigned after 10 years as the Tory premier of Newfoundland. — In 1992, the Supreme Court of Canada began its review of David Milgaard's murder conviction in the death of Saskatoon nursing aide Gail Miller.The high court quashed the conviction a few months later. On April 16, after nearly 23 years in jail, he was freed from the Stony Mountain Penitentiary in Manitoba. — In 1992, a jury in Manassas Va., acquitted Lorena Bobbitt by reason of temporary insanity of maliciously wounding her husband John. She had cut off his penis. — In 1998, the first news accounts appeared of an alleged affair between U.S. President Bill Clinton and a former White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. — In 2004, RCMP raided the home and office of Ottawa Citizen reporter Juliet O'Neill looking for evidence that one of their own officers leaked damaging allegations in the politically charged Maher Arar case. — In 2010, Toyota announced the recall of more than 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. and Canada to fix a problem with sticking accelerator pedals.