Years Ago

Today is Thursday, April 21, the 111th day of 2011. There are 254 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1649: The Maryland Toleration Act, which provides for freedom of worship for all Christians, is passed by the Maryland assembly.

1836: An army of Texans led by Sam Houston defeats the Mexicans at San Jacinto, assuring Texas independence.

1910: Author Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, dies in Redding, Conn., at age 74.

1930: A fire breaks out inside the overcrowded Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, killing 332 inmates.

1971: Haitian President Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier dies at age 64; he is succeeded by his son, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Don L. Hanni Jr., chairman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party, gives Mahoning County commissioners a tongue lashing because they bought furniture from a Michigan company rather than GF Furniture Systems Inc.

Karl K. Granger, known in Poland as the man on the spotted horse for riding his pinto, Rocky, through Poland for 17 years, dies at the age of 100.

1971: An explosion of undetermined origin wrecks the office of Dr. Oscar A. Turner at 2136 Glenwood Ave., causing $50,000 in damage.

A natural gas explosion and subsequent fire destroys the home of Edward W. Vesey at 5622 Baylor Ave., Austintown.

The remaining six coal-fired heating plants in public schools in Youngstown will be converted to gas heat by the fall.

1961: About 12,000 week-old chicks are destroyed in a fire that swept the main barn and chicken house at the DeWitt J. Nutt farm on Sharrott Road in North Lima.

Earl Tuxford, 45, of Austintown is fatally injured in an accident at Reactive Metals Corp. in Niles when he is crushed between a crane and the top of a press he was working on.

1936: Damage is estimate at over $1 million in a fire that ravaged the Protected Home Circle Building in the heart of Sharon’s business district.

C.E. Solomonson, president of Niles City Council, and three other councilmen say Niles and Youngstown are being asked to “pay through the nose” for excessive administration costs at the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District.