Years Ago

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

Today is Monday, May 24, the 144th day of 2010. There are 221 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1819: Queen Victoria is born in London.

1844: Samuel F.B. Morse transmits the message, “What hath God wrought” from Washington to Baltimore as he formally opens America’s first telegraph line.

1935: The first major league baseball game to be played at night takes place at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field as the Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1.

1941: The German battleship Bismarck sinks the British dreadnought Hood in the North Atlantic.

1976: Britain and France open trans-Atlantic Concorde supersonic transport service to Washington.

1980: Iran rejects a call by the World Court in The Hague to release the American hostages.

VINDICATOR FILES

1985: The Department of Health and Human Services approves an additional $1.7 million in revenue from Medicare for Salem Community Hospital.

Thelma Ward, who grew up in her home on South Garland Avenue on Youngstown’s East Side and taught private piano lessons there, says she may have to move after the home was burglarized three times in a week. She is 80.

1970: C. William O’Neill, chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court and former Ohio governor, is hospitalized in Knoxville after suffering a heart attack.

Cheryl Locke, 19, of Austintown wins the Miss Warren Pageant at Packard Music Hall.

Mark Chirdon, 15, of Rutledge Drive, a member of Boy Scout Troop 96 at Marion Heights Methodist Church, receives the Eagle Scout award.

1960: Thirty-nine Youngstown families, members of Austintown Community United Church of Christ, are among those that serve as weekend hosts for the 43 orphans who live at St. Paul’s Children’s Home in Greenville, Pa.

Capt. Park P. Baker, Youngstown jet pilot who earned the nickname “Choo Choo” during the Korean War for destroying Red trains, is killed during takeoff in France.

The Rev. Simeon S. Booker, D.D., 78, pastor of Third Baptist Church and former secretary of the West Federal YMCA, dies in North Side Hospital.

1935: Sen. Royal S. Copeland of New York, chairman of the Senate commerce committee, rebukes one of the opponents of the Mahoning-Beaver rivers waterway after learning that the railroads required each employee to collect 38 signatures on petitions opposing the canal.

Thousands of Youngstowners, undaunted by an hour and a half wait, witness the Cole Bros. circus parade through downtown.