Years Ago

Today is Saturday, Sept. 21, the 264th day of 2013. There are 101 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1792: The French National Convention votes to abolish the monarchy.

1893: One of America’s first horseless carriages is taken for a short test drive in Springfield, Mass., by Frank Duryea, who designed the vehicle with his brother, Charles.

1897: The New York Sun runs its famous editorial, written anonymously by Francis P. Church, which declared, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”

1912: Magician Harry Houdini first publicly performs his so-called Chinese Water Torture Cell trick at the Circus Busch in Berlin, escaping after being immersed upside-down in a vertical water tank, his ankles secured in a set of stocks that made up the tank lid, which was locked into place.

Legendary cartoon animator Chuck Jones is born in Spokane, Wash.

1937: “The Hobbit,” by J.R.R. Tolkien, is first published by George Allen & Unwin Ltd. of London.

1938: A hurricane strikes parts of New York and New England, causing widespread damage and claiming some 700 lives.

1962: “The Jack Paar Program,” a weekly, prime-time show that followed Paar’s stint on “The Tonight Show,” begins a three-year run.

1970: “NFL Monday Night Football” debuts on ABC-TV as the Cleveland Browns defeat the visiting New York Jets, 31-21.

VINDICATOR FILES

1988: Some prominent local Democrats say that the Michael Dukakis presidential campaign in Mahoning County is like a ship without a captain.

Dr. Richard Sheely, Youngstown schools’ director of curriculum, says state proficiency tests are becoming “the tail that wags the dog” as districts adjust to teaching to the test.

U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. says he has removed himself from negotiations between the Lordstown Board of Education and striking teachers after the board accused the congressman of being “too pushy.”

1973: Two women are charged with 17 counts of animal cruelty by the Youngstown Humane Society after 10 horses and two ponies are impounded from a Lanterman Road property.

Mayor Jack C. Hunter says that whatever form a downtown Youngstown mall may take, The Man on the Monument will stay where he is. Veteran groups had threatened a lawsuit to block any plan that would move the monument.

Sen. Robert Taft Jr., R-Ohio, says he keeps pressing Amtrak to start north-south rail passenger service in Ohio on a route that could include Youngstown.

1963: The federal government notifies Youngstown officials that a $57,000 grant is available for rehabilitation of City Hall, but work must begin within 120 days.

Errors ranging from 6 inches to 3 feet in figuring the level of new curb along a section of Lockwood Boulevard is forcing the county engineer’s office to bury 600 feet of curb and replace it at street level.

Thirteen bishops of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church unveil a plan to form a new 11-million member United Methodist Church.

1938: Warren Frohman of Scott Street admits to pulling false alarms until he was arrested because he wants to go to jail because he can’t find work and isn’t eligible for relief. Judge Harry C. Hoffman notes that every false alarm costs the city $75 and sentences Frohman to 90 days in jail.

All 11 members of the Campbell Police Department have served for at least a year and are eligible to take the test for chief following the retirement of Chief Frank Cunningham.

Dr. Perrin H. Long of Johns Hopkins University tells the Mahoning County Medical Society meeting at the Youngstown Club sulfanilamide is proving to be a remarkable new weapon against a long list of ailments.