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12.15.2003
Chronology
1890s: The phrase "grandfather clause" comes into usage as voting laws are crafted to allow whites to vote even though they do not meet new literacy and property qualifications. The term has come to mean an exemption from a new law.
Nov. 28, 1942: A fire at Cocoanut Grove, in Boston, kills 492 people in the worst nightclub fire in U.S. history.
July 6, 1944: A tent fire at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Hartford, Conn., kills 167 patrons. The tent had been waterproofed with a mixture of gasoline and wax.
Dec. 1, 1958: Ninety-two children and three nuns die when Our Lady of the Angels School on Chicago's West Side burns.
July 10, 1960: Six people are killed at Bristol's Colonial Inn after a handyman lights a cigar, flicks the match into a wastebasket, and then, in a panic, locks the door.
April 1966: The General Assembly approves a 281-page state fire code, to take effect Feb. 1, 1968. It would become commonly known as the '68 code, though legislation filed later delayed its enforcement to 1974.
Nov. 21, 1980: A pastry case malfunctions and causes a fire at the Las Vegas MGM Grand hotel, killing 87 people.
Dec. 13, 1977: Ten women die after a fire rips through Providence College's Aquinas dormitory. Until The Station fire, the PC fire was the deadliest in Rhode Island's history.
Dec. 23, 1995: A fire breaks out under a Christmas tree at 66 Highland St., West Warwick. The fire claims the lives of a mother and father, their two sons and a family friend.
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