On this day, February 3

1926 Twenty men were killed in an explosion that wrecked a mine of the Pittsburgh Terminal Co. at Horning, near Castle Shannon.

1943 During World War II, the U.S. transport ship SS Dorchester, which was carrying troops to Greenland, sank after being hit by a German torpedo in the Labrador Sea; of the more than 900 men aboard, only some 230 survived. (Four Army chaplains on board gave away their life jackets to save others and went down with the ship.)

1975 Allegheny County Democratic chairman Eugene L. Coon called for federal investigation of U.S. Attorney Richard L. Thornburgh, whom Coon said was motivated by partisan politics in his investigation of alleged official corruption. 1999 The state Senate passed stadium “Plan B.” Four new stadiums would be built in Pennsylvania — two in Philadelphia and two in Pittsburgh. 2015 An evening rush-hour commuter train with 750 people aboard slammed into a SUV at a crossing in Valhalla, N.Y., killing the vehicle’s driver and six people on the train.

Some items are from Stefan Lorant’s “Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City” (digital.library.pitt.edu/chronology).

— Compiled by Rick Nowlin Today’s birthdays: Actress Bridget Hanley, 79. Actress Blythe Danner, 77. Singer Melanie, 73. Actress Morgan Fairchild, 70. Actress Pamela Franklin, 70. Actor Nathan Lane, 64. Rock musician/author Lol Tolhurst (The Cure), 61. Actress Elisa Donovan, 49. Musician Grant Barry, 43. Human rights activist Amal Clooney, 42. Rapper Sean Kingston, 30.

Thought for today: “Your friend will argue with you.”