March 18, 2013

575 years ago
1438

Europeana
Albert the Magnanimous, King of Hungary and Croatia, was chosen "King of the Romans" at Frankfurt, becoming King Albert II of Germany.

340 years ago
1673

Americana
John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton, sold his part of New Jersey to the Religious Society of Friends, better known as Quakers.

220 years ago
1793

Germanica
The Republic of Mainz, the first republican state in Germany, was declared by Andreas Joseph Hofmann.

190 years ago
1823

Died on this date
Jean-Baptiste Bréval, 69. French composer. Mr. Breval, a cellist, wrote chamber and symphonic music, mainly featuring the cello.

120 years ago
1893

Hockey
Canadian Governor General Lord Stanley of Preston pledged to donate a silver challenge cup to the best team in Canada. The trophy became known as the Stanley Cup.

100 years ago
1913

Born on this date
Werner Mölders. German military aviator. Oberst (Colonel) Mölders was the leading German air ace during the Spanish Civil War, and the first flying ace to claim 100 victories in combat. He was killed at the age of 28 on November 22, 1941 in the crash of a plane in which he was a passenger on the way from Crimea to Germany to attend the funeral of his superior, Ernst Udet, who had committed suicide on November 17.

Died on this date
George I, 67. King of the Hellenes, 1863-1913. King George was assassinated in Thessaloniki just 12 days short of marking 50 years on the throne. He was planning to abdicate in favour of his son Constantine after golden jubilee celebrations in October 1913. While on an afternoon walk near the White Tower, King George was shot in the back by Alexandros Schinas, said to be a member of a Socialist organization. When arrested, Mr. Schinas claimed he had shot the monarch because King George had refused to give him money. Thessaloniki had been liberated from Turkish forces in November 1912 in the First Balkan War.

80 years ago
1933

Died on this date
Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, 60. Italian explorer and mountaineer. Prince Luigi led an unsuccessful attempt to reach the North Pole in 1899-1900, but achieved success in scaling sixteen summits in the Ruwenzori mountain range in Uganda, climbing about 21,860 feet up K2 in the Karakoram range in Pakistan in 1909, and setting a world altitude record the same year of just over 24,600 feet up Chogolisa in the same range--a record that stood for 13 years.

75 years ago
1938

Oil
Mexico nationalized all foreign-owned oil properties within its borders.

Baseball
The Washington Nationals traded first baseman Joe Kuhel to the Chicago White Sox for first baseman Zeke Bonura. Mr. Kuhel, who spent 8 seasons in Washington, hit .283 with 6 home runs and 61 runs batted in in 1937, while Mr. Bonura, in his fourth season with the White Sox, had batted .345 with 19 home runs and 100 RBIs in 116 games in 1937. Mr. Kuhel was regarded as a much better defensive first baseman than Mr. Bonura.

60 years ago
1953

On the radio
I Was a Communist for the FBI, starring Dana Andrews
Tonight’s episode: The Red Waves

Disasters
250 people were killed when an earthquake struck western Turkey.

Baseball
As the groundskeepers at Braves Field were preparing for another season, it was officially announced that Boston Braves' owner Lou Perini was moving the team to Milwaukee, where the Braves had a farm team in the American Association. The Boston Braves had finished seventh in the eight-team National League in 1952 with a record of 64-89 and had attracted just 281,278 fans, only about 1/5 of their attendance just four years earlier, when they had won the NL pennant. The franchise shift, unanimously approved by National League owners, was the first in the major leagues since 1903, when the Baltimore Orioles had moved to New York to become the Highlanders, later the Yankees. AA owners voted 7-1 to move the Milwaukeee Brewers to Toledo, where they became known as the Mud Hens. The announcement of the Braves' move came during the team's spring training game against the New York Yankees in Bradenton, Florida. The Braves scored a run in the bottom of the 7th inning to tie the score and 3 in the 8th to break a 2-2 tie as they beat the Yankees 5-2. Johnny Antonelli relieved starting pitcher Warren Spahn in the 6th inning and got the win over Al Cicotte in the Boston Braves' last game.

Sonny Senerchia's home run was the big blow for the Pittsburgh Pirates as they scored all their runs in the 6th inning, coming back from a 2-0 deficit to edge the Cuban All-Stars 3-2 in a spring training game in Havana.

The Brooklyn Dodgers scored 2 runs in the top of the 9th inning to tie the score and a run in the top of the 10th to break the tie as they edged the Washington Nationals 11-10 in a spring training game in Orlando, Florida.

The Boston Red Sox scored a run in the top of the 14th inning to break a 5-5 tie as they edged the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5 in a spring training game in St. Petersburg, Florida. Stan Musial of the Cardinals hit the game's only home run.

The New York Giants scored 5 runs in the top of the 9th inning to take a 6-3 lead over the St. Louis Browns, but Les Moss hit a home run to conclude a 6-run rally in the bottom of the 9th as the Browns won 9-6 in a spring training game in San Bernardino, California. Vic Wertz also homered for the Browns.

