News

Dec 22, 2023

May time machine: A look back at historical headlines

Past May front pages include news about Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart, the explosion of the Hindenburg, the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision and the first American in space.

Past May front pages include news about Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart, the explosion of the Hindenburg, the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision and the first American in space.

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New York, May 24. ─ Today was a gala day in Brooklyn. Throughout the city there appeared to be a general surrender of business to sight-seeing, and celebration is the main business. The heights and many streets, clear out into the suburbs, are decked most gayly with flags, bunting and flowers for the bridge with the city over the river. Public buildings, private houses, street-cars, wagons and trucks fly colors of all nations in honor of the opening of the big bridge. On every hand preparations are being made for the illumination tonight. Great satisfaction is expressed among the people of Brooklyn at the completion of the bridge. The precession of Brooklyn officials and trustees, escorted by the Third regiment, arrived at the station at 1 o'clock. The regiment passed upon the anchorage, where it took a position. Mrs. Roebling, wife of the invalid chief engineer, and his party arrived afterwards in twenty-five carriages, and at 1:30 Bishop Littlejohn and his assistant, in their robes, made their way with great difficulty through the crowd that already filled every particle of space in the station. Hundreds were turned away without getting seats. Salutes announcing the president's arrival at the New York tower were fired by the war vessels in the harbor and forts. At 2:16 p. m. the yards of the men-of-war were manned. Fifteen minutes later the cannon firing from Fort Greene and the navy yard announced the arrival of the procession at the Brooklyn tower, where Mayor Lewis received it. On account of the great crowd much difficulty was experienced by the mayor and officials in obtaining a passage-way to the platform. At the conclusion of prayer by Bishop Littlejohn, J. S. F. Stanahan, who presided successfully, introduced the acting president of the board of trustees, who formally presented the bridge to the people of New York and Brooklyn through their respective mayors, and each made a speech of acceptance. Congressman Hewitt also made an address, and Rev. Dr. Storrs delivered an oration and Levy succeeded in giving one of his cornet "Star Spangled Banner," "Hail Columbia" and Yankee Doodle."

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Associated Press Night Report.

PHOENIX, Ariz., May 31. ─ Arizona has a woman bandit. She helped a male companion to hold up the Globe and Florence stage yesterday. The robbery took place near Riverside, a station half way between the two towns. Neither of the robbers wore a mask, and though the smaller wore men's clothing, there was no doubt of her sex. The descriptions of the two fitted a man and woman who had been in Florence the day before.

There were three passengers on the stage from whom $350, a six-shooter and a gold watch were taken. While the male robber was searching the victims, his companion kept them terrorized with a shotgun. A posse is hunting for the bandits.

FLORENCE, May 31. ─ Stage held up at Cain Spring Canyon yesterday about 5 o'clock, p. m., by two persons, one a medium-sized man, resembles a Swede, weighs about 160 pounds; the other small of stature, long black hair, supposed to be a woman, wore a white brimmed hat; rode black and bay horses with blind bridles, leading one to suppose they were traveling by wagon.

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(By Associated Press.)

WASHINGTON, May 18. ─ The war army bill, as passed by congress and finally reviewed at the war department, went back to the White House tonight and was signed by President Wilson.

The president's signature set in motion immediately machinery designed to produce within a year's time a national army of more than 1,000,000 trained and equipped men, backed by adequate reserves of men and supplies and by an additional 500,000 soldiers under training.

The war bill was carefully gone over during the day by General Crowder, the provost marshal general. The war department is pushing vigorously its preparation to mobilize the national guard, which, with the regulars, form the first line army.

It was announced today that all regiments of the guards will be called into service by August 5 and officials estimate that with a month to six weeks' intensive training these troops will be ready to go forward for final preparation behind the fighting that is before them.

Regular army regiments are in motion northward from the border, preparatory to the expansion of the regular service to full war strength. Of the 183,898 men necessary to bring the regulars up to the 293,000 mark, 149,943 already have been recruited and the remainder are expected to come in before June 15.

The national guardsmen will be drafted into the federal service in three increments on July 15, July 25 and August 5.

