25 YEARS AGO

April 5, 1976 The reclusive and very eccentric mogul Howard Hughes dies in Houston.

50 YEARS AGO

April 5,1951 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and sentenced to death. They will be electrocuted in 1953.

75 YEARS AGO

April 16, 1926 The Book-of-the-Month Club sends its first selection, Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes , to 4,700 members.

100 YEARS AGO

April 19, 1901 Emilio Aguinaldo, the Philippine rebel leader recently captured by U.S. troops, issues a proclamation urging his fellow insurgents to lay down their weapons and accept American rule.

April 25,1901 New York becomes the first state to require automobiles to be equipped with license plates.

April 28, 1901 Charlie Tokohama, a hard-hitting second baseman said to be of Cherokee descent, joins the Baltimore Orioles of baseball’s fledgling American League. A few days later, before he plays a game, Tokohama is exposed as Charlie Grant, a light-skinned black man. Under pressure from the league, the Orioles release Grant, who rejoins his Negro League club.

125 YEARS AGO

April 22, 1876 In the first major-league baseball game ever played, the visiting Boston Braves defeat the Philadelphia Athletics, 6—5. The two teams’ barehanded fielders combine to commit 20 errors.

150 YEARS AGO

April 25, 1851 President Millard Fillmore issues a proclamation barring “filibustering” expeditions to Cuba, where Southerners hoped to incite a revolt against Spanish rule and cause the island’s annexation as slave territory by the United States.

225 YEARS AGO

April 12, 1776 North Carolina’s provincial assembly instructs its delegates to the Continental Congress to vote in favor of independence for the colonies.