This week in Indiana’s history …
1862 – Jesse Bright of Madison, Ind., was expelled from the United States Senate for being a Confederate sympathizer. Before the Civil War, he had served as a state senator and lieutenant governor under Governor James Whitcomb.
1940 – Frank Sinatra was on stage at the Lyric Theater in Indianapolis. It was one of his first shows with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, the band that launched his career in music and movies.
1943 – The United States troop ship SS Dorchester was sunk in the Labrador Sea by a German U-boat. The sinking became famous for the four Army chaplains who gave away their life jackets to save others. Two of the chaplains had served in Indiana: Rabbi Alexander D. Goode from Marion and John P. Washington, a Catholic priest from Fort Harrison in Indianapolis.
1950 – Children crowded onto the fifth floor of the L. S. Ayres Department Store to see “Electro, the Mechanical Man.” Made of metal, standing seven feet tall, and weighing 265 pounds, Electro could talk, understand voice commands, move his arms, and even blow up balloons. He and his mechanical dog Sparko were built by the Westinghouse Company for an exhibit at the 1939 World’s Fair.
1992 – A fire at the Indianapolis Athletic Club resulted in the deaths of two city firemen and one guest. The cause was determined to be defective wiring in a refrigerator. The tragedy caused the Indianapolis Fire Department to establish new procedures for high-rise fires.
2007 – The Indianapolis Colts won Super Bowl XLI in Miami, defeating the Chicago Bears, 29-17. The game on CBS was seen by over 93 million people, making it at the time the fifth-most watched program in TV history. The half-time show, headlined by rock star Prince, had a peak audience of 140 million viewers.