As a general order is issued by the president drafting specific regiments, the force will cease to be militia and become part of the United States army. They will be relieved of the limitations on the militia and will be available for service in any part of the world.

State authorities were authorized today to fill part regiments or other units up to full war strength, making a force of approximately 329,951 men and 9,847 officers. No new national guard organizations will be accepted by the federal government until this is done and reserve battalions for each regiment organized.

The result will be virtually to triple the present strength of the guard, but reports to the department show heavy recruiting in all states.

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(By the Associated Press)

A new epoch in aviation has been inaugurated.

Charlie Lindbergh, of Little Falls, Minn., landed at LeBourget, France, at 5:25 p. m. (eastern daylight time) yesterday, in one record-smashing jump from Roosevelt field, New York.

"Well, here we are," was his greeting to the enthusiasm-maddened crowds.

Unaccompanied, Lindbergh drove his plane, "The Spirit of St. Louis," over the nearly 4000-mile air track, clipping about two hours and a half off the most optimistic time allowance.

The world's imagination was fired by his exploit.

Spontaneous celebrations in scores of cities both here and abroad lasted far into the night; President Coolidge and executives of other nations flashed their congratulations and these were supplemented by the thousands from other individuals publicly prominent.

At Detroit, Charles' mother relaxed her steadily maintained attitude of silent confidence and through tears of joy declared his victory was "all that mattered."

PARIS, May 21 (AP) ─ Capt. Charles Lindbergh, the young American aviator, who hopped off from New York yesterday morning all alone in his monoplane, arrived in Paris tonight, safe and sound, as every one hoped he would.

The sandy-haired son of the middle west dropped down out of the darkness at LeBourget flying field, a few miles from Paris at 10:21 o'clock tonight (5:21 p. m. New York time), only 33½ hours after leaving Long Island ─ the first man in history to go from New York to Paris without changing his seat.

"It wasn't such a bad trip," he said, later at the American embassy. "I ran into some snow and ice in the early part; the rest wasn't so bad.

"The biggest trouble was staying awake. I went to sleep several times, but was lucky enough to wake myself right away. I was afraid of the sandman all the time."

Computing the distance as 3800 miles, his speed averaged around 113 miles an hour.

To Paris, to France, to America, to the world, his landing tonight made him the greatest of heroes mankind has produced since the air became a means of travel.

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The hitching posts were taken away from the downtown district of Tucson too soon.

Some years ago a person with civic pride counted 26 of these on Congress street, and it hurt his pride, so they were cut down after he had told enough people about it to get them interested. And now look what happened! A horse, a regular four-legged horse, ran away because there was no place in Tucson to hitch him. He was attached to a vegetable wagon and parked in an alley north of Tenth street. It is not known what started him running. Some say the driver forgot to shut off the motor. Others say he was left standing in high gear without the emergency brake.

At any rate, downtown Tucson was treated to an old-fashioned runaway, just like it saw with great frequency 25 years ago when the first automobiles were running away, too, because the drivers hollered "whoa" at them instead of going into neutral and applying the brakes. The runaway dashed through several blocks before it finally captured itself by running into a wiring post ─ not a hitching post.

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CULMORE, ULSTER, North Ireland, May 21. ─ (AP) ─ Amelia Earhart Putnam, the first woman ever to fly the Atlantic alone, landed this afternoon in a field in this green countryside after a hazardous flight in which she conquered fog and storm and the menace of fire.

Four hours after she put out yesterday afternoon from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, she saw flames spitting from her exhaust. But she didn't turn back.

"I thought it safer to go ahead," she said.

Tonight she slept in the farmhouse of Robert Gallagher, owner of the field in which she landed. Tomorrow she will go on to Croydon, England, in a borrowed airplane, leaving her own monoplane to be crated up and shipped back home.

Flying on the Fifth anniversary of the successful conclusion of Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh's New York-Paris hop, she put her name just under his on the roll of transatlantic honors, for Colonel Lindbergh is the only other person in the world who has made a solo transatlantic flight.

