Rescue workers in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, dug up bodies of 15 children under the rubble of the Belgrade-Dortmund express train that crashed near the Zagreb railway station Friday. The latest toll was put at 121 killed and 97 injured. The children, who apparently were riding together in some of the cars, ranged in age from 6 months to 10 years. Most were thought to be the children of Yugoslav couples going back to their jobs in West Germany.
British troops in Northern Ireland fought a brief gun battle with men firing across the border from the Irish Republic. The battle was at Middletown, 40 miles south of Belfast. The troops suffered no casualties. At Newtonstewart, 80 miles southwest of Belfast, the Irish Republican Army tried to blow up the headquarters of the Ulster Defense Regiment by parking a car loaded with explosives outside the building. A militiaman spotted the car and drove it to a vacant lot, where it exploded 15 minutes later.
Italy’s Communist party offered to cooperate with the government to save the country from social and economic disaster. The offer was made in an editorial in the party newspaper. L’Unita, which was signed by Carlo Galluzzi, a party official and a deputy chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Chamber of Deputies. He said that progress in the Soviet-America detente had laid “specters of anti-Communist crusades” to rest and made it possible for his party to go to the government’s aid. The Communist party has been barred from participating in the national Italian government since 1947.
A medical board cleared Generalissimo Francisco Franco, who had delegated his powers as Head of the Spanish State to Prince Juan Carlos de Borbón on July 19, to resume his regular duties, which Franco did the next day.
Dutch law against pirate radio goes into effect.
Israel revealed the identity of its retiring chief spymaster and appointed a new undercover replacement. The secret changeover ceremony was held in Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s office. Rabin disclosed that the head spy, who was leaving office after six years, was Reserve Major General Zvi Zamir, 49. Zamir, who was born in Poland, had served earlier as military attache in London.
The Arab League set October 26 as the date for an Arab summit conference in Morocco to work out a joint Arab strategy for the next phase of Middle East peace talks. Representatives of 20 Arab delegations in Cairo, most of them headed by foreign ministers, also took up a Palestinian request to put the question of the rights of Palestinians in a separate item on the agenda of the forthcoming session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
A member of the terrorist Black September Organization and four of his followers have been arrested here by security organs of Al Fatah, the main Palestinian guerrilla group, on suspicion of having kidnapped murdered a 30‐year‐old Lebanese citizen. The arrest of the terrorist, Ziad el‐Helou, and his associates was aimed at heading off an armed confrontation between the guerrilla movement and the powerful Mikdad clan, which resides in southern Beirut. The victim, Sami Mikdad, was kidnapped a week ago. His body was discovered yesterday in an abandoned well in sand dunes surrounding the Beirut airport, not far from a Palestinian refugee camp. The kidnapping of Mr. Mikdad followed the assassination of Mr. Helou’s brother, Fatthi el‐Helou, a member of Al Fatah’s secret service, on a Beirut street.
Archbishop Hilarion Capucci, the head of the Greek Catholic Church in Jerusalem, will go on trial in the district court there later this month as an alleged gun‐runner for Al Fatah, the Palestinian guerrilla organization, officials said today. They said formal charges would be published in a few days. An Israeli magistrate visited the prelate to his cell today. He extended the order for the Archbishop’s detention by 12‐more days. The prelate, 52‐years old, who was born and raised in Syria, has been in custody since August 18.
Libya paraded its Russian military hardware Sunday, Egypt called for Arab planning in the event of a new Middle East war and Jordan said recent talks with U.S. leaders might bring about a partial Israeli pullback from occupied territory. The show of Soviet weapons in Tripoli was to mark the fifth anniversary of the coup that toppled King Idris. Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi presided over the show, which several foreign diplomats described as “startling and impressive.” About 200 tanks, most of them newly acquired Soviet models, rumbled past the reviewing stand. Khadafy also showed off new supplies of Soviet SAM ground-to-air missiles. There were also 60 French Crotale missiles, three times more than displayed a year ago. The parade was overflown by 28 French Mirage fighter jets.
The king of Sikkim, in a telegram to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India, claimed his 200,000 subjects were “bewildered and greatly upset” by her moves to absorb the remote mountain protectorate into the Indian political system. He charged that Mrs. Gandhi’s decision to bring two Sikkimese representatives into the Indian Parliament and incorporate Sikkim into the Indian national planning amounted to abrogation of the 1950 treaty governing relations between Sikkim and India.
