Years Ago

October 12, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Tuesday, Oct. 12, the 285th day of 2010. There are 80 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1492: (According to the Old Style calendar), Christopher Columbus arrives with his expedition in the present-day Bahamas.

1810: The German festival Oktoberfest is first held in Munich to celebrate the wedding of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.

1870: Gen. Robert E. Lee dies in Lexington, Va., at age 63.

1918: The Cloquet Fire erupts in Minnesota, claiming some 450 lives.

1933: Bank robber John Dillinger escapes from a jail in Allen County, Ohio, with the help of his gang, who killed the sheriff, Jess Sarber.

1960: Japanese Socialist Party leader Inejiro Asanuma is stabbed to death during a televised debate in Tokyo by an ultranationalist student, Otoya Yamaguchi, who hanged himself in jail.

1984: British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher escapes an attempt on her life when an Irish Republican Army bomb explodes at a hotel in Brighton, England, killing five people.

VINDICATOR FILES

1985: Two men who work at Woodside Receiving Hospital say they are tired of being beaten by patients and are joining a lawsuit against four state officials, including Gov. Richard F. Celeste.

Trumbull County mails foreclosure notices against 200 property owners who owe at least $2,000 in delinquent property taxes. They have 10 days to pay before legal action moves forward.

1970: Dom Perry complains that burglars were able to enter his well-lit downtown tailor shop by removing a lock from the front door and removing more than $9,000 worth of clothing. It was the second burglary of the shop within nine months.

Quarterback John Petrolla engineers two third quarter touchdown drives to lead Cardinal Mooney to a 16-14 win over Ursuline before 11,000 fans at Rayen Stadium.

1960: Some 600 volunteer workers crowd into the YMCA banquet hall for the opening of the Community Chest drive for $1.25 million.

A number of Liberty Township residents speak at a public hearing at Austintown Fitch High School in opposition to the route of state Route 11 through Liberty Township and Girard rather than through Niles and McDonald.

The new city of Hubbard will operate under a traditional mayor-council form of government after voters reject a proposed council-city manager home rule charter.

1935: L.W. St. John, athletic director of Ohio State University, responds to criticism of Gov. Davey, saying that only eight of OSU’s varsity football squad of 35 are on the state payroll, each earning about $1,000 a year for clerical jobs in various state departments.

Vindicator assistant sports editor Lawrence Stolle is uninjured but his automobile is wrecked after being struck by a train at the Pennsylvania crossing on Route 62 in Salem. Salem police say the gates were not down at the crossing and the watchman was asleep.