April 29, 1927: Government dynamites floodwall in Louisiana unnecessarily to protect New Orleans from the Mississippi River's greatest flood, inundates larger areaApril 14, 1927: Volvo produces its first autos, the Volvo ÖV 4 Jakob seriesApril 7, 1927: Bell Telephone demonstrates new "television"April 12, 1927: Thousands of Communists arrested and executed in surprise move by Chiang Kai-shek
The United Kingdom announced that it was increasing its troop strength in China, from 17,000 to 22,000 men.[2]
A "fire following a storm of great intensity" destroyed the town of Körösmezö, Czechoslovakia (now Yasinia, Ukraine)[3]
Born:
Ferenc Puskás, soccer football star who played in Hungary 1943–1956 and for Real Madrid 1958–1966, and scored 84 goals in international matches; in Budapest (d. 2006)
Colonial Air Transport inaugurated the first regularly scheduled airline service in America, carrying six passengers on a flight that departed Boston at 6:15 pm and landed near New York City (atHadley Field, New Jersey), at 9:00 pm. The first ticket was sold to Mrs. Gardiner Fiske for 25 dollars.[5]
The Urdu language daily newspaper, Inqilab, described as a periodical that "changed the course of Muslim politics... of the entire Indo-Pakistan subcontinent" [6] was founded by Ghulam Rasul Mehr and Abdul Majid Salik. The paper, which lasted until 1949, two years after Pakistan attained independence.
The Victor Talking Machine Company introduced "the automatic orthophonic Victrola", the first phonograph that could be loaded with multiple (up to 12) records and then play them in sequence.[7]
Born:Joe Orlando, Italian-born American comic book artist; in Bari (d. 1998)
Died:Vincent Drucci, 27, American gangster nicknamed "the Schemer", and leader of the North Side Gang. Drucci was shot while trying to wrest a gun from Chicago police detective Dan Healy. His funeral was attended by 1,000 mourners.
The Columbia Phonograph Company merged with United Independent Broadcasters to form Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System (CPBS). The merger gave UIB $163,000 in working capital from which it was able to survive and to build a nationwide radio network (and later a television network) now known as CBS.[8]
The Royal Dutch Shell Company began a department for the research and development of chemical products.[9]
U.S. President Calvin Coolidge vetoed a resolution, passed by the Philippine territorial legislature, calling for a plebiscite on whether the Philippines should become independent of the United States.[12]
An explosion at the refinery of Producers & Refiners Oil Company killed 13 employees and broke almost all of the windows in the company townofParco, Wyoming.[13]
Webber College (now Webber International University) was founded by Roger and Grace Babson (who also founded Babson College) in Babson Park, Florida.[14] One of the nation's first schools of business for women, it was the first private, not-for-profit college chartered under Florida's then new educational and charitable laws.
At 3:25 in the afternoon, the Bell Telephone Company made the first successful demonstration of long distance mechanical television transmission, transmitting a 30 line image at the rate of 10 images per second with the aid of a system using the rotating Nipkow disc. Herbert Hoover (at that time the U.S. Secretary of Commerce) appeared before a camera in Washington, and as he spoke over a loudspeaker by telephone to AT & T President Walter S. Gifford, Hoover could be observed on a 2 by 3-foot (0.91 m) television screen by an audience in New York. Hoover told the group, "Human genius has now destroyed the impediment of distance, in a new respect, and in a manner hitherto unknown." The breakthrough in the invention of a completely electronic television system would take place five months later on September 7.[15] Hoover's speech was followed by the first American television entertainment, a performance (from a studio in Whippany, New Jersey) by vaudeville comedian "A. Dolan", who appeared as an Irishman and then donned blackface for a minstrel show act.[16]
The beam wireless service was inaugurated between Sydney and London by Amalgamated Wireless Company, allowing messages to be sent at the speed of light at the unprecedented distance of more than 10,000 miles (16,000 km). Using shortwave radio, messages could be sent by telegraph between the two locations.[17]
Li Dazhao, co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party, was arrested in Beijing after Chinese troops invaded the embassy of the Soviet Union. Li was charged with espionage and convicted and executed less than three weeks later.[18]
Sacco and Vanzetti case: Ferdinando Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were sentenced to death by Judge Webster Thayer after a controversial conviction for murder.[19] The two men were executed on August 23.[20]