Insurgent Cambodian forces overran two government positions on Phnom Penh’s major land link with the sea and routed two government garrisons northwest of the capital, field reports said. In scattered heavy fighting in South Vietnam, Communist forces closed Highway 1, the nation’s major road connecting the capital with Cambodia and the far north. Battlefield action generally tapered off despite government fears of an offensive to mark North Vietnam’s independence day today.
Voting was held in Nicaragua for president and for the 70 seats of the Cámara de Diputados and the 30 seats of the Senado. President Anastasio Somoza Debayle won almost 92 percent of the vote and Edmundo Paguaga Irías received a little more than 8%. Under the national constitution, Somoza’s Partido Liberal Nacionalista received 60% of the seats in both houses.
General Somoza, who is 49, turned the government over to a triumvirate in 1971 to satisfy the constitutional requirement prohibiting the president from succeeding himself. But he retained command of the armed forces and continued his one-man rule behind the facade of the triumvirate. Conservative party candidate Edmundo Paguaga was a member of the triumvirate, and the anti-government newspaper La Prensa accused Paguaga of being an “associate” of Somoza and called the election a farce. Balloting also took place for the two-house Congress, but 27 leaders of half a dozen parties including the Communists were barred from political activity.
Two men arrested by government investigators two weeks ago in a small Chilean town near Santiago were shot in the head the day they were arrested, according to records of the Santiago Court of Appeals. The record was made known when the court extended protection to the wives and families of the two men. They were Dr. Hector Garcia, 50, a physician and member of the Socialist Party, and Ruben Lamich, 48, a contractor who was a member of the Communist Party. The military is reportedly investigating the summary executions.
“I am the abstract hand of Perón who continues to guide us all,” President Isabel Martinez de Perón told a small, cheering crowd of conservative trade unionists who gathered last week for her first public rally. Two months nave gone by since the death of President Juan Domingo. Perón — the vortex of Argentine politics for three decades. With each passing day, the political vacuum he left behind becomes painfully apparent, casting doubt that his frail widow will last out her tenuous mandate in office regardless of here, legitimate and mystical claims to his mantle of leadership. Political violence which first surfaced while General Perón was still in exile and increased after his triumphant return last year — now claims a victim every 48 hours.
Government programs pledges to control inflation, further redistribute income and guide the country toward an economic take‐off — have instead been widely blamed for an increasing black market, shortages, lack of investment and increasingly vocal labor discontent. Most Argentines, no matter what their political persuasion, have always felt that their country — wealthy in resources and talent — was destined for greatness if only leaders could be found to end division‐ and achieve a broad consensus. But during this period of transition and frustration, the search for scapegoats has already begun, even before Argentines have set their sights on a credible savor. The armed forces—the alter ego of Perónism in Argentine politics during the last 30‐years—show no disposition yet to return to power, burdened as they are by the recent memories of their unpopular, ineffective dictatorship. The half‐dozen guerrilla groups cannot reach agreement among themselves on aims or tactics. The left‐wing youth groups that hail them as heroes no longer seem capable of arousing enough enthusiasm to stage the huge rallies of a few months ago.
Special Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski is contemplating prosecution of Richard M. Nixon because of the Watergate coverup and leans toward a separate trial for the former President, Newsweek magazine reported. The article said Jaworski was reportedly angry with both Congress and President Ford for handing him the job of deciding whether to prosecute Mr. Nixon. And in the absence of any political guidance from Capitol Hill or the White House, he is prepared to make his decision on merit alone and that almost certainly means the prosecution of the ex-President, the magazine said.
Secretary of Labor Peter Brennan said in a television interview that his department had prepared a series of gradually rising payments to municipalities to help them create jobs if the nation’s jobless rate increased. He said that “public service employment” — amounting to about 800,000 new jobs — would not be “triggered” until the national unemployment rate reached “around 7 percent.” It is now 5.3 percent of the country’s total labor force. His department administers the relatively small existing programs of employment aid for state and local governments.
Millions of Americans apparently abandoned traditional vacation patterns this summer because of inflation, doubts about the economy and high gasoline prices. Many families decided to stay at home, take short trips, rent a cottage or stay put, or invest in a swimming pool or a boat instead of taking a trip to Europe.
Ben Wattenberg, the theoretician of the Democratic center, said that when Richard Nixon resigned as President, “he left a great political party in shambles — the Democratic party.” His irony has a sound basis. Almost at the same time that Mr. Nixon was stepping down and President Ford was stepping up, the Democrats were tearing at themselves again. Another in the series of the party’s devastating quarrels occurred at a meeting in Kansas City, Missouri.
