On March 17, disaster struck in the Philippines, Bali, and Gibraltar as a president died, a volcano erupted, and a ship sank while American forces evacuated Boston.
March 17 in History
Magsaysay Death Throws Philippines Into Crisis
Presidential plane crash kills 25 — Vice President Garcia assumes power in national emergency
A historical marker commemorates President Ramon Magsaysay, who died in a 1957 plane crash — Risemerc
MANILA, March 17 — The Philippine government was thrown into chaos tonight with word that President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others perished when the presidential plane Mt. Pinatubo crashed on the slopes of Mount Manunggal in Cebu. Vice President Carlos P. Garcia has been sworn in as the nation's eighth chief executive.
The crash occurred on the third-highest peak of the island, rising 982 meters above sea level. Magsaysay, the seventh president of the Philippines, took office in 1953 on a reform platform that broke the power of the landed oligarchy. His sudden death silenced a still-young administration midway through its term.
Garcia, who had been attending a diplomatic function in Manila when word arrived, was administered the oath of office within hours. The new president inherits a nation in mourning and a government scrambling to reassert continuity. Search operations were suspended for the night on Cebu's rugged terrain, with recovery efforts set to resume at first light.
British Evacuate Boston After 11-Month Siege
General Howe withdraws garrison and fleet to Nova Scotia — Washington's army claims first victory of the War
BOSTON, March 17 — The long siege of this town, which had held the King's forces in check since April last, was ended today with the orderly departure of the British garrison under General William Howe. The Admiral's fleet, bearing the whole of the regular troops and such loyalist families as chose to flee, set sail for Halifax, Nova Scotia, leaving the town to the patriot army of General George Washington.
Washington, having fortified Dorchester Heights with the heavy cannon that Colonel Henry Knox dragged from Fort Ticonderoga in a feat of winter transport, at last commanded the harbor. Howe, seeing his position untenable, quit the town without a fight.
Berkeley Team Creates New Element, Californium
Sixth synthetic transuranium element named for university and state — atomic number 98
BERKELEY, March 17 — Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg and his colleagues at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory announced today the synthesis of californium, a new radioactive element with atomic number 98. The team, including researchers Stanley Gerald Thompson, Kenneth Street Jr., and Albert Ghiorso, produced the element by bombarding curium with alpha particles in the laboratory's 60-inch cyclotron.
Only about 5,000 atoms were created, having a half-life of 44 minutes.
$100,000 Riot Over Richard Suspension
Thirty-seven injured, 100 arrested in Montreal after NHL president provokes crowd
MONTREAL, March 17 — A Saint Patrick's Day riot fueled by rage over the suspension of Canadiens star Maurice Richard erupted tonight, causing an estimated $100,000 in property damage. Thirty-seven persons were injured and 100 arrested after NHL president Clarence Campbell appeared at the Forum for the first game following Richard's ban for hitting a linesman.
Mount Agung Eruption Kills 1,100 in Bali, Thousands Homeless
Volcanic fury unleashed on March 17 leaves villages buried under ash and lava — second eruption feared
DENPASAR, Bali, March 17 — A violent eruption of Mount Agung on the Indonesian island of Bali today killed at least 1,100 people, devastated numerous villages, and sent debris eight to ten kilometers into the air.
The volcano, dormant for more than a century, began stirring February 18 with loud explosions and rising clouds. Lava flowed down the northern slope from February 24, traveling seven kilometers over twenty days. Today's blast, rated at a volcanic explosivity index of 5, generated massive pyroclastic flows that swept through populated areas.
Cold lahars have killed an additional 200 people. Earlier, on February 19, the volcano claimed 17 lives. A second eruption on May 16 later brought pyroclastic flows killing another 200.
SS Utopia Sinks in Gibraltar Bay — 562 Dead
Collision with HMS Anson tears 16-foot hole — Captain arrested, freed on £480 bail
Wreckage of the SS Utopia rests in the Bay of Gibraltar after the collision. — Ms. Georgina Smith
GIBRALTAR, March 17 — The great iron hull of the transatlantic steamship Utopia, stove in by the battleship HMS Anson, plunged to the bottom of the Bay of Gibraltar tonight in less than twenty minutes, carrying 562 souls with her.
The collision tore a hole five metres wide below the waterline, flooding the vessel with fatal speed. Of 880 passengers and crew, only 318 survived. Two rescuers from HMS Immortalité also perished. Third mate Francis Wadsworth noted the impact occurred at 6:36 p.m.
Captain John McKeague, who survived, was arrested and released on bail of £480 the same day.
Pulitzer-Winning 'Burst of Joy' Photo Captures POW Reunion
Lieutenant Colonel Stirm returns from five years in North Vietnam to embrace of 15-year-old daughter
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., March 17 — An image that came to symbolize the end of United States involvement in the Vietnam War was captured here today as Associated Press photographer Slava 'Sal' Veder snapped the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Burst of Joy.
UNITED NATIONS, March 17 — In a decisive response to the escalating civil war in Libya, the United Nations Security Council today adopted Resolution 1973, authorizing military intervention to protect civilians from Muammar Gaddafi's forces.
Kosovo Unrest Kills 28, Wounds Hundreds in Sectarian Violence
28 dead, over 600 wounded — Serbian churches burned, thousands displaced in 17-18 March 2004 violence
PRISTINA, March 17 — United Nations officials today reported that 28 people have been killed and more than 600 wounded in two days of sectarian unrest that swept Kosovo, triggered by unsubstantiated reports that three Kosovo Albanian boys drowned after being chased into the Ibar River by Serbs.
