Years Ago

Today is Friday, Sept. 23, the 266th day of 2011. There are 99 days left in the year. Autumn arrives at 5:04 a.m. Eastern time.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1779: During the Revolutionary War, the American warship Bon Homme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, defeats the HMS Serapis in battle.

1806: The Lewis and Clark expedition returns to St. Louis more than two years after setting out for the Pacific Northwest.

1846: Neptune is identified as a planet by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle.

1908: An apparent base running error by Fred Merkle of the New York Giants costs his team a victory against the Chicago Cubs and leaves the game tied 1-1. (The Cubs win a rematch and with it, the National League pennant.)

1952: Sen. Richard M. Nixon, R-Calif., salvages his vice-presidential nomination by delivering the “Checkers” speech, in which he defends himself against allegations of improper campaign fundraising.

1973: Former Argentine president Juan Peron wins a landslide election victory that returns him to power; his wife, Isabel, is elected vice president.

1981: The Reagan administration announces plans for what becomes known as “Radio Marti.”

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Miami Financier Victor Posner is granted a new trial on tax evasion charges after a federal judge finds that three jurors were prejudiced against Posner, who controls 40 companies, including Sharon Steel.

Five workers for the Grace Services Co. of Canfield remove over four tons of pigeon droppings from the balconies, ledges and window sills of the Mahoning County Courthouse. The county paid $1,000 to have the work done after receiving a threatening letter from the Youngstown Health Department.

Liberty School Bus No. 13 lives up to its unlucky name when it is struck by lightning near W.S. Guy Elementary. Bus driver Bill Robinson says he had just driven away from the school after dropping off some students when lightning struck the radio antenna.

1971: A 22-year-old Rocky Mount, N.C., man who was being held in Cleveland on a charge of attempting to burglarize the Dollar Savings & Trust Co. in Youngstown attempted to have his $35,000 bound reduced by telling the judge that he had to return to Youngstown where he was a third year student and member of the football team. But when the man couldn’t tell the judge that the YSU team’s nickname was the Penguins, the judge rejected his plea.

A total of 1,540 citizens register at the Mahoning County Board of Elections on the last day to qualify, bringing the total to about 148,000 for the November election.

Trumbull County registers four traffic fatalities on a single day, bring the toll for the year to 50.

1961: The knifing of a 17-year-old Rayen School student and the beating of a 13-year-old Boardman Junior High School pupil mars scholastic football contests in Youngstown.

The board of the Reuben McMillan Free Public Library approves a 1962 budget of $1,117,900, which anticipates approval of a half-mill levy in November.

1936: Eight thousand children and 4,000 adults kneel on the asphalt pavement and grass of Wick Park for a pontifical mass in honor of the children and the opening of the first Cleveland Diocese Eucharistic Congress.

Neighbors band together to save Bobby Gross, 10, from an old mine shaft he fell into while exploring in the Wickliffe area. Ada S. Mather was lowered on a 50-foot rope and six other neighbors pulled him to safety.