Today in history

Today is Friday, June 19, the 170th day of 2009. There are 195 days left in the year. On this date in 1865, Union troops commanded by Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrive in Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War is over, and that all remaining slaves in Texas are free.

In 1862, slavery is outlawed in U.S. territories. In 1910, Father’s Day is celebrated for the first time, in Spokane, Wash. In 1917, during World War I, King George V orders the British royal family to dispense with German titles and surnames; the family took the name “Windsor.” In 1938, four dozen people are killed when a railroad bridge in Montana collapses, sending a train known as the “Olympian” hurtling into Custer Creek. In 1952, the celebrity-panel game show “I’ve Got A Secret” makes its debut on CBS-TV with Garry Moore as host. In 1953, Julius Rosenberg, 35, and his wife, Ethel, 37, convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, are executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, N.Y. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is approved by the Senate, 73-27, after surviving a lengthy filibuster.

June 19, 1984: A 100-mph wind blows the roof off the Day’s Inn on Motor Inn Drive in Liberty, killing an 8-year-old Michigan girl and injuring 10 others.

A high-powered thunderstorm hits the Youngstown area bringing as much as a half-inch of rain an hour, with accumulations of 2.5 inches on Youngstown’s South Side and 4.5 inches in North Lima.

Wolf Blitzer, a Washington correspondent for the Washington Post, will be the speaker at the kick off for the state of Israel bond campaign at the home of Atty. and Mrs. Richard Goldberg, 975 Royal Arms Drive, in Liberty.

June 19, 1969: Two bandits escape with $250 after struggling with Salem Bubar, the night clerk at Brothers Food Market.

Youngstown City Council is continuing its study of a $33 million development program at the Municipal Airport, based on a master plan prepared by Dalton & Dalton Associates of Cleveland.

Nicholas A. D’Amato, 54, of Campbell, superintendent of Campbell public schools since 1960 and president of the Youngstown Area Community Action Council, dies in Memorial Hospital, New York, after undergoing abdominal surgery.

June 19, 1959: The Mahoning County grand jury indicts county Judge Harold S. Rickert Jr. on charges of embezzlement. A state examiner report had revealed that Rickert’s court had owed the Mahoning County treasury $15,448 for more than a year.

U.S. Rep. Michael J. Kirwan confers in Pittsburgh with Col. W.W. Smith, head of the Pittsburgh office of the Army engineers, on slow progress being made on the West Branch Reservoir.

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June 19, 1934: The Carnegie Steel Co. is seeking bids for a $10 million continuous strip mill in McDonald.

F.F. Herr, assistant principal for 23 years, is named principal of Rayen School and Frank W. Tear, a teacher for 21 years, is named assistant principal.

John J. Farrell, Democratic Party chairman in Mahoning County, is confirmed as postmaster of Youngstown by the Senate. The position pays $4,500 a year.