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Updated April 15, 2012, 2:28 pm
On April 16, 1947, America’s worst harbor explosion occurred in Texas City, Texas, when the French ship Grandcamp, carrying ammonium nitrate fertilizer, caught fire and blew up, devastating the town. Another ship, the Highflyer, exploded the following day. The explosions and resulting fires killed more than 500 people and left 200 others missing.
Go to article »On April 16, 1889, Sir Charlie Chaplin, the British-born actor and director who became internationally famous for his role in American silent movies, was born. Following his death on Dec. 25, 1977, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1789 President-elect George Washington left Mount Vernon, Va., for his inauguration in New York. 1912 Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel. 1917 Revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin returned to Russia after years of exile. 1947 Financier and presidential confidant Bernard M. Baruch said in a speech at the South Carolina statehouse, “Let us not be deceived. We are today in the midst of a cold war.” 1962 Walter Cronkite succeeded Douglas Edwards as anchorman of “The CBS Evening News.” 1962 Bob Dylan debuted his song “Blowin’ in the Wind” at Gerde’s Folk City in New York. 1964 “The Rolling Stones (England’s Newest Hitmakers),” the band’s debut album, was released. 1972 Apollo 16 blasted off on a voyage to the moon. 1992 The House ethics committee listed 303 current and former lawmakers who had overdrawn their House bank accounts. 1996 Britain’s Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah, the Duchess of York, announced they were getting a divorce. 2003 Michael Jordan played his last NBA game as his Washington Wizards ended their season with a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Pope Benedict XVI turns 85 years old today.
AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca
Actress Rooney Mara (“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”) turns 27 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
1935 Bobby Vinton, Singer, turns 77 1940 Queen Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark, turns 72 1947 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Basketball Hall of Famer, turns 65 1952 Bill Belichick, Football coach, turns 60 1953 Peter Garrett, Rock singer (Midnight Oil), Australia’s environment minister, turns 59 1954 Ellen Barkin, Actress, turns 58 1963 Jimmy Osmond, Singer, turns 49 1965 Jon Cryer, Actor (“Two and a Half Men”), turns 47 1965 Martin Lawrence, Actor, comedian, turns 47 1972 Peter Billingsley, Actor (“A Christmas Story”), turns 40
Historic Birthdays
Sir Charlie Chaplin 4/16/1889 – 12/25/1977 English-born American motion- picture actor and director.Go to obituary »
70 Henry Mancini 4/16/1924 – 6/14/1994
American composer73 Sir Kingsley Amis 4/16/1922 – 10/22/1995
English novelist, poet and critic67 Nikolay P. Akimov 4/16/1901 – 9/6/1968
Russian scenic designer and producer38 John M. Synge 4/16/1871 – 3/24/1909
Irish poetic dramatist45 Wilbur Wright 4/16/1867 – 5/30/1912
American inventor and aviation pioneer80 Anatole France 4/16/1844 – 10/12/1924
French writer; won the Nobel Prize for Literature (1921)72 Ford Madox Brown 4/16/1821 – 10/6/1893
English painter61 Sir John Franklin 4/16/1786 – 6/11/1847
English rear admiral and explorer87 Elizabeth Vigee-Lebrun 4/16/1755 – 3/30/1842
French painter93 Sir Hans Sloane 4/16/1660 – 1/11/1753
English physician and naturalist
MORNING
“Ye are come to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.”
Hebrews 12:24Reader, have you come to the blood of sprinkling? The question is not whether you have come to a knowledge of doctrine, or an observance of ceremonies, or to a certain form of experience, but have you come to the blood of Jesus? The blood of Jesus is the life of all vital godliness. If you have truly come to Jesus, we know how you came–the Holy Spirit sweetly brought you there. You came to the blood of sprinkling with no merits of your own. Guilty, lost, and helpless, you came to take that blood, and that blood alone, as your everlasting hope. You came to the cross of Christ, with a trembling and an aching heart; and oh! what a precious sound it was to you to hear the voice of the blood of Jesus! The dropping of his blood is as the music of heaven to the penitent sons of earth. We are full of sin, but the Saviour bids us lift our eyes to him, and as we gaze upon his streaming wounds, each drop of blood, as it falls, cries, “It is finished; I have made an end of sin; I have brought in everlasting righteousness.” Oh! sweet language of the precious blood of Jesus! If you have come to that blood once, you will come to it constantly. Your life will be “Looking unto Jesus.” Your whole conduct will be epitomized in this–“To whom coming.” Not to whom I have come, but to whom I am always coming. If thou hast ever come to the blood of sprinkling, thou wilt feel thy need of coming to it every day. He who does not desire to wash in it every day, has never washed in it at all. The believer ever feels it to be his joy and privilege that there is still a fountain opened. Past experiences are doubtful food for Christians; a present coming to Christ alone can give us joy and comfort. This morning let us sprinkle our door-post fresh with blood, and then feast upon the Lamb, assured that the destroying angel must pass us by.
EVENING
“We would see Jesus.”
John 12:21Evermore the worldling’s cry is, “Who will show us any good?” He seeks satisfaction in earthly comforts, enjoyments, and riches. But the quickened sinner knows of only one good. “O that I knew where I might find Him !” When he is truly awakened to feel his guilt, if you could pour the gold of India at his feet, he would say, “Take it away: I want to find Him.” It is a blessed thing for a man, when he has brought his desires into a focus, so that they all centre in one object. When he has fifty different desires, his heart resembles a mire of stagnant water, spread out into a marsh, breeding miasma and pestilence; but when all his desires are brought into one channel, his heart becomes like a river of pure water, running swiftly to fertilize the fields. Happy is he who hath one desire, if that one desire be set on Christ, though it may not yet have been realized. If Jesus be a soul’s desire, it is a blessed sign of divine work within. Such a man will never be content with mere ordinances. He will say, “I want Christ; I must have him–mere ordinances are of no use to me; I want himself; do not offer me these; you offer me the empty pitcher, while I am dying of thirst; give me water, or I die. Jesus is my soul’s desire. I would see Jesus!”
Is this thy condition, my reader, at this moment? Hast thou but one desire, and is that after Christ? Then thou art not far from the kingdom of heaven. Hast thou but one wish in thy heart, and that one wish that thou mayst be washed from all thy sins in Jesus’ blood? Canst thou really say, “I would give all I have to be a Christian; I would give up everything I have and hope for, if I might but feel that I have an interest in Christ?” Then, despite all thy fears, be of good cheer, the Lord loveth thee, and thou shalt come out into daylight soon, and rejoice in the liberty wherewith Christ makes men free.
