Years Ago

Today is Saturday, Nov. 14, the 318th day of 2009. There are 47 days left in the year. On this date in 1851, Herman Melville’s novel “Moby-Dick; Or, The Whale” is first published in the United States.

In 1881, Charles J. Guiteau goes on trial for assassinating President James A. Garfield. (Guiteau is convicted and hanged the following year.) In 1889, inspired by Jules Verne, New York World reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) sets out to travel around the world in less than 80 days. (She makes the trip in 72 days.) Jawarharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India, is born. In 1922, the British Broadcasting Corporation begins its domestic radio service. In 1940, during World War II, German planes destroy most of the English town of Coventry. In 1943, Leonard Bernstein, the 25-year-old assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, makes his debut with the orchestra as he fills in for the ailing Bruno Walter during a nationally broadcast concert. In 1969, Apollo 12 blasts off for the moon. In 1970, a chartered Southern Airways DC9 crashes while trying to land in Huntington, W.V., killing all 75 on board, including the Marshall University football team and its coaching staff.

November 14, 1984: During a Town Hall session, furniture store owner Jerry Haber questions Youngstown Mayor Pat Ungaro on why his administration has decided not to fight to have the company’s downtown building considered as the site for a new federal courthouse.

Ronald Testa of Warren will appeal the 7th District Court of Appeals decision upholding Warren’s exotic cat ban to the Ohio Supreme Court, but neighbors on Adelaide SE say they haven’t seen signs of Wally the Lion at Testa’s house for some time.

November 14, 1969: The Rev. Peter Eid, pastor of St. Maron Church, is appointed a papal Chamberlain to the Holy See by Pope Paul VI.

Youngstown State University’s fall play, “Blood Wedding,” opens at Strouss Auditorium, starring Richard Zuti, Toni Scali, Ed Dravec and Carol Shaffer Mills.

November 14, 1959: Youngstown Police Chief Paul H. Cress is among some 40 Ohio police chiefs who generally are lining up behind Atty. Gen. Mark McElroy’s proposal to make possession or transportation of numbers slips a felony.

Operators of eight downtown Youngstown buildings, including the Mahoning County Courthouse, sign an agreement to hire Otto Standke, the Kansas birdman, to rid the buildings of starlings.

The Rt. Rev. Nelson M. Burroughs, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio, will dedicate the new $150,000 worship center of St. Rocco’s Church at 239 Trumbull Ave.

November 14, 1934: A completely equipped brewery with a capacity of 50,000 barrels a year is planned for the old Youngstown Sanitary Laundry plant on North Avenue. It will be known as the Youngstown Brewing Co.

Fire destroys the administration building on Hiram’s campus. College records and the school safe are carried out by students, but the windswept fire was more than volunteer firemen could contain.

The Rev. Stephen Palmer, president of the Youngstown Ministerial Association, writes to Carl E. Milliken of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, complaining that the industry is not fulfilling its own code of ethics in what it produces and distributes.