Years Ago

Today is Thursday, July 26, the 208th day of 2012. There are 158 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1775: Benjamin Franklin becomes America’s first postmaster general.

1788: New York becomes the 11th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1882: The Richard Wagner opera “Parsifal” premieres in Bayreuth, Germany.

1908: U.S. Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte orders creation of a force of special agents that is a forerunner of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

1912: The Edison Studios production “What Happened to Mary,” one of the first, if not very first, movie serials, is released with Mary Fuller in the title role.

1947: President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act, which establishes the National Military Establishment (later renamed the Department of Defense).

1952: Argentina’s first lady, Eva Peron, dies in Buenos Aires at age 33.

King Farouk I of Egypt abdicates in the wake of a coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: The Ungaro administration proposes the purchase of 98 acres of land at Meridian and Salt Springs Roads from U.S. Steel Co. for development of an industrial park.

Frank Valenta, director of United Steelworkers of America District 26, says union officials must convince the rank and file at Sharon Steel Corp. that they are not the only ones being asked to make concessions to keep the company in operation.

1972: A total of 1,259 dogs are entered in the 37th annual Mahoning-Shenango Kennel Club show that is opening at the Canfield Fairgrounds.

Fred L. Gronvall, president of Strouss, is elected president of the Regional Growth Foundation.

1962: Lightning strikes at least three homes in Youngstown and heavy rains are blamed for numerous traffic accidents in the region.

Youngstown police grill Charles “Cadillac Charlie” Cavallaro for three hours, asking what he knows about the bombing death of racketeer Billy Naples and vice operations in the city. Cavallaro says he has been too sick to work and has borrowed money from friends to cover his expenses.

1937: Eleanor Diewert, 7, of McDonald is killed and her mother and grandfather seriously injured when their car collides with another that ran through a highway intersection near Columbus.

Mrs. Joseph Hierro and her son, Frank, arrive in Youngstown to rejoin the husband and father after living in Spain for three years tell of the terrors of living though a civil war.