The SSCarl D. Bradley was launched onto Lake ErieatLorain, Ohio. At 639 feet (195 m), she was the largest vessel to sail on the U.S. Great Lakes at that time in history. The ship would sink in Lake Michigan on November 18, 1958. All but two of her crew of 35, most of whom were from the tiny northern Michigan town of Rogers City, would perish.[22]
Ballet Mécanique, composed by George Antheil, was given its American premiere at Carnegie Hall, and booed and hissed by the crowd. Combining classical music with the sounds of machinery (including factory whistles, elevated trains, canning machinery, and airplanes), but no dancers, the ballet had debuted in Paris on June 19, 1926, and was not performed again for more than sixty years.[23]
The Shanghai Massacre that would ultimately claim the lives of 4,000 leftists, began a few weeks after Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang Army had taken control of Shanghai with the aid of Communist workers in the city. Chiang turned against his allies and gave the order for the massacre of members of party and its sympathizers. At 3:00 in the morning, gangleader Du Yuesheng began attacks at the Zhabei District.[25] More than 4,000 leftists were killed in Shanghai, and hundreds more elsewhere.[26] Communist leader Zhou Enlai, who would later become the Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China when Chiang's forces were driven out in 1949, was able to escape from the city.[27]
The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 had begun weeks earlier but this day saw the largest recorded rainfall in American history spreading over a vast area, tremendously increasing what had already been the greatest flood in recorded history. In New Orleans, a record was set with 14.96 inches (380 mm) of rain in 18 hours.[32]
Thomas Townsend Brown applied for a patent for "A Method of Producing Force or Motion", that used high voltage in capacitors to produce a propulsive force that he thought was anti-gravity. British patent #300,311 was issued in 1928.[33] Brown would later name this force the Biefeld-Brown effect.
The first break in the flood controlling levee system along the Mississippi River took place at Dorena, Missouri, and other levees soon followed. Eventually, 27,000 square miles (70,000 km2) of land in seven states would be underwater, 130,000 homes would be destroyed, and a minimum of 246 people— some estimates place the death toll at well over 1,000— would be dead.[34]
Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, was born at 4:30 am in Marktl, Germany, on the day before Easter. The future pontiff was baptized four hours later.[36] (d. 2022)
Armed robbers near Limón in Mexico's Jalisco state, stopped a passenger train that was en route from Guadalajara to Mexico City, shot anyone who resisted, and then set fire to the wooden cars. More than 150 people died in the holdup.[39]
Chiang Kai-shek declared himself to be Chairman of the National Government Committee President of China, with a capital at Nanjing. The other government continued to function at Beijing.[40]
Born:
Samuel P. Huntington, American political scientist and author of Clash of Civilizations; in New York City (d. 2008)
The 31st Boston Marathon, and the first to use the internationally recognized marathon distance of 26 miles and 385 yards (42.195 kilometers) was run, with Clarence DeMar finishing in 2 hours, 25 minutes and 40 seconds.[41]
Convicted on obscenity charges, Mae West began serving a nine-day jail sentence, at the Jefferson Market Prison in New York City.[42]
In the biggest disaster relief effort to that time, U.S. President Calvin Coolidge announced the formation of a committee to aid flood victims through the American Red Cross. "The Government is giving such aid as lies within its power," Coolidge stated, supplying boats and tents for refugees, but added that "the burden of caring for the homeless" was that of the Red Cross. "For so great a task additional funds must be obtained immediately," Coolidge urged the public to make "generous contributions" to the Red Cross. The government spent $10 million on relief, while the Red Cross collected $17.5 million in cash and $6 million in supplies to take care of 600,000 flood victims.[45]
Twenty-one workers were burned to death and more than one hundred were injured in an explosion and fire that destroyed the auto body plant of Briggs Manufacturing Company in Detroit. A subsequent investigation concluded that the blast had been caused by a spark that ignited nitrocellulose fumes in the process of lacquering car bodies.[46]
Cardiff City won the FA Cup after beating Arsenal 1–0 at Wembley Stadium before a crowd of 91,206. The winning goal was scored accidentally when Arsenal's goalie knocked the ball into the net while trying to gather it in.[47] The 52nd championship game was the first FA Cup final to be broadcast on the radio, and the only one to be won by a non-English team.[48]
Born:Walter J. Karplus, Austrian-born American computer science pioneer; in Vienna (d. 2001)
