Years Ago

August 24, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 24, the 236th day of 2010. There are 129 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

A.D. 410: Rome is overrun by the Visigoths, contributing to the fall of the Roman Empire.

A.D. 79: Long-dormant Mount Vesuvius erupts, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in volcanic ash; an estimated 20,000 people die.

1572: The St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of French Protestants at the hands of Catholics begins in Paris.

1814: During the War of 1812, British forces invade Washington, D.C., setting fire to the Capitol and the White House, as well as other buildings.

1932: Amelia Earhart embarks on a 19-hour flight from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., making her the first woman to fly solo, non-stop, from coast to coast.

1954: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Communist Control Act, outlawing the Communist Party in the United States.

1970: An explosives-laden van left by anti-war extremists blows up outside the University of Wisconsin’s Sterling Hall in Madison, killing 33-year-old researcher Robert Fassnacht.

1989: Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti bans Pete Rose from the game for betting on his own team, the Cincinnati Reds.

VINDICATOR FILES

1985: The 1985 Catholic Charities Appeal of the Youngstown Diocese exceeds its goal of $1.4 million by more than $53,000.

Atty. Dean Phillips, a Youngstown native who received 14 decorations for service in the Vietnam War and became an advocate for veterans rights, dies of cancer in Alexandria., Va., at 42.

1970: Funeral services are held for Spec. R. Pondesteur E. Williams, who was killed in Vietnam, but his family faces a battle to have him buried in an all-white cemetery.

Leonard Woodcock, international president of the United Automobile Workers of America, tours the sprawling General Motors-Fisher Body complex at Lordstown, one of the 10 largest in the UAW fold.

The Youngstown District Amateur Invitational Golf Association awards scholarships to Frank Rosenbaum of Woodrow Wilson High School who will attend Ohio State University, and Mike Sabelli of Wilson and Joe LaRocca of East, who will attend Youngstown State.

1960: A huge posse combs the hills near Steubenville for 21-year-old hoodlum Gordon Spanky Firman who broke out of the Coshocton County jail July 26.

Librarian James C. Floutts tells trustees of the Reuben McMillan Free Library he needs $721,500 to operate in 1961.

A three-day nightmare ends for William McClure, 39, formerly of Youngstown, who is released by Cuban police after they say his arrest was a case of mistaken identity.

1935: Pennsylvania state police are pursing a theory that New Castle steamfitter Frank Blumquist was murdered after he gave a lift to two hitchhikers who tied him to a tree and strangled him.

Thousands of people pour into Hubbard for the second day events of the annual homecoming, including a parade of pets, a bicycle race and a big parade.

Playing at the Warner Theater, “The Farmer Takes a Wife,” starring Henry Fonda and Janet Gaynor.