“Pages of history” features excerpts from The News Journal archives including the Wilmington Morning News and the Evening Journal.
May 23, 1927, Wilmington Morning News
Lindbergh felt peril worst at landing; hero describes flight and gale after fine start
PARIS – Captain Charles A. Lindbergh, sheltered in his country’s embassy from a world filled with praise of him, awoke this afternoon from a sound 10-hour sleep, seemingly innocent of the fact that the whole earth was eager to honor his exploit of flying alone from New York to Paris.
Soon after he had breakfast, the courageous and charming young man from the Midwest telephoned his mother in Detroit. It was the first time a private telephone call had linked France with America, but it was only one of many precedents that the world set today in this general desire to show its admiration for the sandy haired, soft spoken aviator, who made the trans-Atlantic flight in his little monoplane and in solitary glory….
“All the way up the American coast to Newfoundland we had uncommonly good weather – lots better than we expected. But for the next 1,000 miles it couldn’t have been much worse for us,” Lindbergh said.
At this juncture Ambassador Myron T. Herrick remarked, “When Lindbergh says ‘we,’ he means the ship and himself.”
“After we got away from land,” Lindbergh continued, “we ran into fog, then into rain, then hail. Sometimes we flew not more than 10 feet above the water, and the highest was 10,000 feet. We went up that high to try to get above the storm, but the average altitude for the whole second 1,000 miles of the flight was less than 100 feet.”…
The $2,000 saved up to launch the wild dream was potentially multiplied more than 500 times when the young do-or-die aviator brought his plane down over LeBourget Field. This is the consensus of opinion of movie, radio, theatrical, publicity men and publishers all clamoring for contracts….
Experts in the sports world conceded that Lindbergh’s Midas touch was something never attained by any of their “best bets,” including Gertrude Ederle, Babe Ruth, Red Grange and Gene Tunney….
May 23, 1960, Wilmington Morning News
Wilmington census count plunges to 94,262
Wilmington has plunged out of the list of cities with 100,000 or more population while New Castle County outside city limits more than doubled its population in the past decade.
The final city population census figure of 94,262, the suburban New Castle County count of 210,744 and the Delaware total of 443,158 were released last night….
Wilmington’s population of 94,262 marks the first time in half a century the city has gone below the 100,000 mark. It represents a 15 percent loss from the 1950 figure of 110,356….
Suburban New Castle County which started its population boom in 1940, pulled nearly even with Wilmington’s population in 1950 with a total of 108,523. The 1960 figure of 210,744 represents a 94 percent increase and makes the suburbs better than double the city’s population….
May 24, 1934, Wilmington Morning News
Bonnie and Clyde slain in ambush by Louisiana posse
Clyde Barrow, notorious Texas outlaw, and his cigar-smoking gunwoman, Bonnie Parker, were ambushed and shot to death near Arcadia, Louisiana yesterday in a sensational encounter with a posse led by an oldtime Texas ranger.
The law-mocking desperado, whizzing along the Jamestown-Sailes road, a little used highway, at 85 miles an hour, ran right into a trap set for him, after having been lured into the state by a relatives of an escaped convict who promised protection.
Before he or Parker could get their guns into action, the officers riddled them with 50 bullets….
Barrow, whose custom was to shoot on the drop of a hat and to escape in high-powered automobiles, was wanted in several states for charges ranging from small thefts to murder. He was accused of killing a dozen men, most of them officers.
Parker, wife of a convict, was charged by officers with having taken an active part in most of Barrow’s recent crimes. She, too, was known as vain and boastful. Several times she was photographed with her belt weighted down with pistols….
May 28, 1937, Wilmington Morning News
Golden Gate Bridge opened to public
The bridge that “couldn’t be built,” a towering two-mile span across the Golden Gate, opened yesterday with a mad rush of pedestrians across its deck and a mighty cheer that figuratively echoed up and down the Pacific Coast.
Hailed as an achievement of the “impossible,” the $35,000,000 structure began its useful existence by bearing a milling army of visitors and San Franciscans….
The span has six lanes for automobiles and two walks for pedestrians….
A threatened anti-Nazi boycott of the huge parade failed to develop. German consular officials protested to Mayor Angelo J. Rossi because two unidentified men tore down a swastika flag from the street decorations two days ago. Rossi offered apologies.
Representatives of the powerful Maritime Federation of the Pacific threatened to boycott the parade unless the Nazi flag was removed. Rossi refused to order it down….
Despite the bridge opening, ferries arranged to operate on a holiday schedule to handle the swollen stream of expected highway traffic….
Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.