Members of the Chinese Communist Party, who had survived the April 12 massacre, met at Wuhan and re-elected Chen Duxiu (Ch'en Tu-hsiu) as the Party's Secretary General.[49]
The design was chosen for the flag of Alaska as part of a contest among the territory's schoolchildren. Thirteen-year-old orphan Benny Benson, who based his design on the North Star and the Big Dipper (later set against a dark blue field) won a $1,000 prize and a trip to Paris.[50]
Lieutenant Commanders Noel Davis and Stanton H. Wooster, who were aspiring to win the Orteig Prize by becoming the first persons to fly an airplane from New York to Paris, were killed in a test flight of their Keystone Pathfinder monoplane. Unable to climb with its heavy fuel load, the American Legion crashed into trees while attempting a takeoff from Virginia's Langley Field.[52]
Born:Coretta Scott King, American civil rights leader following her marriage in 1953 to Martin Luther King Jr.; as Coretta Scott in Marion, Alabama (d. 2006)
InAba, Japan, three-year-old Chyu Kuryama was struck by a small meteorite, which was later displayed in a museum. Although she was hit in the head, she was not seriously injured. The first reported instance in the United States of a person being hit by a meteorite would be on November 30, 1954, when Mrs. E. Hulitt Hodges of Sylacuga, Alabama, would be hit by an 8-pound stone.[54]
The airplane Spirit of St. Louis, piloted by Charles Lindbergh, was flown for the first time, shortly after he had overseen its manufacture in accordance with his specifications. Lindbergh tested the single engine monoplane at the Dutch Flats, near San Diego. On May 20, he would use the craft in an attempt to become the first person to fly an airplane from New York to Paris.[55]
Died:Li Dazhao, 39, co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party, was hanged along with 19 other persons arrested at the Soviet Embassy in Beijing.[56]
Born:Lois Florreich, American female baseball pitcher and AAGPBL star; in Webster Groves, Missouri; in 1949, she had an ERA of 0.67 in 1949 for the Rockford Peaches, and a career ERA of 1.40 (d. 1991)
The Federal Institute for Women, the first U.S. government prison for women convicted of violations of federal law, was opened at Alderson, West Virginia, for any woman sentenced to a year or more in prison. Three women from Vermont were the first inmates.[60]
The first sound newsreel was introduced by Fox Movietone News, prior to the showing of a feature film at the Roxy Theater in New York City. The first report, lasting four minutes, showed the marching of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy.[61]
^Gary R. Edgerton, The Columbia History of American Television (Columbia University Press, 2009) p32; "Hoover Speaks at Public Bow of Television", St. Petersburg (FL) Times, April 8, 1927, p1
^Ed McMahon, with David Fisher, When Television Was Young: The Inside Story with Memories by Legends of the Small Screen (Thomas Nelson Inc, 2007) pp13-14; "Far-Off Speakers Seen As Well As Heard Here in First Test of Television", New York Times April 8, 1927, p1
^Bernard Harte, When Radio Was the Cat's Whiskers (Rosenberg, 2002) p193; "Beam Wireless to Open", Montreal Gazette, April 6, 1927, p18; "England-Australia Wireless Beam Service Now Sends 200 Words a Minute Both Ways", New York Times, April 8, 1927, p3
^Branko M. Lazić and Milorad M. Drachkov, Biographical Dictionary of the Comintern (Hoover Press, 1986) p264
^"Sacco-Vanzetti Doomed to Die", Pittsburgh Press, April 9, 1927, p1
^Bruce Watson, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind (Viking Press, 2007), p178
^APBR.org; "Brooklyn Celtics Win World Cage Title", San Antonio Light, April 10, 1927, p32
^Andrew Kantar, Black November: The Carl D. Bradley Tragedy (MSU Press, 2006) p16
^Gilbert Chase, America's Music, from the Pilgrims to the Present (University of Illinois Press, 1992) p452; Townsend Ludington, A Modern Mosaic: Art and Modernism in the United States (UNC Press, 2000) p176-178
^Peter Berresford Ellis, Eyewitness to Irish History (John Wiley and Sons, 2007) p260
^Parks M. Coble, Jr., The Shanghai Capitalists and the Nationalist Government, 1927-1937 (Harvard East Asian Monographs, 1986) p30
^Frederic E. Wakeman, Policing Shanghai, 1927-1937 (University of California Press, 1996) pp123
^Wenqian Gao (translated by Peter Rand and Lawrence R. Sullivan), Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary (PublicAffairs, 2007) p55-57
^Mike Cox, Texas Disasters: True Stories of Tragedy and Survival (Globe Pequot Press, 2006) pp 99-108; "More than 125 Lives Taken in Texas Tornado", Montreal Gazette, April 13, 1927, p1 "62 Known Dead After Tornado Destroys Town" Gettysburg Times, April 13, 1927, p1
^Kinch, Nils (1995). "The Road from Dreams of Mass Production to Flexible Specialization: American Influences on the Development of the Swedish Automobile Industry, 1920–39". In Shiomi, Haruhito; Wada, Kazuo (eds.). Fordism Transformed: The Development of Production Methods in the Automobile Industry. Oxford University Press. p. 122.
