Years Ago

Today is Monday, May 13, the 133rd day of 2013. There are 232 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

1607: English colonists arrive by ship at the site of what becomes the Jamestown settlement in Virginia.

1846: The United States declares that a state of war already exists with Mexico.

1917: Three shepherd children near Fatima, Portugal, report seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary.

1940: Britain’s new prime minister, Winston Churchill, tells Parliament: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”

1973: In tennis’ first so-called “Battle of the Sexes,” Bobby Riggs defeats Margaret Court 6-2, 6-1 in Ramona, Calif. (Riggs’ standing challenge to female players is accepted by Billie Jean King, who soundly defeats Riggs at the Houston Astrodome in September.)

1981: Pope John Paul II is shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter’s Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca.

VINDICATOR FILES

1988: The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. and some of its top officials to determine whether they violated security law by aiding hostile takeover bids by financier Paul Bilzerian.

Austintown Township trustees will meet with state officials to coordinate solutions to traffic congestion at the Interstate 80-state Route 46 interchange.

1973: Mary Kay Pelini an eighth grader at St. Luke School in Boardman wins the championship at The Vindicator’s 40th annual spelling bee.

Even though Youngs-town district steel mills and their 35,000 to 40,000 employees are enjoying the healthiest boom in some years, a gnawing problem remains: foreign made steel.

Mrs. Ada Cobbin, mother of three, is named the W. Federal Street YMCA’s Mother of the Year.

1963: Despite chilly weather, 4,200 see Bill Forney of Youngstown win the opening stock car race of the season at Canfield Speedway in his 1957 Chevy.

A 58-year-old Girard man fleeing from a burglary in Girard is captured after his car strikes a stone wall at W. Federal and Beck streets.

Three 15-year-olds are caught on the roof of Hayes Junior High School after a neighbor calls police. Police find ballpoint pens, pencils, a cigarette lighter and a classroom key taken from the school.

1938: Police are seeking traces of 13-year-old Nellie Calabria, who disappeared from her Ayers Street home after her parents receive a telegram telling them that she is married and that they should not worry about her.

John Struthers Stewart, historian and Rayen teacher, announces his candidacy for the Republican Congressional nomination during a meeting of the Women’s Republican Club.

Construction of four flood control reservoirs in the Youngstown area at a cost of nearly $15 million is included in an omnibus flood control authorization bill reported out of a House flood control committee.