The 58.6 million students going back to school in the coming week will be the lowest number in four years, but the cost of educating them may reach a record $108 billion. Education has become the nation’s top industry this school year — occupying 29% of the population and representing nearly 8% of the gross national product. U.S. Education Commissioner Terrel H. Bell said 1974-75 enrollments would fall 0.7% below those of the previous year, a continuation of the steady decline that began in 1971. Kindergarten through eighth grade will have a drop of 2.1%, to 34.4 million; grades nine through 12 will rise 1.5%, to 15.6 million, while college and university enrollments will increase 100,000 or 1.3%, to 8.6 million.
Hundreds of Puerto Ricans hurled rocks and bottles and fought a gunshot-punctuated battle with club-swinging policemen as a Labor Day festival in Branch Brook Park in Newark, New Jersey, turned into a riot. The Newark police department mobilized virtually its entire 1,500-member force when fighting spilled into the streets of north Newark. Two persons were shot and wounded, a dozen others were injured by flying rocks and bottles and four vehicles were set afire in disturbances after Newark, New Jersey, police broke up a dice game during a Puerto Rican festival, police said. Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson appeared later on the steps of City Hall in an attempt to calm an estimated 2,000 persons who had gathered to demand the release of seven persons arrested during the violence. Flanked by the seven who had been arrested, Gibson urged the crowd to disperse. His appeal was aided by a rainstorm that began shortly after he spoke, and the crowd broke up.
Two Frisco Railway freight trains, both carrying volatile fuels and chemicals, collided head-on near Mustang, Oklahoma Four crewmen were injured and one was missing, police said. Flames shot hundreds of feet into the air and clouds of black smoke rolled over the southwest outskirts of Oklahoma City after a tank car loaded with liquefied petroleum gas burst into flames. Sixteen cars carrying aviation fuel also were involved in the wreck but only one exploded. About 15 families in nearby areas were evacuated but returned to their homes four hours later. Railroad officials said that they had not determined the cause of the accident.
A Ku Klux Klan leader said the Klan opposed amnesty for draft evaders or immunity from prosecution for former President Richard M. Nixon. James R. Venable, the imperial wizard of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, said about 300 Klan officers attended the annual Stone Mountain “cross lighting” rally in Georgia. The group, he said, adopted also resolutions against the genocide treaty pending before the Senate, opposed Nelson A. Rockefeller’s nomination to be Vice President and called for the United Nations to move from the United States.
General Creighton W. Abrams, Army chief of staff, remained in serious condition today at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The 59-year-old general is listed as very seriously ill although his vital signs are described as adequate. Abrams has been undergoing treatment to dissolve two blood clots, one in his right lung and the other in his right leg, and to prevent new clotting. A hospital bulletin yesterday said Abrams’ status was being changed from seriously ill to very seriously ill, as a result of “further pulmonary complications during the past 24 hours.”
Three separate missing persons cases began on the same day in the United States. In Akron, Ohio, 17-year-old Linda Pagano disappeared after arguing with her stepfather and leaving his apartment. Pagano’s remains were discovered in Strongsville, Ohio, five months later in February, but would remain unidentified until 2018. Her murder remains unsolved.
Martha Morrison, aged 17, disappeared from Portland, Oregon. Morrison’s remains, and those of Carol Platt Valenzuela, were discovered on October 12 near Vancouver, Washington. One woman was immediately identified as Valenzuela; the other was identified as Morrison by DNA profiling in 2015. Warren Forrest would be convicted of Morrison’s murder on February 1, 2023.
Richard Cowden, his wife Belinda June Cowden, and their children, 5-year-old David James Phillips and 5-month-old Melissa Dawn Cowden, disappeared from their campground in Applegate Valley near Copper, Jackson County, Oregon. Their bodies would be discovered eight months later, in April 1975. The case remains unsolved.
A U.S. Air Force SR-71 reconnaissance airplane set a new speed record for a transatlantic crossing, flying from New York City to London in less than two hours. Flown by USAF Majors James V. Sullivan and Noel F. Widdifield, the SR-71 had crossed North America in subsonic flight from California, refueled twice in mid-air until reaching New York City’s airspace, before beginning its attaining an average speed of 1,817 miles per hour (2,924 km/h) as it crossed the ocean. The crew covered the 3,490-mile (5,620 km) flight in 1 hour 55 minutes 42 seconds and landed at the Farnborough International Airshow in England. The crossing took less than half as long as the previous record, set by a Royal Navy Phantom, of 4 hours, 35 minutes.
