Years Ago

June 3, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Thursday, June 3, the 154th day of 2010. There are 211 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1808: Confederate President Jefferson Davis is born in Christian County, Ky.

1888: The poem “Casey at the Bat,” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, is first published, in the San Francisco Daily Examiner.

1935: The French liner Normandie sets a record on its maiden voyage, arriving in New York after crossing the Atlantic in just four days.

1937: The Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated the British throne, marries Wallis Warfield Simpson in Monts, France.

1948: The 200-inch reflecting Hale Telescope at the Palomar Mountain Observatory in California is dedicated.

1963: Pope John XXIII dies at age 81; he is succeeded by Pope Paul VI.

1965: Astronaut Edward White becomes the first American to “walk” in space, during the flight of Gemini 4.

1983: Gordon Kahl, a militant tax protester wanted in the slayings of two U.S. marshals in North Dakota, is killed in a gun battle with law-enforcement officials near Smithville, Ark.

Chinese army troops begin their sweep of Beijing to crush student-led pro-democracy demonstrations.

VINDICATOR FILES

1985: Shelters and disaster service centers are set up in Niles and Newton Falls to aid victims of killer tornadoes that swept through the area.

The B’nai B’rith presents its Guardian of the Menorah tribute to Bishop James W. Malone of the Youngstown Catholic Diocese.

General Motors Corp.’s purchase of the Commuter Aircraft Corp. plant for its Packard Electric Division could provide the “heart beat” for a long-sought airport-connected industrial park.

1970: A 24-year-old South Side man and his 17-year-old girlfriend are being held for investigation into the shooting death of a 15-year-old Rayen School student who was shot by a motorist whose car had been stoned at Lexington Avenue and Griffith Street.

The trial of Willie Head, charged in the murder of John Sawaska of Hubbard during labor unrest at the Lordstown GM plant, opens in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

1960: As a recount begins, Atty. Joseph E. O’Neill pick up one vote in the race for county prosecutor, but still trails Jack W. Nybell by 25 votes, 9,211 to 9,186.

Hundreds of idle Youngstown district steelworkers will return to their jobs as seven or eight blast furnaces and 27 open hearths are in operation.

1935: After dropping 40 employees from the park department staff, Youngstown Park Commissioner Lionel Evans says he will operate with a skeleton crew until the city provides additional money.

New car sales in Mahoning County decrease in May from April with 612 passenger cars and 64 trucks sold. That is a decrease of 26 vehicles for the month, but an increase of 100 over May 1934.