Frozen in Time
A look back at the week that was
By Robert Foran III
Associate Editor
April 7th — As the snow melted in Mason City, Iowa, Buddy Holly’s glasses are found from the plane crash that killed him two months earlier. They are turned in to local police, where they stay until 1980, when a sheriff finds them and returns them to Holly’s widow. — 1959
April 8th — Nirvana singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain is found dead in his Seattle home by an electrician sent to install a burglar alarm. He was reported to have died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound three days earlier, but others believe his death was part of a murder conspiracy. — 1994
April 9th — Confederate General Robert E. Lee and 26,765 troops surrender to U.S. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, signifying the end of the American Civil War. — 1865
April 10th — The Titanic set sail for her maiden voyage from Southampton, UK, heading for New York City with thousands of passengers and crew on board. The largest ocean liner in ser-vice at the time, no one could predict the disaster about to befall four days later that sunk the “unsinkable” ship. — 1912
Courtesy photo
The Titanic docked in Southampton, England before setting out on her ill-fated maiden voyage.
April 11th — Alaska Airlines hires Joann Osterud, as its first female pilot. — 1975
April 12th — In Indianapolis, Indiana, comedian and former late night talk show host David Letterman is born. — 1947
April 13th — As a Montreal Expos, Pete Rose becomes first MLB player to get 4,000 hits in a career. He still holds the record with 4,256 overall on top of Ty Cobb and Hank Aaron. — 1984