Years Ago

Today is Thursday, Dec. 26, the 360th day of 2013. There are five days left in the year. The seven-day African-American holiday Kwanzaa begins today. This is Boxing Day.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1776: The British suffer a major defeat in the Battle of Trenton during the Revolutionary War.

1799: Former President George Washington is eulogized by Col. Henry Lee as “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

1862: Thirty-eight Santee Sioux Indians are hanged in Mankato, Minn., for their roles in an uprising that had claimed the lives of hundreds of white settlers.

The Civil War Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, resulting in a Confederate victory, begins in Mississippi.

1908: Jack Johnson becomes the first African-American boxer to win the world heavyweight championship as he defeats Canadian Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia.

1933: Nissan Motor Co. is founded in Yokohama, Japan, as the Automobile Manufacturing Co.

VINDICATOR FILES

1988: Ed Wilson, president of Wilson’s Appliances Inc., tells Dan Pecchia, Vindicator business editor, that he developed his “Crazy Eddie” advertising persona over a period of years and that it has boosted business and “is here to stay.”

The Boys Club Raiders under head coach Randall Nuby Jr. win the 1988 Volney Rogers Football League’s PeeWee championship.

An average of 75 percent of Ohio inmates who have taken part in the state’s prison furlough program complete it without going back to prison.

1973: Blanche Gilligan, 78, a native of Youngstown and mother of Gov. John J. Gilligan, dies in a Cincinnati nursing home.

Five people are killed when a car driven by a youth without a driver’s license crashes into a pick-up truck on rain-slicked Route 173 near Greenville, Pa.

Youngstown’s first Christmas Day baby is Dominic Jack Terrago III, born at Youngstown Osteopathic Hospital at 1:25 a.m.

1963: Hit skip drivers kill two Youngstown area pedestrians on Christmas Day: John Ford, 50, of Youngstown, and Clarence L. Taylor, 49, of Salem.

The Valley Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge at 3781 Mahoning Ave. is destroyed by fire.

Cindy Lou Strait comes into the world at 16 minutes after midnight on Christmas Day at St. Elizabeth Hospital, making her the city’s first Christmas baby.

1938: Youngstown musicians who have attained distinction are featured soloists at the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra’s Christmas concert at Stambaugh Auditorium. Isabella Razzano sings “The Indian Love Call.”

Three Chicago residents on their way to Youngstown to attend the wedding of a niece, Lillian Olshonsky, are killed when their car and another collide in U.S. Route 20 in Indiana, just west of the Ohio line.

Boardman residents open a campaign to get money, food and clothing to rehabilitate the two-story home of the Ervin Rice family at 47 Nevada Ave., which was gutted by fire Christmas Eve. Mrs. Rice is in fair condition in South Side Hospital with burns.