Today is Thursday, May 22, the 142nd day of 2003. There are 223 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Thursday, May 22, the 142nd day of 2003. There are 223 days left in the year. On this date in 1868, the Great Train Robbery takes place near Marshfield, Ind., as seven members of the Reno gang make off with $96,000 in loot.
In 1761, the first life insurance policy in the United States is issued, in Philadelphia. In 1813, composer Richard Wagner is born in Leipzig, Germany. In 1939, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini sign a Pact of Steel committing Germany and Italy to a military alliance. In 1947, the Truman Doctrine is enacted as Congress appropriates military and economic aid for Greece and Turkey. In 1969, the lunar module of Apollo 10 flies to within nine miles of the moon's surface in a dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing. In 1972, President Nixon begins a visit to the Soviet Union, during which he and Kremlin leaders sign the SALT I arms limitation treaty. In 1990, after years of conflict, pro-Western North Yemen and pro-Soviet South Yemen merge to form a single nation, the Republic of Yemen.
May 22, 1978: The Rev. Joseph Iati, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, speaking at the Communion dinner of the Fraternal Order of Police, urges Youngstown police officers to stick together in the face of adversity and resist efforts to break their ranks.
John Burgan, president of Burgan Real Estate Co. Ltd., is elected president of the Youngstown Area Jaycees, succeeding Herman Vyas.
The new Museum of Ceramics in the old post office in East Liverpool will open temporarily during the Pottery Festival in mid-June. William H. Vodrey Jr., president of the East Liverpool Historical Society, says the museum will boast the top ceramics and Indian art displays in the country when it opens permanently.
May 22, 1963: The means for achieving unity among all religions is the topic when about 300 Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and Jewish clergymen and laymen gather at the Hotel Pick-Ohio in downtown Youngstown. Bishop James W. Malone and the Rev. Samuel C. Sharp, executive secretary of the Youngstown Council of Churches, call the affair a first for Youngstown, and possibly the nation.
Two Pennsylvania men are arrested in the vicious beating and robbery of a West Side service station attendant. The men escaped after taking $60 from Fred Purnell, the attendant at an American Oil Co. station on Meridian Road, but struck a culvert while driving through Mill Creek Park and were spotted by police.
Peter Iacino Jr., a Westinghouse Electric Corp. employee and local president of the IUE, upsets Mayor John E. Giroski's bid for a third term as mayor of Farrell.
May 22, 1953: Damage is expected to top $50,000 from a tornado that dipped into Greenford and New Albany in southern Mahoning County. Some farm crops were heavily damaged and several orchards destroyed.
Mayor Charles P. Henderson names a 16-member off-street parking advisory committee, which he asks to co-operate with other persons and agencies seeking a solution to Youngstown's parking problems.
Youngstown Police Chief Edward J. Allen testifies that Bernard Bloch, a local news distributor, agreed with him that a lot of publications shouldn't be on the newsstands, but he is forced to take them. The testimony came during a deposition in federal court over Youngstown's anti-pornography ordinance.
May 22, 1928: Twenty-five monkeys escape overnight from Idora Park. One monkey got into the house of mirrors and broke several in his confusion. He was taken to Doc Cravers' animal hospital. The others could be heard chattering from the tree tops in Mill Creek Park as searchers attempted to corral them.
Youngstown Superintendent J.J. Richeson and Vocational Director T.E. Jones will tour a half dozen cities with technical high schools, with an eye toward establishing a centralized technical school in Youngstown.
The 16th annual 500-mile race at the Indianapolis motor speedway will be broadcast May 30 by the National Broadcasting Co. over a coast-to-coast network.