YEARS AGO

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 15, the 288th day of 2014. There are 77 days left in the year.

Associated Press

On this date in:

1860: 11-year-old Grace Bedell of Westfield, N.Y., writes a letter to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln, suggesting he could improve his appearance by growing a beard.

1917: Dutch dancer Mata Hari, convicted of spying for the Germans, is executed by a French firing squad outside Paris.

1928: The German dirigible Graf Zeppelin lands in Lakehurst, N.J., completing its first commercial flight across the Atlantic.

1939: New York City Municipal Airport is dedicated by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, for whom the facility is later renamed.

VINDICATOR FILES

1989: A 33-year-old Niles man faces charges of driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol after being arrested by an Ohio Highway Patrol trooper for driving his wheelchair on Robbins Avenue, heading home after midnight from a bar.

During its first year of operation, the Northeast Ohio Transplant Center at St. Elizabeth Hospital has done nine kidney transplants, all of whom survived. Dr. John McElroy, the center’s transplant surgeon, says the goal is to do at least 25 transplants a year.

1974: New and more generous terms for merging Sharon Steel Corp. with NVF Co. of Pennsylvania, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NVF, are announced.

Nick Leonelli, director of campus planning at Youngstown State University, says YSU has nearly 700 more parking spaces than are needed, even at peak periods.

1964: The Rev. Francis E. Kearns, resident bishop of the Methodist Ohio East Area, will speak at the 150th anniversary of the First Methodist Church of Niles.

Mahoning County commissioners accept the College Park sewage treatment plant in Austintown from the Edward J. DeBartolo Co., ending a controversy over the facility.

West German police say Ann Peterson, a 22-year-old Cleveland student hitchhiking through Europe, was abducted, raped and murdered near Karlsruhe, Germany.

1939: Mahoning and Columbiana counties anticipate a record apple crop of 500,000 bushels. The apples are so plentiful that they are only selling for 75 cents a bushel, and there is not enough storerooms for the crop.

Adam Pelch, a 50-year-old steelworker of 2434 Vestal Road, throws himself in front of a speeding automobile in a vain effort to save the life of the family’s pet fox terrier, Peggy. The dog was killed and Pelch is in South Side hospital with two broken legs and other injuries.

About 600 tons of slag for the runway base are being hauled daily to Youngstown Municipal Airport in Vienna Township. Pouring the 3,500 tons of slag needed for the runway will begin soon.