Years Ago

Today is Thursday, May 3, the 124th day of 2012. There are 242 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1911: Wisconsin Gov. Francis E. McGovern signs the first U.S. workers’ compensation law to withstand constitutional review.

1933: Nellie T. Ross becomes the first female director of the U.S. Mint.

1937: Margaret Mitchell wins the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, “Gone With the Wind.”

1952: The Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time on CBS; the winner was Hill Gail.

1987: The Miami Herald says its reporters had observed a young woman spending “Friday night and most of Saturday” at a Washington townhouse belonging to Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart. (The scandal torpedoes Hart’s presidential bid.)

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: A Vindicator/YSU poll shows Youngstown Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro cruising to victory over challengers James J. Corbett and Robert Fort.

Legal experts predict that many of the 73 inmates on Ohio’s death row will meet their eventual deaths in the state’s electric chair. Among them are John Glenn and Rosalie Grant of Youngstown and Danny Lee Hill of Warren.

1972: U.S. Rep. Charles Carney defeats challenger Richard P. McLaughlin by 14,102 votes in the Democratic primary and will face the Rev. Norman Parr in November.

In a race that was expected to go down to the wire, Youngstown Municipal Court Judge John J. Leskovyansky wins the Democratic nomination for Mahoning County Domestic Relations Court by 16,541 votes over County Judge Thomas J. Flynn.

1962: County Commissioner John Palermo demands an explanation for how a prisoner escaped from the Mahoning County Jail. Walter Williams, 32, was severely injured in a 50-foot fall to a concrete sidewalk when a blanket-rope broke as he was scaling the wall from his 6th floor cell. He told a passerby that he was hit by a car and was taken to South Side Hospital before deputies realized he was missing.

Mayor Harry Savasten overrules Police Chief William Golden and assures area funeral directors that city police will continue to provide escorts for funeral processions.

1937: A Niles youth, Harry Cutright, 18, is killed when a car he was driving leaves Ivanhoe Road in Warren and plunged through a guard rail and overturned in a 15-foot drop to a railroad right of way.

As the mercury reaches 77 degrees and trees seem to burst into bloom overnight, Youngstown area roads are crowded with Sunday drivers and picnic spots at Mill Creek Park are at a premium.