Years Ago

Today is Thursday, Oct. 25, the 299th day of 2012. There are 67 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1854: An English brigade of more than 600 men charges the Russian army, suffering heavy losses in the “Charge of the Light Brigade” during the Crimean War.

1912: Country comedian Minnie Pearl is born Sarah Ophelia Colley in Centerville, Tenn.

1945: Taiwan becomes independent of Japanese colonial rule.

1957: Mob boss Albert Anastasia of “Murder Inc.” notoriety is shot to death by masked gunmen in a barber shop inside the Park Sheraton Hotel in New York.

1962: In a dramatic confrontation before the U.N. Security Council, U.S. Ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson II demands that Soviet Ambassador Valerian Zorin confirm or deny the existence of Soviet-built missile bases in Cuba; when Zorin declines to respond, Stevenson says he is prepared to wait “until hell freezes over” for an answer. Stevenson then presents photographic evidence of the bases to the Council.

1971: The U.N. General Assembly votes to admit mainland China and expel Taiwan.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: An estimated 1,200 runners participate in the 11th annual Peace Race in Youngstown.

Liberty Township has few barns left, but four have been set afire in recent months by arsonists and police and fire investigators are working on a string of 20 arsons, including the barn cases.

1972: Sharon Steel Corp. reports its highest nine months earnings in over two decades and second best period profit performance in its 72-year history, with earning for the first three quarters of $7.1 million.

Ohio Secretary of State Ted W. Brown predicts a turnout of 4.5 million voters in the November presidential election, which would be about 300,000 more than the 1960 presidential election.

Arsonists using torches touch off a fire inside the Petrie Club at 1504 Himrod Ave., but the fire is reported by a passing motorist and damage is kept to $8,000.

The Mahoning County Medical Society celebrates its 100th anniversary. The city’s first hospital, established in 1883, still stands at the corner of New Court and Thorn streets.

1962: Two sets of Youngs-town grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. George Shanabarger and Mr. and Mrs. Homer Womerick, are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their 8-day-old granddaughter, June Marie Shanabarger, who was born in the Naval Hospital at Guantanamo Bay to Rosemarie Shanabarger, wife of Signalman Ronald Shanabarger.

A tunnel at the Youngstown Municipal Airport is being stocked to serve as an air raid shelter in response to the Cuban missile crisis.

1937: John Charles Thomas, noted baritone of opera, concert and radio, sings at Stambaugh Auditorium for the opening of the Monday Night Musical club’s 1937-38 season.

The American College of Surgeons estimates that 10 million Americans will have hospital insurance by 1942 at the present rate of growth in such coverage.