Years Ago

Today is Saturday, Feb. 25, the 56th day of 2012. There are 310 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1836: Inventor Samuel Colt patents his revolver.

1901: United States Steel Corp. is incorporated by J.P. Morgan.

1913: The 16th Amendment to the Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, is declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox.

1919: Oregon becomes the first state to tax gasoline, at one cent per gallon.

1950: “Your Show of Shows,” starring Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner and Howard Morris, debuts on NBC-TV.

1964: Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) defeats Sonny Liston to become world heavyweight boxing champion.

1986: President Ferdinand Marcos flees the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; Corazon Aquino assumes the presidency.

1991: During the Persian Gulf War, 28 Americans are killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hits a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: Richard Mitchell, a 60-year-old steelworker, survives four days bound in his Chicago Avenue home after being accosted by four men who followed him home from a Campbell bar. Two women and a man are arrested at the J.C. Penney store in Boardman where they were using Mitchell’s credit card.

A Youngstown man and McKeesport woman who had been sought for more than a year in the kidnapping and murder of Richard Banyots of Girard are arrested in McKeesport, Pa., after McKeesport police and the FBI get an anonymous tip.

The U.S. District Court office in Youngstown may be shut down if the Mahoning County Department of Human Services moves into the City Hall Annex.

1972: The Diocese of Youngstown, which serves about 285,000 Roman Catholics in a six-county area, makes its complete financial report public for the first time, showing income of $22.1 million and expenses of $22.9 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Youngstown is expected to increase the surcharge for suburban water users from 25 percent when contracts with Mahoning and Trumbull counties expire in June.

1962: Youngstown’s leading downtown stores will launch expanded hours, remaining open three nights a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

FBI agents following up on a bizarre extortion attempt in Youngstown discover enough explosives in a Steubenville barn to level a city block.

Two Youngstown synagogues, Temple Anshe Emeth and Temple Emanu-El, begin adult education programs designed to help congregations and the public gain an understanding and appreciation of Jewish tradition.

1937: Wallace Warfield Simpson, who is engaged to the Duke of Windsor, is considering the purchase of a home in Cannes, France, owned by a man who spent his youth in Youngstown, Sir Pomerol Burton.

Four Youngstown garbage collectors are fined $25 each after pleading guilty to watering down their loads to increase their payment from the city.

Mahoning County Sheriff Ralph Elser says he won’t feed his prisoners on the 30 cents a day offered by Mahoning County commissioners because it is impossible to do at that rate.