Years Ago

Today is Friday, Dec. 9, the 343rd day of 2011. There are 22 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1911: Academy Award-winning actor Broderick Crawford (“All the King’s Men”) is born in Philadelphia.

An explosion inside the Cross Mountain coal mine near Briceville, Tenn., kills 84 workers. (Five are rescued.)

1941: China declares war on Japan, Germany and Italy.

1958: The anti-communist John Birch Society is formed in Indianapolis.

1971: Nobel Peace laureate Ralph Bunche dies in New York

1984: The five-day-old hijacking of a Kuwaiti jetliner that claims the lives of two Americans ends as Iranian security men seize control of the plane, which is parked at Tehran airport.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: The 75th anniversary of St. Elizabeth Hospital Medical Center is marked at St. Columba Cathedral, with a Mass celebrated by Bishop James W. Malone.

Interstate 80 reopens after being closed for most of a day due to an overturned truck near Meander Reservoir that spilled about 75 gallons of styrene monomer, a highly flammable chemical that produces irritating fumes.

1971: Nearly 3,000 General Motors Assembly Division afternoon shift employees are sent home early. Personnel Director Jerry Becker says employees were not properly performing work assignments, which caused a backlog of cars needing repairs.

Delivering the homily during an anniversary Mass at St. Columba Cathedral, the Rev. Msgr. J. Paul O’Connor, chancellor for the Diocese of Youngstown, praises St. Elizabeth Hospital as an institution where God’s love for all men has been expressed through 60 years of service.

1961: A carefully placed bomb at the home of Niles Police Chief John A. Ross rips a gaping hole in the foundation of his home at 1332 Robbins Ave. and shatters windows in nearby buildings.

1936: Hundreds of additional riders are trying out Youngstown’s new trambuses, causing some delays and irritation.

The Wick Avenue viaduct is open to traffic. It is the conclusion of a 50-year dream to provide quick transportation from the North Side to downtown over the Erie Railroad tracks.