On this date in

1927, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in Boston for the murders of two men during a 1920 robbery. Up until they were strapped in the electric chair, they claimed they were innocent. A third person executed with them was Celestino F. Madieros who said he witnessed the April 15, 1920 murders and that Sacco and Vanzetti were not there.

1912 dancer Gene Kelly was born in 1912

1926 heartthrob Rudolph Valentino died at the age of 31.