Today is Friday, Oct. 24, the 298th day of 2008. There are 68 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Friday, Oct. 24, the 298th day of 2008. There are 68 days left in the year. On this date in 1945, the United Nations officially comes into existence as its charter takes effect.

In 1537, Jane Seymour, the third wife of England’s King Henry VIII, dies 12 days after giving birth to Prince Edward, later King Edward VI. In 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph message is sent as Chief Justice Stephen J. Field of California transmits a telegram to President Lincoln. In 1901, widow Anna Edson Taylor becomes the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. In 1939, nylon stockings are sold publicly for the first time, in Wilmington, Del. In 1940, the 40-hour work week goes into effect under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. In 1952, Republican presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower declares in Detroit, “I shall go to Korea” as he promises to end the conflict. (He makes the visit over a month later.) In 1980, the merchant freighter SS Poet departs Philadelphia bound for Port Said, Egypt, with a crew of 34 and a cargo of grain; it disappears en route and has not been heard from since. In 2002, authorities arrest Army veteran John Allen Muhammad and teenager Lee Boyd Malvo near Myersville, Md., in connection with the Washington-area sniper attacks.

October 24, 1983: Several families in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys are awaiting word about relatives in the Beirut area who were stationed in Beirut, where a Marine barracks was leveled by a truck bomb.

Jessica Savitch, an NBC News anchor, drowns with a friend when their car tumbled into the Delaware Canal in New Hope, Pa. She had spoken to a Youngstown audience in Powers Auditorium as part of the Town Hall lecture series just days earlier.

October 24, 1968: An unidentified gunman fires a series of shots that damaged windows and the interior of Bethlehem Lutheran Church at 388 E. Midlothian Blvd.

Television and movie actor Wendell Corey speaks at a rally for Republican candidates at Canfield High School. Dr. Jack Schreiber of Canfield is master of ceremonies.

October 24, 1958:Mahoning and Trumbull County officials agree to pay up to $600 in damages to drain Cedar Lake so police can search for the gun that was used kill Richard Brown of Mineral Ridge. The owner of the lake, St. Maron Church, wants a $1,200 deposit to cover damages if it were to rain while the lake was drained and the sandy bottom the church had placed in the lake were to be washed away.

Children from West Austintown Methodist Church send the contents of their birthday bank to Laquetta Foster, the 13 year old girl from Rigby Street, who needs a constant supply of oxygen, hoping that their $8.33 will help the girl.

October 24, 1933: Mahoning County Sheriff W.J. Engelhardt is investigating the ownership of two alleged gambling machines seized by his deputies in drug stores in the city. The machines pay odds ranging from 2-to-1 to 20-to-1.

Almost 2,000 women attend the first two sessions of the cooking school held at the Federal Store Building under the auspices of The Vindicator and the Electric League of Youngstown.