Years Ago

Today is Wednesday, May 21, the 141st day of 2014. There are 224 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1542: Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto dies while searching for gold along the Mississippi River.

1924: In a case that draws much notoriety, 14-year-old Bobby Franks is murdered in a “thrill killing” carried out by University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb (Bobby’s cousin). Both men receive life sentences; Loeb was killed by a fellow prison inmate in 1936 while Leopold was paroled in 1958, dying in 1971.

1927: Charles A. Lindbergh lands his Spirit of St. Louis near Paris, completing the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 331/2 hours.

1932: Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean as she lands in Northern Ireland, about 15 hours after leaving Newfoundland.

VINDICATOR FILES

1989: Some Lake Milton residents are angered by a state ruling that says their property deeds give no guaranteed right to dock boats at Lake Milton State Park.

A memorial honoring Struthers Marine Cpl. Edward Johnston and 12 other Ohio Marines killed in the Beirut Barracks bombing in 1983 will be built on a grassy clearing overlooking Lake Hamilton in Struthers.

1974: Councilman Emanuel Catsoules will introduce legislation reducing from five to two the number of people who can live together while not related in an effort to outlaw communal living in the city.

Niles schools are closed after city teachers man picket lines in a strike over salary, severance pay and a contention that the board of education is not bargaining in good faith.

A community review committee appointed by the Youngstown Board of Education will meet at Choffin Career Center to study the NAACP’s charges that Youngstown public schools are segregated.

1964: Russell Dunlap, 11/2, dies four hours after falling from the family car as it was backing out of the driveway of a Boardman home.

Girard Sanitarian Nick Panno warns city residents that property owners are required to keep weeds cut and if they don’t, the city will do it and bill the property owner.

Joseph Kundus, Youngs-town building inspector, orders the Pittsburgh, Youngstown & Ashtabula Railroad to repair the old Pennsylvania Railroad freight station on Front Street between Hazel and Phelps, or face demolition of the dilapidated structure.

1939: The Jungle Inn, Trumbull County’s gambling casino just outside Youngstown, is reported running wide open with 23 slot machines, a poker game and Keeno being played by a crowd estimated at 400.

Mayor Lionel Evans returns from Cincinnati with a check for $350,000 from the sale of bonds for construction of the municipal airport.

Charles W. Diven Jr. of Sharon, who held four part-time jobs to finance his college education, will graduate from the University of Pennsylvania with top honors in his class.