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On This Day: West Virginia coal mine blast kills 29

On April 5, 2010, an explosion in a coal mine near Montcoal, in West Virginia's Raleigh County, killed 29 workers.

Massey Energy workers Maurice Blanchette (L), Jimmy Shortridge (2nd-L), Brandon Waddell (2nd-R) and Andrew Lucas take a break from drilling efforts above Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Coal Mine on April 7, 2010, in Montcoal, W.Va. On April 5, 2010, an explosion in a coal mine near Montcoal, in West Virginia's Raleigh County, killed 29 workers. File Photo by Jeff Gentner/UPI
1 of 3 | Massey Energy workers Maurice Blanchette (L), Jimmy Shortridge (2nd-L), Brandon Waddell (2nd-R) and Andrew Lucas take a break from drilling efforts above Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Coal Mine on April 7, 2010, in Montcoal, W.Va. On April 5, 2010, an explosion in a coal mine near Montcoal, in West Virginia's Raleigh County, killed 29 workers. File Photo by Jeff Gentner/UPI | License Photo

April 5 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1614, Pocahontas, daughter of a chief, married English tobacco planter John Rolfe in Jamestown, Va. It was a marriage that ensured peace between the settlers and the Powhatan Indians for several years.

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In 1768, the first U.S. Chamber of Commerce was founded in New York City.

In 1792, President George Washington exercised veto power, the first time it was done in the United States.

In 1933, Executive Order 6101 establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps was issued by President Franklin Roosevelt. The public work relief program would run from 1933 to 1942 and provide employment for unemployed and unmarried men as part of the New Deal.

In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death in New York for stealing atomic secrets for the Soviet Union. They were executed on June 20, 1953.

File Photo by Library of Congress/UPI

In 1955, following rumors of failing health, Winston Churchill resigned as prime minister of the United Kingdom.

In 1976, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes died of kidney failure during a flight from Acapulco, Mexico, to Houston. He was 71.

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In 1991, former Sen. John Tower, R-Texas, and 22 others were killed in a commuter plane crash in Brunswick, Ga.

In 1992, Sam Moore Walton, founder of Walmart, died of cancer at 74.

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In 1994, Nirvana's Kurt Cobain killed himself at his home in Seattle. He was 27. It would be three days before his body was discovered.

In 1999, Russell Henderson, one of two men charged in the October 1998 beating death of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, pleaded guilty and was given two life prison sentences. The second man, Aaron McKinney, who delivered the fatal blows, also received two life terms.

In 2000, Lee Petty, the winner of the first Daytona 500 and a pioneer of a NASCAR racing family, died at a North Carolina hospital from complications of an abdominal aneurysm. He was 86.

In 2010, an explosion in a coal mine near Montcoal, in West Virginia's Raleigh County, killed 29 workers.

In 2016, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to mandate six weeks of fully paid leave for new parents.

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In 2017, Pepsi pulled television personality and model Kendall Jenner's first soda ad after facing backlash for appearing to end police brutality with a soft drink.

File Photo by Christine Chew/UPI

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