been evacuated the night before after a mine foreman noticed abnormal rock shifts in the mine. November November 1 – İsmet İnönü forms a new government in Turkey (the 5th government). November 3–4 – Great Vermont Flood of 1927: Floods devastating Vermont cause the "worst natural disaster in the state's history". November 4 – Frank Heath and his horse Gypsy Queen return to Washington, D.C., having completed a two-year journey of 11,356 miles to all 48 of the states of the U.S. (of this time). November 12 Mahatma Gandhi makes his only visit to Ceylon. Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin with undisputed control of the Soviet Union. The Holland Tunnel opens to traffic, as the first vehicular tunnel under the Hudson River, linking New Jersey with New York City. November 14 – Pittsburgh gasometer explosion: Three Equitable Gas storage tanks in the North Side of Pittsburgh explode, killing 26 people and causing damage estimated between $4.0 million and $5.0 million. November 21 – The Columbine Mine massacre: Colorado state police open fire on 500 rowdy but unarmed miners during a strike, killing 6. December December – The Communist Party Congress condemns all deviation from the general party line in the USSR. December 1 – Chiang Kai-shek marries Soong Mei-ling in Shanghai. December 2 – Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile in the United States. December 3 – Putting Pants on Philip, the first Laurel and Hardy film, is released. December 11 – Gamma Sigma Fraternity becomes the first high school fraternity to become international with Alpha Zeta Chapter in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. December 14 – Iraq gains independence from the United Kingdom. December 15 – Marion Parker, 12, is kidnapped in Los Angeles. Her dismembered body is found on December 19, prompting the largest manhunt to date on the West Coast for her killer, William Edward Hickman, who is arrested on December 22 in Oregon. December 17 United States Navy submarine is accidentally rammed and sunk by United States Coast Guard cutter John Paulding off Provincetown, Massachusetts, killing everyone aboard despite several unsuccessful attempts to raise the submarine. Australian cricketer Bill Ponsford makes 437 runs to break his own world record for the highest first-class cricket score at Melbourne Cricket Ground. December 19 – Three members of