Today in History for Sept. 21: On this date: In 1522, Martin Luther first published his German translation of the New Testament. In 1776, the first naval battle of the American Revolutionary War was fought by British and American ships on Lake Champlain.
In 1792, the French National Assembly voted to abolish France's monarchy. In 1866, novelist and social critic H. G.
Wells was born in Kent, England. He died Aug. 13, 1946.
In 1883, the first electric tram car in Paris went into service. In 1897, responding to a letter from eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon, the "New York Sun" ran its famous editorial by Francis P. Church that declared, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy." In 1911, the federal Conservatives under Robert Borden ousted Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Liberals in a hotly contested election, winning 133 of 221 seats. The key issue was free trade with the U.
S., which the Liberals supported. More than 75 years later, a free-trade deal took effect after Brian Mulroney's Conservative government retained power in a divisive election over the same issue.
In 1921, more than a thousand people were killed in an explosion at a dye plant in Oppau, Germany. In 1928, Canada introduced airmail stamps. In 1933, in Germany during Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, Martin Niemoeller began organizing the Pastors’ Emergency League.
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