Moments in Time – April 12, 2018

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• On April 25, 1859, at Port Said, Egypt, ground is broken for the Suez Canal, an artificial waterway intended to stretch 101 miles across the Isthmus of Suez. Labor disputes and a cholera epidemic slowed construction, and the Suez Canal was not completed until 1869 – four years behind schedule.
• On April 27, 1865, boiler explosions on the Mississippi River steamboat Sultana kill an estimated 1,547 people, mostly Union soldiers returning home after the Civil War. The passengers were killed by flying metal, scalding water and collapsing decks.
• On April 28, 1897, the Chickasaw and Choctaw, two of the Five Civilized Tribes, agree to abolish tribal government and communal ownership of land, following the goals of the Dawes Severalty Act. The other tribes soon followed, throwing open all of Indian Territory to white settlement.
• On April 29, 1945, the U.S. Seventh Army’s 45th Infantry Division liberates Dachau, the first concentration camp established by Germany’s Nazi regime. In the course of Dachau’s history, at least 160,000 prisoners passed through the camp.
• On April 23, 1969, Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian immigrant, is sentenced to death after being convicted in the assassination of politician Robert F. Kennedy. In 1972, Sirhan’s sentence was commuted to life in prison after California abolished the death penalty.
• On April 26, 1977, the world-famous Studio 54, in New York City, opens its doors for the first time. Actors, models, musicians and athletes, as well as political figures came out to be seen during the disco club’s brief heyday, which lasted less than three years.
• On April 24, 1980, an ill-fated military operation to rescue the 52 American hostages held in Tehran, Iran, ends with eight U.S. servicemen dead and no hostages rescued. The hostages would not be released for another 270 days.

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