50 years ago
1963

Died on this date
Wanda Hawley, 67. U.S. actress. Miss Hawley starred in silent movies, particularly those directed by Cecil B. DeMille and Sam Wood. She reportedly received more fan mail than Gloria Swanson, but her career went downhill when sound came into movies.

Law
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Gideon v. Wainwright that public defenders must be provided for indigent defendants in felony cases.

40 years ago
1973

Died on this date
Lauritz Melchior, 82. Danish-born U.S. opera singer. Mr. Melchior originally sang in a baritone voice but then became known as the pre-eminent Wagnerian tenor of his era, from the 1920s through the mid-1950s. He died the day before his 83rd birthday.

World events
The day after declaring a state of emergency as a result of an unsuccessful attempt on his life, Camboidan President Lon Nol ordered a series of stern measures, including the suspension of publication of all newspapers and periodicals, except those published by the government. Several members of the royal family were placed under house arrest. Lon Nol had seized power from Prince Norodom Sihanouk in a coup on March 18, 1970.

Disasters
At least 58 coal miners were killed in a series of underground explosions near Dhanbad, India.

30 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Twisting by the Pool--Dire Straits

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Major Tom (Völlig Losgelöst)--Peter Schilling (8th week at #1)

Died on this date
Umberto II, 78. King of Italy, 1946. Umberto took the throne when his father, King Victor Emmanuel III, abdicated on May 9, 1946. On June 2, a majority voted in favour of a republic in the Constitutional Referendum, and the monarchy of the House of Savoy formally ended on June 12, 1946, just 34 days into King Umberto's reign.

Oil
Mexico said that it would maintain its 1982 levels of production, meaning that, with the recent decline in prices, oil revenues would also decline in 1983.

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Tell it to My Heart--Taylor Dayne (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
Billy Butterfield, 71. U.S. musician. Mr. Butterfield was a jazz trumpeter who performed with a number of big bands, including those of Bob Crosby, Artie Shaw, Les Brown, and Benny Goodman.

Economics and finance
The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 2087.37, the highest level since the collapse of stock prices on October 19, 1987.

20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): What is Love--Haddaway

Died on this date
Kenneth Boulding, 83. U.K.-born U.S. economist. Mr. Boulding was a co-founder of General Systems Theory and coined the term "psychic capital," referring to the accumulation of desired mental states. He was a quaker and pacifist, fond of saying "Any peace is better than any war." Journalist Andy Rooney was one of Mr. Boulding's students at Colgate University in the early 1940s, and wrote about him in his book Sincerely, Andy Rooney (1999), pp. 97-99.

Bob Rushworth, 68. U.S. military aviator. Major General Rushworth was a United States Air Force pilot who served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and was part of the Man in Space Soonest program, which was cancelled in 1958 and replaced by Project Mercury. Maj. Gen. Rushworth was a test pilot for the X-15 rocket plane program, making 34 flights in the X-15 from 1960-1966. He reached an altitude of 285,000 feet in the X-15 in 1963, qualifying him for astronaut wings.

Economics and finance
The Polish parliament voted 203-181 to defeat a government bill to convert 600 state-owned companies into private enterprises.

The United States House of Representatives voted 243-183 in favour of President Bill Clinton's measure to cut spending and raise taxes.

10 years ago
2003

War
The British House of Commons voted 412-149 to use "all means necessary" against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The U.S. State Department listed 30 countries as members of a "coalition of the willing" supporting military intervention, and indicated that 15 countries were supporting the effort but had asked not to be named. Only the U.S.A., U.K., and Australia were known to be providing troops.

Politics and government
The Serbian parliament approved Zoran Zivkovic as Prime Minister, replacing Zoran Djindjic, who had been assassinated six days earlier.

Crime
Anti-abortion activist James Kopp was found guilty by a judge in Erie County, New York of second-degree murder in the 1998 shooting of Dr. Barnett Slepian outside his clinic. Mr. Kopp, who had been a fugitive before admitting the crime in 2002, waived a jury trial and said that he had only tried to wound Dr. Slepian in order to prevent him performing abortions.

Charges were filed against Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee in the kidnapping of Utah teenager Elizabeth Smart, who had been abducted from her home in Salt Lake City in June 2002, and found alive and rescued in the nearby town of Sandy on March 12.

Baseball
Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announced that major league baseball would cancel its season-opening series March 25 and 26 at the Tokyo Dome between the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics because of the U.S. war with Iraq. "Given the uncertainty that now exists throughout the world‚ we believe the safest course of action for the players involved and the many staff personnel who must work the games is to reschedule the opening series‚" Mr. Selig said. "It would be unfair and terribly unsettling for them to be half a world away." The games were rescheduled for April 3 and June 30 in Oakland.