Years Ago

Today is Saturday, April 21, the 112th day of 2012. 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.

1918: Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the German ace known as the “Red Baron,” is killed in action during World War I.

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

1955: The Jerome Lawrence-Robert Lee play “Inherit the Wind,” inspired by the Scopes trial of 1925, opens at the National Theatre in New York.

1960: Brazil inaugurates its new capital, Brasilia, transferring the seat of national government from Rio de Janeiro.

1962: The Century 21 Exposition, also known as the Seattle World’s Fair, opens.

1972: Apollo 16 astronauts John W. Young and Charles M. Duke Jr. explore the surface of the moon.

1986: A rediscovered vault in Chicago’s Lexington Hotel that was linked to Al Capone is opened during a live TV special hosted by Geraldo Rivera; aside from a few bottles and a sign, the vault turns out to be empty.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: Education associations on several levels file suit in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to fight a state ruling on fees paid by teachers who choose not to belong to a union.

Youngstowner Martin J. Milich, 40, is named to one of the top staff positions in the General Assembly, assistant to Ohio Senate President Paul E. Gillmor, R-Port Clinton. The job pays $35,100.

Mahoning County commissioners say Conrail is creating safety hazards by closing railroad crossings for repairs without coordinating with local safety forces.

1972: The Youngstown Diocesan Board of Education sets a maximum of $125 per year for an elementary student with a family maximum of $250. High school tuition will remain at a maximum of $350 a year.

Atty. Richard P. McLaughlin, candidate for the 19th Congressional District, says he is preparing a list of contributors to his campaign and will release it if the incumbent, Charles Carney, agrees to do the same.

Planned Parenthood of Mahoning Valley Inc. will offer greatly expanded medical services, educational and informational services and an increased number of clinics, finance d by a $140,000 Health, Education and Welfare grant.

1962: Judge E.G. Diehm dismisses gambling charges against a Youngstown University student, Donald Stiritz, who was arrested after police raided a Sigma Tau Gamma alumni party. Diehm said older men at the party should have stood up rather than let a college boy be the scapegoat.

Louis Montaine, operator of the Victoria Restaurant on Belmont Avenue, pulls his pistol and fires six shots at a bandit who accosted him and knocked him down in the parking lot. He told police he doesn’t know if any shot hit its mark.

1937: Youngstown Traffic Commissioner Clarence Coppersmith advocates making driving while intoxicated a felony, which would carry a penitentiary sentence.

Two young men, Otis B. Grandy, 24, of Clark’s Mills, Pa., and his cousin, Ford J. Auchter, 21, of Sharpsville are killed when the motorcycle Grandy was driving spins on loose gravel and strikes a pole in the Youngstown-New Castle Road about a mile east of New Bedford.