Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Today is Tuesday, Feb. 21, the 52nd day of 2012. There are 314 days left in the year.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
On this date in:
1862: Nathaniel Gordon, captured at sea with nearly 900 Africans aboard his ship, the Erie, becomes the first and only American slave-trader to be executed under the U.S. Piracy Law of 1820 as he is hanged in New York.
1912: A new phrase enters the American political lexicon as former President Theodore Roosevelt, traveling by train to the Ohio Constitutional Convention, tells a reporter in Cleveland, “My hat is in the ring,” signaling his intent to challenge President William Howard Taft for the Republican nomination.
1916: The 10-month Battle of Verdun begins in World War I as German forces attack the French.
1945: During the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima, the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea is sunk by kamikazes; 318 men die.
1992: Kristi Yamaguchi of the United States wins the gold medal in ladies’ figure skating at the Albertville Olympics; Midori Ito of Japan wins the silver, Nancy Kerrigan of the U.S. the bronze.
VINDICATOR FILES
1987: The Ohio Department of Development’s financial assistance to the Mahoning Valley should remain the same or even increase over the next two years, even though Gov. Richard F. Celeste’s overall budget contains an increase of only 1.5 percent.
Coach Bob Patton‘s Liberty Leopards defeat LaBrae, 73-58, to capture the Trumbull AA League title. Senior Kerry Campbell scores 21 of his 23 points in the second half.
1972: Members of Chaney High School’s French Club are stranded for 23 hours on I-80 in Pennsylvania by 3 feet of snow during its annual “fun tour” to New York City.
Samuel Stozier, 17, of 819 Crandall Ave. dies of a gunshot wound fired from an “empty” 25-caliber pistol being shown to him by a friend.
1962: Long lines of Youngstowners queue up at post office branches throughout the area to snap up the surprise issue of new four-cent stamps commemorating the historic orbital flight of astronaut John H. Glenn Jr.
A baby boy born at St. Elizabeth Hospital just three minutes into Glenn’s flight is named John Glenn DeArmitt. He is the son of Benny and Mary Ann Zolla DeArmitt of 182 W. Princeton Ave.
1937: A youthful prisoner is shot dead and three others are wounded by deputies who open fire on eight desperate prisoners attempting to break out of the Mahoning County Jail, armed with broom handles.
William Pinkerton, 55, of Girard is killed by a hit-skip driver while changing a flat tire on his car in McKinley Heights.