Later that day at the Farnborough airshow, the prototype of the U.S. Army S-67 Blackhawk attack helicopter crashed, fatally injuring its two test pilots, Stewart Craig and Kurt Cannon. The crash ended any further plans to produce the S-67.
With the success of the Mariner program, NASA’s Langley Research Center was assigned this month to manage a new program, Viking, which was going to send an Orbiter and Lander to Mars. Viking would be a true test for the Deep Space Network (DSN) – tracking two spacecraft simultaneously heading to Mars on both the 26 meter and 64 meter antennas. The uplink and downlinks would use the S-band frequency. The orbiter also carried the higher and very new frequency, X-band.
The 1974 Asian Games began in Tehran, Iran, and would continue through September 16.
At the hurling championship of Ireland, held before 62,071 spectators at Croke Park in Dublin, Kilkenny defeated Limerick, 3-19 to 1-13 (equivalent to 28 to 16).
Boxer Charles “Big Boy” Cutajar of Malta sustained a cut vein in his head during a fight with Italian boxer Francesco Piccanelli, who won by knockout. Cutajar died from a hemorrhage the following day.
The Major League Scouting Bureau is instituted as a way to cut costs by centralizing scouting. Membership is not mandatory until 1984, and only 17 of 24 teams initially agree to the $118,000 fee for joining. All American League clubs except the White Sox and Toronto join: in the National League, the Cubs, Montreal, Pirates, Braves, Houston and the Reds join. Brewers GM Jim Wilson is put in charge.
The faltering Red Sox had their Eastern Division lead trimmed to two games over the Yankees with their third straight loss and the sixth in the last eight games, as Boston bowed to the Minnesota Twins, 9–6. Boston’s margin was its smallest since Aug. 6. Pat Bourque, acquired from the Oakland A’s two weeks ago, hit a three‐run homer with two out in the ninth after Bob Darwin had tied the score with a pinch single. Boston had led by 5.0 and 6‐2 in the game.
With Carlton Fisk out through the end of the season, the Boston Red Sox purchase catcher Tim McCarver from the Cardinals. McCarver will play just 11 games this year and 12 next spring in Boston before being reunited with Steve Carlton in Philadelphia.
The Oakland A’s downed the Detroit Tigers, 5–3. Jim (Catfish) Hunter gained his 21st victory, most in the majors, with relief help from Rollie Fingers, who was credited with his 16th save. Bert Campaneris of the A’s extended his hitting streak to 15 games and Sal Bando’s two‐run homer in the first gave him 30 runs batted in and 31 hits in the last 38‐games. A’s first baseman Gene Tenace goes through the entire game without a fielding chance — only the 4th time this century that has occurred in that position. Frank Robinson did not have a putout in 1961‐playing for the Baltimore Orioles and Norm Cash of the Tigers, in 1963, was the last first baseman to have no chances in a game. In the same game, Detroit’s Reggie Sanders homers in his first Major League at-bat.
The Orioles foiled Steve Busby’s second attempt to become a 20‐game winner, as Baltimore defeated the Kansas City Royals, 7–1. Dave McNally, who beat the Royals on a seven‐hitter yester day, had shut out Kansas City and Busby, 1‐0, two weeks ago in Baltimore. The Orioles battered Busby and the Royals with a 14‐hit attack that was led by Enos Cabbeli and Earl Williams.
The Milwaukee Brewers edged the California Angels, 3–1. After a shaky start, Jim Slaton won his 10th game in 24 decisions. The 24‐year‐old right‐hander has allowed only one earned run in his last 25 innings. The Brewers scored their runs with two out in the first, including a steal of home by John Briggs.
Cesar Tovar’s three‐run double capped an eight‐run third that propelled the Texas Rangersto a 10-3 triumph over the Cleveland Indians. Six of the eight runs were unearned as Cleveland made two errors.
