On This Day, Dec. 12: London train collision kills 35

UPI Staff
·3 min read
On December 12, 1988, three trains collided in London, killing 40 people, Britain's worst railway accident in 21 years. File Photo by Ben Brooksbank/Wikimedia Commons
On December 12, 1988, three trains collided in London, killing 40 people, Britain's worst railway accident in 21 years. File Photo by Ben Brooksbank/Wikimedia Commons

Dec. 12 (UPI) -- In this date in history:

In 1870, Joseph Hayne Rainey of South Carolina was sworn in as the first Black American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 1901, Italian physicist and radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi sent the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1913, two years after it was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was recovered in a Florence, Italy, hotel room.

In 1917, the Rev. Edward J. Flanagan, a 31-year-old Irish priest, opened the doors to Boys Town, a home for troubled and neglected children in Omaha. He lived by the adage, "There is no such thing as a bad boy." It graduated its first class of girls in 1983.

George W. Bush and Al Gore supporters voice their opinions about the Florida recount case outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on December 11, 2000. On December 12, 2000, the Supreme Court ruled against a hand recount in Florida, in effect ensuring Republican Texas Gov. Bush would win the presidency. File Photo by Bill Clark/UPI
George W. Bush and Al Gore supporters voice their opinions about the Florida recount case outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on December 11, 2000. On December 12, 2000, the Supreme Court ruled against a hand recount in Florida, in effect ensuring Republican Texas Gov. Bush would win the presidency. File Photo by Bill Clark/UPI

In 1937, Japanese warplanes sank the USS Panay, a U.S. gunboat, in China as part of the Sino-Japanese War. The incident killed three people.

In 1968, Arthur Ashe became the first Black American to be ranked No. 1 in tennis in the United States.

USS Panay sinking after Japanese air attack on Nanking, China, on December 12, 1937, in what became known as the Panay incident. File Photo courtesy the U.S. Signal Corps
USS Panay sinking after Japanese air attack on Nanking, China, on December 12, 1937, in what became known as the Panay incident. File Photo courtesy the U.S. Signal Corps

In 1975, Sara Jane Moore said she willfully tried to kill U.S. President Gerald Ford. She was sentenced to life in prison but released Dec. 31, 2007.

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
On Dec. 12, 1968, Arthur Ashe became the first African American to be ranked No. 1 in tennis in the United States. File Photo courtesy Nationaal Archief
On Dec. 12, 1968, Arthur Ashe became the first African American to be ranked No. 1 in tennis in the United States. File Photo courtesy Nationaal Archief

In 1980, a U.S. oil tycoon spent $5 million at auction for a notebook written by Leonardo da Vinci. The 36 pages of notes featured "remarkably illegible right-to-left writing" and was "illustrated with marginal sketches of a technical nature."

In 1985, the crash of Arrow Air Flight 1285, a military charter, on takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland, killed all 256 people aboard, including 248 U.S. soldiers.

On December 12, 1913, two years after it was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris, Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" was recovered in a Florence, Italy, hotel room. Image by Leonardo da Vinci/Musee du Louvre
On December 12, 1913, two years after it was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris, Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" was recovered in a Florence, Italy, hotel room. Image by Leonardo da Vinci/Musee du Louvre

In 1988, three trains collided in London, killing 35 people, Britain's worst railway accident in 21 years.

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 it was reversing the ruling of the Florida Supreme Court allowing hand recount of votes in Florida, in effect ensuring the Republican Texas Gov. George W. Bush would win the presidency over former Vice President Al Gore.

On December 12, 1870, Joseph Hayne Rainey of South Carolina was sworn in as the first African American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. File Photo courtesy the Library of Congress
On December 12, 1870, Joseph Hayne Rainey of South Carolina was sworn in as the first African American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. File Photo courtesy the Library of Congress
File Photo by Joe Mitchell/UPI
File Photo by Joe Mitchell/UPI

In 2015, Saudis elected women to municipal councils for the first time in Saudi Arabian history.

In 1901, Italian physicist and radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi, pictured in 1908, sent the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean. File Photo courtesy the Pach Brothers
In 1901, Italian physicist and radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi, pictured in 1908, sent the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean. File Photo courtesy the Pach Brothers

In 2019, a project to map the topography of land beneath Antarctica's ice sheet revealed the world's deepest land canyon underneath Denman Glacier.

In 2022, a shootout in Wieambilla, Queensland, Australia, left two police officers and a bystander dead. After a 6-hour siege, authorities killed the three alleged shooters.

Wreckage from Arrow Air Flight 1285 is pictured December 16, 1985. The DC-8 crashed December 12, 1985, in Gander, Newfoundland, killing 248 U.S. soldiers. File Photo by Staff Sgt. Arnold Kalmanson/Department of Defense
Wreckage from Arrow Air Flight 1285 is pictured December 16, 1985. The DC-8 crashed December 12, 1985, in Gander, Newfoundland, killing 248 U.S. soldiers. File Photo by Staff Sgt. Arnold Kalmanson/Department of Defense
File Photo by Jono Searle/EPA-EFE
File Photo by Jono Searle/EPA-EFE