It was 1:45 p. m. (7:45 a. m., EST) when her almost fuelless ship came to rest in Mr. Gallagher's field. Mr. Gallagher offered her tea but she was in too much of a hurry to take it. So he motored her to Londonderry, five miles away, and there she put in a transatlantic call.

"I did it!" she exultantly told her husband, George Palmer Putnam, publisher, who was waiting anxiously in New York for news of her.

Flies 14 hours

Mrs. Putnam made approximately 2,000 miles in 14 hours and 54 minutes, giving her the best time record of any of the transatlantic fliers. She was headed for Paris when she took off from Harbor Grace, but she encountered too much trouble to make it possible to go any further ─ almost too much to get to Ireland.

"Almost four hours after leaving Newfoundland," she said, "I noticed flames from the exhaust, and became very uneasy. But it would have taken four hours to get back and I thought it safer to go ahead.

"My next trouble was a leak in the gasoline tank and to add to my troubles, I encountered heavy weather and the storm curtailed my speed.

"I saw land at about the middle of Ireland ─ probably it was the Galway ─ and then flew north. I next saw a railroad line and followed that to Londonderry, and I finally landed in the field.

"All I had to eat on the trip was some tomato juice. The only clothes I have with me are the flying suit on my back, and the only money I have is twenty dollars that was handed to me as I was leaving. I haven't even a check to sign.

"I haven't slept since Friday morning but I don't feel the least bit fatigued."

Mrs. Putnam revealed she almost met disaster when she landed. Her plane came to rest within a few yards of the farmer's cottage. Half blinded by the continuous strain on her eyes, she did not see the house until the ship stopped.

"It would have been exasperating to crash into the cottage after safely landing," she said.

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By Associated Press

ARCADIA, La., May 23. ─ Clyde Barrow, notorious Texas outlaw, and his cigar-smoking gunwoman, Bonnie Parker, were ambushed and shot to death near here today in a sensational encounter with a posse led by an old-time Texas ranger.

The law-mocking desperado, whizzing along the Jamestown-Sailes road, a little used highway, at 85 miles an hour, ran right into a trap set for him, after having been lured into the state by a relative of an ex-convict who promised protection.

Before he or Bonnie Parker could get their guns into action, the officers riddled them with bullets.

Barrow's car, running wild, careened from the road and smashed into an embankment. As the wheels spun, the posse continued to fire until the car was almost shot to pieces.

The body of the gunman, who four years ago was a minor hoodlum scarcely known outside of Dallas, was found slumped behind the steering wheel, a revolver in one hand.

Bonnie Parker died with her head between her knees. She still was clutching the machine gun.

"We killed Clyde and Bonnie at 9:15 this morning," reported Ted Hinton, one of the Texas officers, to the sheriff's office in Dallas. "They were at Black Lake, a hideout we had been watching for weeks."

Never Fired a Shot

Fred Hamer, former captain of the Texas rangers, who had been waiting in the brush for days for Barrow to come by on his regular run, added:

"Clyde and Bonnie did not get to fire a shot. Their car was full of guns and ammunition, but they did not get a chance to use them."

Barrow had been lured into northwest Louisiana, through arrangement with officers, for what he thought was a rendezvous with an underworld friend near Ringgold. A relative of an escaped convict and former member of Barrow's southwest gang, working with the authorities, had promised him protection at his home.

As the officers fired, Barrow opened a door of his small gray sedan and attempted to raise his gun. So did Bonnie Parker, but both were shot before they could pull the trigger.

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LAKEHURST, N. J., May 6 ─ (AP) ─ Germany's great silver Hindenburg, the world's largest dirigible, was ripped apart by an explosion tonight that sent her crumbling to the naval landing field a flaming wreck with horrible death to about a third of those aboard her.

Exactly how many died was still in dispute as the flames licked clean the twisted, telescoped skeleton of the airship that put out from Germany 76 hours before on its opening trip of the 1937 passenger season.

The American Zeppelin company, through its press representative Harry Bruno, placed the death toll at 33 of the 97 aboard. The company listed 20 of the 36 passengers and 44 of the 61-man crew as the disaster's survivors.

Figures Vary

These figures were at slight variance with unofficial estimates of the number of dead.

