April 18 (UPI) — On this date in history:
In 1506, the cornerstone was placed for St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
In 1775, U.S. patriot Paul Revere began his famous ride through the Massachusetts countryside, crying out “The British are coming!” to rally the minutemen.
In 1906, an earthquake estimated at magnitude-7.8 struck San Francisco, collapsing buildings and igniting fires that destroyed much of what remained of the city. Researchers and historians concluded that about 3,000 people died in the quake and its aftermath, and roughly 250,000 were left homeless.
In 1912, three days after the sinking of Titanic, her survivors arrived in New York City aboard the RMS Carpathia.
In 1923, Yankee Stadium opened in New York.
In 1942, Lt. Col. James Doolittle led a squadron of B-25 bombers in a surprise raid against Tokyo in response to the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
In 1945, U.S. journalist Ernie Pyle, a popular World War II correspondent, was killed by Japanese machine-gun fire on the island of Ie Shima in the Pacific.
In 1949, the Republic of Ireland formally declared itself independent from Britain.
In 1968, McCulloch Oil Corp. paid $2.24 million to buy London Bridge, which was sinking into the Thames under the weight of 20th century traffic. The oil company rebuilt the bridge bloc by block over Lake Havasu in Arizona.
In 1980, Rhodesia became the independent African nation of Zimbabwe.
In 1983, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, was severely damaged by a car-bomb explosion that killed 63 people, including 17 Americans.
In 1992, an 11-year-old Florida boy sued to “divorce” his natural parents and remain with his foster parents. The boy eventually won his lawsuit.
In 2002, former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., revealed that at least 13 civilians were killed by his U.S. Navy unit in a Vietnamese village in 1969.
In 2004, in one of his first acts as Spain’s prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero issued orders withdrawing all 1,300 Spanish troops from Iraq.
In 2007, more than 125 people were killed in a suicide car-bomb explosion near a Baghdad market.
In 2012, Secretary of State Leon Panetta condemned the behavior of U.S. soldiers photographed posing with corpses of Afghan insurgents in 2010.
In 2012, TV legend Dick Clark died at a Los Angeles hospital after a heart attack. He was 82.
In 2014, an avalanche on what is known as a particularly dangerous route to the top of Mount Everest in the Himalayas killed 16 Sherpa guides.
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