Years Ago

Today is Monday, Oct. 19, the 292nd day of 2009. There are 73 days left in the year. On this date in 1781, British troops under Gen. Lord Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown, Va., as the American Revolution nears its end.

In 1765, the Stamp Act Congress, meeting in New York, draws up a declaration of rights and liberties. In 1812, French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte begin their retreat from Moscow. In 1951, President Harry S. Truman signs an act formally ending the state of war with Germany. In 1959, the William Gibson play “The Miracle Worker,” starring Patty Duke as Helen Keller and Anne Bancroft as Helen’s teacher, Annie Sullivan, opens on Broadway. In 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower imposes an embargo on exports to Cuba covering all commodities except medical supplies and certain food products. In 1967, the U.S. space probe Mariner 5 flies past Venus. In 1977, the supersonic Concorde makes its first landing in New York City. In 1987, the stock market crashes as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges 508 points, or 22.6 percent in value. In 1994, 22 people are killed as a terrorist bomb shatters a bus in the heart of Tel Aviv’s shopping district. Entertainer Martha Raye dies in Los Angeles at age 78.

October 19, 1984: U.S. Rep. Lyle Williams voices strong objection to a New York newspaper’s description of Youngstown as a “mob-dominated steel town where residents have lost faith,” and says his challenger, Mahoning County Sheriff James A. Traficant Jr. has contributed to the perception.

First Federal Savings & Loan Association announces plans to build a new $5.5 million corporate headquarters building on U.S. 224 at Bridgewood Avenue in Boardman.

The Youngstown Education Association narrowly defeats the Youngstown Federation of Teachers in a union vote to determine who will represent Youngstown’s 1,100 teachers.

October 19, 1969: In Trumbull County, six young men from Warren and one from Newton Falls pass the bar exam: James Oliver, Charles Richards, George Gessner, Thomas Palmer, William Urban, John Pogue and Thomas Swift.

Cmdr. Christopher S. Lardis of Warren is named commanding officer of the USS Blandy, a destroyer with the Atlantic Fleet.

Paul Harvey, popular American Broadcasting Co. radio newsman, will be the speaker in a program at Stambaugh Auditorium promoting the New Life Center of the Youngstown Rescue Mission.

October 19, 1959: Paul C. Bunn School, named for the late superintendent of Youngstown city schools, is dedicated. Atty. David E. Jones, representing the Board of Education, says city taxpayers got a lot for their money, a 12-classroom school for $550,000.

Actress Elizabeth Taylor becomes the first woman screen star to sign a $1 million contract for a single movie. She will be playing the title character in “Cleopatra.”

Thieves push a safe containing $1,200 out the second floor window of the East Fairfield Coal Co. near North Lima, load it on a company truck and escape.

October 19, 1934: Justice Department agents are holding two Youngstown men for suspicion in an investigation of the manner in which local people were led to invest thousands of dollars in the Big Four Oil and Gas Co. and Southern Park Racing Association.

Word is received in New Castle of the murder of a New Castle business man, George Ververri, during a visit to Korce, Albania.