In the crowded hospitals in the communities neighboring this hamlet, many of the survivors were in critical condition, a number suffering from excruciating burns. Some were so gravely injured, among them Capt. Ernst Lehman, that the last rites of the Roman Catholic church were administered to them. Lehman, skipper of the ship's 1936 flights, made the ill-fated flight as an observer. Captain Max Pruss, the commander, was listed among the injured survivors.

Delayed by Storm

Storms and buffeting headwinds had delayed the slim, graceful ship far behind her schedule for the maiden trip, and she nosed down in the early evening to keep the unexpected rendezvous with disaster.

After cruising down over New York's crowded streets in the afternoon, she hove into sight at the air station here at 3:12 p. m. but landing conditions were not favorable and she circled around idly in full view of the small crowd of spectators. A rain storm came up and Capt. Pruss decided to ride it out to make sure of most favorable landing conditions.

Rain Falling

Rain was still falling lightly when she headed into the mooring circle shortly after 6 o'clock, nosing down gracefully.

The ground crew of sailors, soldiers, and marines moved out onto the field to handle her landing ropes. Lower she nosed, her diesel motors throttled down. Passengers, gaily waving at the crowd, lined the long lounge windows which show like transparent slits in the great silver belly of the ship.

The spider-like web of landing ropes snaked down the little trap doors in the nose. Men of the ground crew grabbed them at the wooden crossbars.

It was 6:23.

Flames Break Out

Then came the terrific explosion and brilliant red flames suddenly splashed out toward the stern and the rudder that bore the red-and-black Nazi swastika. The detonation tore the ship in half as if it were made of paper. The tail dropped earthward. The blunt nose bobbed up, hung a moment in the air and then crumpled toward the field, flames running along its sides and its fabric flaking off in big chunks.

Passengers and crew were hurled through the silvered walls of the Hindenburg to the sandy, loam below. The crowds receded in a panicky surge to the shouts of "run for your lives." Navy men dashed into the flaming debris to make rescues.

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WASHINGTON, May 17 ─ (AP) ─ The Supreme Court ruled today that the states of the nation do not have the right to separate Negro and white pupils in different public schools.

By a unanimous 9-0 vote, the high court held that such segregation of the races is unconstitutional.

Chief Justice Warren read the historic decision to a packed but hushed gallery of spectators nearly two years after Negro residents of four states and the District of Columbia went before the court to challenge the principle of segregation.

The ruling does not end segregation at once. Further hearings were set for this fall to decide how and when to end the practice of segregation. Thus a lengthy delay is likely before the decision is carried out.

Dean Acheson, secretary of state under former President Harry Truman, was in the courtroom to hear the ruling. He called it "great and statesmanlike."

Brownell Present

Atty. Gem. Brownell was also present. He declined comment immediately. Brownell and the Eisenhower administration, like Truman's, opposed segregation.

For years 17 southern and "border" states have imposed compulsory segregation on approximately two-thirds of the nation's Negroes. Officials of some states already are on record as saying they will close the schools rather than permit them to be operated with Negro and white pupils in the same classrooms.

In its decision, the high court struck down the long standing "separate but equal" doctrine first laid down by the supreme court in 1896 when it maintained that segregation was all right if equal facilities were made available for Negroes and whites.

Heart of Decision

Here is the heart of today's decision as it deals with this hotly controverted doctrine:

"We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other 'tangible' factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal education opportunities?

"We believe that it does."

The decision to desegregate Tucson's elementary schools was made in March, 1951, and the first combined white-and-Negro classes were held in the fall of that year.

At that time, the all-Negro school, Dunbar junior high, was renamed John Spring junior high school.

Tucson and Amphitheater high schools have been desegregated for many years and some of the top athletes and students of both institutions have been Negroes.

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., May 5 (AP) ─ Beaming "Boy, what a ride!" astronaut Alan B. Shepard Returned safely to earth Friday after blasting 115 miles into space ─ a perfect flight that gave the United States a mighty stride forward in the space race with Russia.

"What a beautiful sight," the 37-year-old test pilot exulted at the top of his 15 minute hop into space and back.