^"More Than 25 Persons Killed in Earthquake". Montreal Gazette. April 15, 1927. p. 1.
^Paz, Mario (1994). International Handbook of Earthquake Engineering: Codes, Programs, and Examples. Springer. p. 65.
^John Barry, Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America (Simon and Schuster 1997) p15 "Mississippi's Flood Stage Sets Record", Schenectady Gazette, April 16, 1927, p1
^Thomas Valone, Electrogravitics II: Validating Reports on a New Propulsion Methodology(Integrity Research Institute, 2000) p29
^George S. Pabis, Daily Life along the Mississippi (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007) p176; Over 27,000 square miles (70,000 km2) in seven states flooded; at least 246 killed Bob Freitag, et al., Floodplain Management: A New Approach for a New Era (Island Press, 2009) p3
^"Fall Hurts Four Noted Air Pilots", Sarasota (FL) Herald, April 17, 1927, p1
^Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, as told to Peter Seewald, Salt of the Earth: The Church at the End of the Millennium (Ignatius Press, 1997) p43
^William C. Kirby, State and economy in Republican China: a handbook for scholars, Volume 1 (Harvard University Asia Center, 2000) p61
^"Boston Marathon", in Historical Dictionary of Track and Field, by Peter Matthews (Scarecrow Press, 2012) p40
^"Mae West Now Wielding Mop While in Jail", Sarasota Herald, April 20, 1927, p1; Paul D. Buchanan, American Women's Rights Movement: A Chronology of Events and of Opportunities from 1600 to 2008 (Branden Books, 2009) p153
^"Tanaka to Become Japanese Premier", Montreal Gazette, April 19, 1927, p2
^David A. Moss, When All Else Fails: Government as the Ultimate Risk Manager (Harvard University Press, 2004) p258; "Coolidge Asks Nation for $5,000,000 Fund to Aid 75,000 Flood Refugees", New York Times, April 23, 1927, p1
^Robert W. Dunn, Labor and Automobiles (International Publishers, 1929, reprinted by READ BOOKS, 2008) p138 "20 DEAD, 100 HURT IN EXPLOSION", Miami Daily News, April 23, 1927
^"King and 90,000 See Welsh Eleven Win", New York Times, April 24, 1927, pV-1
^Doug Lennox, Now You Know Soccer (Dundurn Press Ltd., 2009)
^Robert Jackson Alexander, International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement (Duke University Press, 1991) p206
^"Alaska to Have Flag", Montreal Gazette, April 26, 1927, p1
^James J. Fuld, The Book of World-Famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk (Courier Dover Publications, 2000) p515
^"U.S. TRANS-ATLANTIC PLANE CRASHES, TWO PERISH", Ottawa Evening Citizen, April 26, 1927, p1; Tom D. Crouch, Wings: A History of Aviation from Kites to the Space Age (W. W. Norton & Company, 2004) pp255-256
^Azun Candina, in Public Security and Police Reform in the Americas (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006) p80
^Leonard Mosley, Lindbergh: A Biography (Courier Dover Publications, 2000) p82
^"Great Brutality in Red Execution", Montreal Gazette, April 30, 1927, p1
^Craig E. Colten, Transforming New Orleans and Its Environs: Centuries of Change (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000) pp113-117; "State Orders Levee Cut to Save New Orleans", Los Angeles Times, April 27, 1927, p1
