Years Ago

Today is Tuesday, Sept. 22, the 265th day of 2009. There are 100 days left in the year. Autumn arrives at 5:18 p.m. Eastern time. On this date in 1776, during the Revolutionary War, Capt. Nathan Hale, 21, is hanged as a spy by the British in New York.

In 1656, in colonial Maryland, an all-female jury hears the case of Judith Catchpole, an indentured servant who was accused of killing her newborn baby during a voyage from England. (The jury, which believed Catchpole’s assertion that she hadn’t even been pregnant, acquits her.) In 1761, Britain’s King George III and his wife, Charlotte, are crowned in Westminster Abbey. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issues the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of Jan. 1, 1863. In 1927, Gene Tunney successfully defends his heavyweight boxing title against Jack Dempsey in the famous “long-count” fight in Chicago. In 1959, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev arrives in Iowa for a two-day stopover, during which he visits a corn farm, holds talks with former Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson, and eats his first hot dog. In 1964, the musical “Fiddler on the Roof” opens on Broadway, beginning a run of 3,242 performances. In 1975, Sara Jane Moore attempts to shoot President Gerald R. Ford outside a San Francisco hotel, but misses. (Moore serves 32 years in prison before being paroled on Dec. 31, 2007.)

September 22, 1984: Max Cleland, former head of the Veterans Administration and secretary of state of Georgia, tells 200 people at the 33rd annual dinner of the Mahoning County Easter Seal Society that the Easter Seal Society helped him have faith in himself after he lost both legs in Vietnam.

Heckling of political speakers is a time-honored democratic institution, Geraldine Ferraro says, but the noisy critics who have dogged her vice presidential campaign are part of an organized smear campaign.

Youngstown Osteopathic Hospital and Mill Creek Park open a new fitness course in Rocky Ridge on McCollum Road

September 22, 1969: A fire of undetermined origin destroys a large trailer at the construction site of the General Motors Fisher Body stamping plant, which has been the scene of labor unrest.

Mary Katherine Thomas, 54, of Sexton Street, Struthers, dies in a fire at her home, which Fire Chief Sam Richards says was apparently started by smoking in bed.

Anna Ondrovicova, 62, a resident of Czechoslovakia, visiting in Youngstown, is killed in a two- car accident at Routes 14 and 62 south of Canfield. Eight people are injured.

September 22, 1959: Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, are received warmly by 30,000 people along the road from the Youngstown Municipal Airport to Greenville, Pa., where he helps dedicate a new science building at Thiel College and receives an honorary doctorate degree.

A spectacular fire destroys the J&J Gardens Market on South Avenue in Boardman Township. The loss is estimated at $30,000.

Two Stark County men who were drag racing when other cars were involved in a crash that killed three other people in a third car, are indicted for second-degree murder. Rocco Serena, 60, his daughter, Nancy, 32, and grandson Rickey, 8, were killed.

September 22, 1934: Inves-tigators say Bruno Hauptmann, the man arrested in the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, sent a coded letter in which he discussed plans for the kidnapping to George Michael Paulin, a Mahoning County robber who was in the Ohio Penitentiary in late 1931 or early 1932 when the letter was written.

The Rev. Joseph Krispinsky will entertain members of the ordination class of 1923 of the Cleveland diocese at his home in Struthers for the annual class reunion dinner.

The Rayen Torch Club holds a wiener roast at Zimmerman’s farm near Churchill for club members and candidates for the club