Today is Wednesday, Oct. 15, the 289th day of 2008. There are 77 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 15, the 289th day of 2008. There are 77 days left in the year. On this date in 1917, Dutch dancer Mata Hari, convicted of spying for the Germans, is executed by a French firing squad outside Paris.

In 1858, the seventh and final debate between senatorial candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas takes place in Alton, Ill. In 1860, 11-year-old Grace Bedell of Westfield, N.Y., writes a letter to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln, suggesting he could improve his appearance by letting his whiskers grow. In 1908, economist John Kenneth Galbraith is born in Ontario, Canada. In 1928, the German dirigible Graf Zeppelin lands in Lakehurst, N.J., completing its first commercial flight across the Atlantic. In 1945, the former premier of Vichy France, Pierre Laval, is executed for treason. In 1946, Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering fatally poisons himself hours before he was to have been executed. In 1964, it is announced that Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev has been removed from office.

October 15, 1983: Youngstown authorities refuse to formally charge a Trumbull County man with the Oct. 3 kidnapping of a woman who is now his legal wife. Records show the couple was married by Warren Mayor Daniel Sferra. The mayor’s secretary said the couple appeared happy and there was no evidence of pressure being applied to the woman.

Gov. Richard Celeste says he supports the idea of a proposed biotechnical park at Liberty Lakes, but offers no promise of state funding.

The 7-Eleven name on some Youngstown area convenience stores will disappear. A spokesman for the Southland Corp. says the company is puling out of northeastern Ohio.

October 15, 1968: The “Automatic” Sprinkler Corp. of America plant on Jones Street, one of the area’s best unused industrial buildings, is sold to Raymond P. Park of Portland, Ore., nationally known industrial realtor.

An intensive three-week police investigation of the rock and bottle-throwing rampage that caused extensive damage and injured several person brings the arrest of two adults and the citation of nine youths.

October 15, 1958: Mahoning County Prosecutor Thomas A. Beil sends all the information he has to Gov. C. William O’Neill about the alleged weekend jaunts of racketeer Sandy Naples from county jail and possible misconduct by Sheriff Paul Langley.

A fare increase and improved industrial operations that are increasing ridership combine for a better financial showing by the Youngstown Transit Co.

Two new cases of paralytic polio, a man and a woman, both in their 20s, are reported by Youngstown hospitals.

October 15, 1933: Samuel J. Weiss, Harvey H. Rand and Atty. G.F. Hammond file for incorporation of the Middletown Distilling Corp., which would build a $400,000 distillery in Youngstown. The distillery would use about 75,000 bushels of grain and employ 30 men year-round.

Former Supreme Court Justice John H. Clarke of Cleveland and San Diego is a guest of Mr. and Mrs. W.O. Brown, Boardman-Poland Road.