Way back when: Today in history
BY GENE CURTIS
Saturday, January 05, 2013
1/05/13 at 3:22 AM
1955 - Last trolley runs
After connecting Tulsa and Sand Springs since 1911, the Sand Springs Railway Co.'s interurban passenger service ended with a celebration that brought out many pioneers who rode the first cars in 1911, men and women who grew up along the "line," and public officials. Tulsa City Lines buses were replacing the trolleys for passenger service, but the rail line would still carry freight.
"There's a lot of heartaches going with this last trip," one of the passengers said on the final trip that started at Archer Street and Boston Avenue and ended at the Sand Springs monument to Charles Page.
1989 - Fake bombs at JFK
Two French journalists were arrested at Kennedy Airport in New York City for trying to ship three packages containing fake bombs in an attempt to test airport security in the wake of the crash two weeks earlier of a Pan Am Boeing 747 in Scotland that was blamed on a planted bomb.
Alain Chaillou, New York bureau chief for French station TF1, and Bruce Frankel, a producer, were charged with "wilfully and maliciously" conspiring to violate the federal Air Safety Act. In addition to fake bombs, the three packages contained a typed message that said "Congratulations! You have found our phony bomb!"
1993 - Storm slows oil cleanup
Efforts to contain oil gushing from the oil tanker M.V. Braer after it slammed into rocks off the Shetland Islands were frustrated by hurricane-force winds and rough seas, raising fears that it would become one of the worst oil spills ever. The 26.4 million gallons of oil headed for Canada on the U.S.-managed tanker were more than double the amount the Exxon Valdez disaster dumped into Alaskan waters in 1989 but far less than the massive Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010.
1996 - Bomb kills bomber
Yehiya Ayyash, known as "The Engineer" who was the suspected mastermind of at least 55 bombing deaths in Israel, was killed when a booby-trapped mobile phone blew up in his hands in the Gaza Strip.
Hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza screamed for revenge, shouting at Israelis "prepare your coffins," but Israeli officials welcomed the news. Ayyash was No. 1 on the Shin Bet security agency's most-wanted list for arranging suicide bombings aimed at stopping peace between Israel and Palestinians.
Associated Images:
This picture of the Sand Springs Railway Co. interurban is undated, but the bunting indicates it could be the final trip in 1955. Tulsa World file
|