His 6-by-9-foot space capsule reached speeds of 5,100 miles an hour before plunging back down into the Atlantic 302 miles southeast, where it was plucked from the waves by a helicopter.

Shepard was flown immediately to the carrier Lake Champlain, where physicians began checking him over for any ill effects.

"I don't think there's much you'll have to do to me, doc," he told one of the medics.

From the carrier Shepard was flown to a hospital on nearby Grand Bahama Island, where a doctor pronounced him "in excellent shape and health."

The physician who monitored his condition by radio during the flight ─ which subjected him to stresses up to 11 times that of normal gravity ─ reported the lean, muscular astronaut was probably the calmest man in the whole operation.

By Associated Press

At Cape Canaveral, Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. entered a Redstone rocket capsule at 5:18 a.m. (EST), blasted off at 9:34 a.m., landed in water at 9:49 a.m. and was aboard an aircraft carrier at 10:01 a.m.

He traveled 302 miles down range, rose to 115 miles and moved 5,000 miles an hour. His blast-off was delayed while a defective inverter, which changes direct current into alternating current, was replaced.

Aboard a helicopter taking him from the water to the USS Lake Champlain, Shepard said: "Boy, what a ride!"

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By Victor L. Simpson

Associated Press Writer

Four students were killed and 11 other person were wounded at Kent State University in Ohio Monday when National Guardsmen broke up an unauthorized rally. President Nixon said the incident should remind everyone that "when dissent turns to violence it invites tragedy."

Meanwhile a continuing wave of antiwar demonstrations, focusing in U.S. involvement in Cambodia, swept many of the nation's colleges.

More than 1,000 police and National Guardsmen were sent into the College Park, Md., area on an alert basis in connection with University of Maryland disorders. Although the troops reportedly had not moved onto the campus, hundreds of police used riot gas to break up a crowd of about 1,000 antiwar demonstrators who were blocking U.S. 1 Monday night.

The administration of the university agreed to a one-day moratorium of classes today to allow a discussion of "developing national and international events."

National Guardsmen were put on alert because of trouble at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, where dissidents have occupied the ROTC building.

The presidents of 30 colleges and universities signed a telegram urging the President to bring a rapid end to American military involvement in Southeast Asia and seeking an immediate meeting with him.

The telegram, drafted and released by James M. Hester, president of New York University, said, in part, "We implore you to consider the incalculable dangers of an unprecedented alienation of America's youth and to take immediate action to demonstrate unequivocally your determination to end the war quickly."

Hundreds of students at other colleges boycotted classes and plans were announced for student-faculty strikes today and Wednesday.

Dennis Redmont / Associated Press

VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II, shot down by a gunman as he greeted 15,000 tourists and faithful at his weekly audience in St. Peter's Square, came through 5½ hours of surgery for six wounds in "good and stable" condition, his doctors said early today.

Police quickly arrested a man identified as a right-wing Turkish terrorist who had vowed to kill the pope. He told them after the shooting yesterday that he "couldn't care less about life."

As John Paul beamed and waved to the crowd packed in the sunlit square, shots were fired, and the pope slumped in his white Jeep, witnesses said. Blood stained his white garments, and horrified witnesses cried, "Oh, no! Oh, no!"

The gunman's bullets also wounded two women in the crowd, one of them an American.

In Poznan, Poland, a woman said John Paul's homeland was praying for "the burning heart of Poland radiating through the world."

A press release issued early today by the Vatican and signed by the attending physicians said, "At the end of the operation, the pope recovered consciousness, breathing spontaneously, and was in good and stable cardiocirculatory condition.

"The patient came through the operation in a satisfying manner. The prognosis remains strictly guarded in part because of risks deriving from post-operative infection."

Earlier, the director of the surgery unit at the Gemelli Policlinico hospital, Professor Giancarlo Castiglioni, had termed the operation successful" and told reporters, "The pope was very lucky."

After the 5½-hour operation and blood transfusions, the 60-year-old pope was transferred to the hospital's emergency-care unit, where he was expected to remain for 48 hours. The operation began at 8:55 a.m. Tucson time and ended at 2:25 p.m.

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