Demonstrating again that they have the hitting to keep them in close pursuit of first place in the American League East, the Yankees batted their way to a 7–5 triumph over the White Sox today. The victory, their 10th in the last 11 games, was scored on the strength of a 14‐hit attack, including a dozen in the first six innings as the Yanks built a 7–0 lead. It also gave New York a sweep of the three‐game series. Just one month ago, the Yanks were in last place, 6½ games behind the leaders and three games under the .500‐mark. Tonight, as they flew back to. New York to prepare for a six‐game stand at Shea Stadium that opens tomorrow afternoon with a doubleheader against Milwaukee, the Yanks found themselves eighth games above the 500‐level and going strong. In their three games at White Sox Park, they pounded out 50 hits, including 25 last night.
The St. Louis Cardinals Lou Brock steals 4 bases in an 8–1 win over the Giants, giving him 98 steals for the year. Bob Gibson has 3 hits and scores twice as he runs his record to 8–12. At Candlestick Park in San Francisco yesterday, there was no partisan rooting. All 6,842 fans joined in two standing ovations for Brock as he stole four bases to give him 98 for the season, six less than Maury Wills’s major league record. It was the third time in Brock’s 13‐year career that he had stolen four bases in one game. He did it against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1969‐and against the Philadelphia Phillies two years later.
“Good pitching is making the difference for, us lately,” said Manager Yogi Berra of the Mets yesterday after his club scored a 3–0 triumph over the Atlanta Braves on the strength of a five‐hit shutout — the first of his nine‐year career — by Tug McGraw. The good pitching of McGraw and his fellow moundsmen has enabled New York to win seven of its last eight games, but the winning habits of the Pittsburgh Pirates have kept the Mets from making any significant gains in ‘the National League Eastern Division standing. Yesterday the left-handed screwball artist, making his second start of the season and only his fifth in the last five seasons since becoming the Mets’ No. 1 bullpen stopper, was overpowering. He allowed only five singles, walked one batter (intentionally) and retired 15 Braves in a row before Darrell Evans broke the string with a scratch hit in the ninth.
Mike Torrez tossed a five‐hitter to win a duel with Don Gullett, and the Montreal Expos edged the Cincinnati Reds, 2–1. Ron Hunt scored both Montreal runs, the first in the third after he had reached first when he was hit by a pitch. In the fifth he scored the winning run when he singled, took second on a sacrifice and scored on Hal Breeden’s single. The Reds run came in the seventh on Tony Perez’s double, a fielder’s choice and an infield mit.
The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 6–2. The Dodgers raised their Western Division lead to 3½ games over the Reds and the loss by Pirates cut their Eastern Division advantage to 1½ games over St. Louis. Steve Yeager and Dave Lopes hit two‐run homers each.
Del Unser collected three hits for the third straight games and Mike Schmidt hit his 33d homer, most in the majors, to back the three‐hit pitching of Dick Ruthven, as the Philadelphia Phillies clobbered the Houston Astros, 8–1. Ruthven allowed a leadoff single to Greg Gross in the first, a leadoff double to Bob Watson in the second, then held the Astros hitless until a two‐out single by Wilbur Howard in the ninth.
The Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres 3–1. The latest Padres losing streak reached five games as Chicago won behind the six‐hit pitching of Rick Reuschel and Oscar Zamora. Andy Thornton’s two‐run homer during a three‐run first put the Cubs ahead to stay.
Born:
Jason Taylor, NFL defensive end and linebacker (Pro Football Hall of Fame, inducted 2017; NFL Defensive Player of the Year, 2006; Pro Bowl 2000, 2002, 2004–2007; Miami Dolphins, Washington Redskins, New York Jets), in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Edwin Mulitalo, NFL guard (NFL Champions, Super Bowl 35-Ravens, 2000; Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions), in Daly City, California.
Ed Perry, NFL tight end (Miami Dolphins, Kansas City Chiefs), in Richmond, Virginia.
Chris Martin, NFL defensive back (Chicago Bears), in Tampa, Florida.
Charisse Sampson, WNBA guard (Seattle Storm), in Los Angeles, California.
Burn Gorman, American-born English actor(“Torchwood”, “Game of Thrones”, “The Expanse”), in Los Angeles, California.
Filip Nikolic, Serbian-born French singer and leader of the band 2Be3; in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France (died 2009, heart attack caused by sleeping medication).
Jhonen Vasquez, American comic book artist known for “Johnny the Homicidal Maniac”, born in San Jose, California.
Died:
John F. Shelley, 68, American politician, U.S. Representative for California for 33 years and Mayor of San Francisco from 1964 to 1968, of lung cancer.
Harold L. Yochum, 71, American theologian and church leader, former president of Capital University, of a heart attack.
History Diaries 