Years Ago

Today is Friday, Jan. 17, the 17th day of 2014. There are 348 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1893: The 19th president of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, dies in Fremont, Ohio, at age 70.

1917: The U.S. pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.

1929: The cartoon character Popeye the Sailor debuts in the “Thimble Theatre” comic strip.

1944: During World War II, Allied forces launch the first of four battles for Monte Cassino in Italy; the Allies are ultimately successful.

1945: Soviet and Polish forces liberate Warsaw during World War II.

1950: The Great Brink’s Robbery takes place as seven masked men hold up a Brink’s garage in Boston, stealing $1.2 million in cash and $1.5 million in checks and money orders. (Although the entire gang was caught, only part of the loot was recovered.)

VINDICATOR FILES

1989: An independent study of Warren’s controversial income tax department shows that about 65 percent of the city’s utility customers surveyed have not filed income tax returns for 1987.

The St. Patrick’s Day parade, which left downtown for Boardman five years ago, will return downtown with bands, bagpipes, marching units and the wearing of the green.

1974: A dispute between two Youngstown brothers over a dog results in the shooting of one of the men and the arrest of the other. James W. Whitacre, 25, is in satisfactory condition in St. Elizabeth Hospital with gunshot wounds.

Amil Dinsio, 36, of Boardman is found guilty in U.S. District Court in Cleveland in connection with the $430,604 burglary of the Second National Bank of Warren’s Lordstown Branch May 4, 1972.

Chris Babinsky, a Youngstown State University accounting major, a member of Phi Mu sorority and a 1971 graduate of Boardman High School, is selected the 1973 sponsor of the Pershing Rifles at YSU.

1964: A committee recommends to Summit and Stark county commissioners that a joint port authority be established to oversee operation of the Akron-Canton Airport.

Snow, cold and the holidays throw garbage collection in Youngstown about five days off schedule.

Mercer County District Attorney Edward Bell warns the Wabash Bonding Co. in Pittsburgh that he will consider action to suspend its license if the firm does not pay the $5,000 bond for Philip “Fleagle” Mainer, the missing Youngstown hoodlum

1939: Liability and property damage insurance rates are being cut about 20 percent for passenger cars in the Youngstown district, says R.E. Linville, president of the Youngstown Association of Insurance Agents.

Turner Catledge, chief Washington correspondent of the New York Times, will lecture at Stambaugh Auditorium on Jan. 29 as part of Mahoning County’s campaign against infantile paralysis.

Two gunmen escape with $200 scooped from the till of the race booking establishment at 26 N. Phelps St. after holding H.J. Monaco and two patrons at bay with guns.