On this Day... April 30

■ In 1900, “Brave Engineer” Casey Jones died when his locomotive hit the caboose of a stationary freight train near Vaughan, Mississippi. Immortalized in song, John Luther Jones got his nickname from his home town Cayce, Kentucky. Doing a double shift to replace a sick crew, he and his fireman Sim Webb were trying to get the Illinois Central Railroad’s delayed Cannonball Express from Chicago to New Orleans back on time. They were doing 70 miles per hour when they heard the warning torpedo explode on the line, indicating an obstruction ahead. Jones saved the lives of his passengers by staying in his cab to brake the train, but his fireman escaped when, according to the song, Casey told him, “Boy, you better jump, Cause there’s two locomotives that’s a-going to bump.”

■ In 1803, the United States doubled in size when the deal to buy Louisiana from the French was signed and sealed. The Louisiana Purchase stretched from the Mississippi to Canada. President Thomas Jefferson had only asked to buy New Orleans and the land around it, but Napoleon, short of money and irritated by a slave revolt on the Caribbean, said it had to be all or nothing. U.S. emissary Livingston, who was slightly deaf and spoke very poor French, could hardly believe his ears. After haggling, the price for the 800,000 square miles was negotiated at just under four cents an acre. “You’ve made a noble bargain for yourselves,” said the French foreign minister. “I suppose you’ll make the most of it.” Napoleon did well on it too. He got 15 million dollars for a wilderness he’d bullied Spain into giving him three years before – practically for nothing!

— from Today’s the Day! By Jeremy Beadle In Christian history

■ In the year 418, Roman Emperor Honorius issued an imperial decree denouncing the teachings of Pelagius, who taught that human nature is able to take the initial and fundamental steps toward salvation by its own efforts, apart from empowerment by divine grace.

— from This Day in Christian History By William D. Blake In the Philippines

■ In 1946, the Philippine Rehabilitation or the Tydings Act of 1946, passed by the US Congress, was approved by the US President Harry Truman. This Act created the US Philippine War Damage Commission authorized it to expend a total of $400,000,000 in payment of private war-damage claims and another $120,000,000 for the restoration of public property. Of this latter amount $57,000,000 was allotted to the commission itself. The Commission opened its offices in Manila towards the end of 1946, but the public property claim payments did not begin until the later half of 1947. Private property claims started April 1948, the month of President Roxas death. The Act also provided for the transfer of $100,000,000 surplus property of the United States to the Philippines. The Philippine Armed Forces received large quantities of valuable military equipment and supplies. The Bureau of Telecommunications obtained surplus equipment and supplies from the Surplus Property Commission. The Government Telephone Service obtained practically all its equipment from the surplus. — www.kahimyang.info

In Cebu

■ In 1937, for the first time, Filipino women were allowed to vote. The occasion was a plebiscite on women’s suffrage. — from Cebuano Studies Center, University of San Carlos

“In the language of dogs, loyalty is not just a word. ”

— The Loyalty of Dogs,

The Freeman Lifestyle, June 28, 2014