Today in history

Wednesday, August 23, 2006 Today is Wednesday, Aug. 23, the 235th day of 2006. There are 130 days left in the year. On this date in 1927, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed in Boston for the murders of two men during a 1920 robbery. (Sacco and Vanzetti are vindicated in 1977 by Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis.) In 1754, France's King Louis XVI is born at Versailles. In 1775, Britain's King George III proclaims the American colonies in a state of "open and avowed rebellion." In 1914, Japan declares war against Germany in World War I. In 1926, silent film star Rudolph Valentino dies in New York at age 31. In 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty in Moscow. In 1944, Romanian Prime Minister Ion Antonescu is dismissed by King Michael, paving the way for Romania to abandon the Axis in favor of the Allies. In 1960, Broadway librettist Oscar Hammerstein II dies in Doylestown, Pa. August 23, 1981: Despite the basic steel industry's current multi-billion dollar love affair with continuous casting, Valley Mould & Iron Co. is going ahead with construction of its $30 million melt shop at Hubbard. The Ohio Department of Industrial Relations finds Sentco Paint Co., scene of a June 6 industrial accident that killed two persons, one of them a minor, guilty of violating child labor laws. Returning to college is an exciting challenge and opportunity for Brother James Hall, 44, a Niles native and member of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, who is studying to become the third deaf priest in the United States. August 23, 1966: New construction authorized in Boardman totals $7.3 million in July, a new monthly record. The lion's share, $6 million, was for a shopping mall planned by William Cafaro Co. across from Boardman High School. A spectacular three-alarm blaze, fueled by gallons of paint, guts Imperial Wholesalers Inc. at 800 E. Indianola Ave. The loss is estimated at $650,000. Packing a canteen of fruit drink and three peanut butter sandwiches, two 12-year-old Kent boys hop on an Erie-Lackawanna freight train and make it as far as Leavittsburg before being spotted riding a flatcar. August 23, 1956: Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. will build a large three-story general office building on a 52-acre plot on Market Street in Boardman, President J.L. Mauthe announces. By nominating President Eisenhower for a second term, the Republican Party put its chips on him to do what no other man has done, complete eight years in the White House and reach the age of 70 while doing so. A jamboree square dance with more than 250 children from Youngstown's 30 playgrounds participating thrills 5,000 spectators at the annual Playground Circus at Shady Run Field. August 23, 1931: The current business depression has cost the Mahoning Valley millions of dollars in lost pay and dividends, but hundreds of families are learning the joy of backyard gardening and others are using their leisure time to read and study. The Mahoning Gladiolus Society's fifth annual show and junior flower show attract a record 2,500 people during two days at Stambaugh Auditorium. All family men employed at the Ford Motor Co.'s Iron Mountain, Mich., plant must have gardens in 1932 if they want to hold their jobs, Henry Ford announces. The company will provide a plot for those who have no available land where they live.