Years Ago

Today is Tuesday, Sept. 16, the 259th day of 2014. There are 106 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1810: Mexicans are inspired to begin their successful revolt against Spanish rule by Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and his “Grito de Dolores (Cry of Dolores).”

1893: More than 100,000 settlers swarm onto a section of land in Oklahoma known as “Cherokee Strip.”

1908: General Motors is founded in Flint, Mich., by William C. Durant.

1914: “Candid Camera” creator Allen Funt is born in New York.

1919: The American Legion receives a national charter from Congress.

1953: “The Robe,” the first movie presented in wide-screen CinemaScope, has its world premiere at the Roxy Theater in New York.

1964: The rock ’n’ roll variety show “Shindig!” premieres on ABC-TV.

1974: President Gerald R. Ford announces a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam war deserters and draft-evaders.

1982: The massacre of between 1,200 and 1,400 Palestinian men, women and children at the hands of Israeli-allied Christian Phalange militiamen begins in west Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.

1994: A federal jury in Anchorage, Alaska, orders Exxon Corp. to pay $5 billion in punitive damages for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (the U.S. Supreme Court later reduced that amount to $507.5 million).

Two astronauts from the space shuttle Discovery go on the first untethered spacewalk in ten years.

2007: O.J. Simpson is arrested in the alleged armed robbery of sports memorabilia collectors in Las Vegas. (Simpson was later convicted of kidnapping and armed robbery and sentenced to nine to 33 years in prison.)

2005: Hurricane Ivan plows in to the Gulf Coast with 130-mph wind and a major storm surge; Ivan was blamed for 92 deaths, 25 of them in the U.S.

2009: Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, unveils sweeping legislation to remake the nation’s costly health care system.

Mary Travers, 72, one part of the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, dies in Danbury, Conn.

VINDICATOR FILES

1989: Mothballing Youngstown’s recently completed “steel museum” will be considered by the Ohio Historical Society because of a shortfall in funds to operate the $4 million facility.

Mahoning and Cuyahoga county authorities and officials with the Ohio auditor’s office raid the headquarters of Eastgate Development and Transportation Agency in downtown Youngstown and search through boxes of files for six hours.

A group of 22 Ukrainian and Hungarian refugees from Communism arrive in Youngstown, sponsored by the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic, Hungarian Presbyterian and Boardman Christian churches.

1974: A gunman and his woman companion surprise a West Side couple in Tod Homestead Cemetery and rob Andrew and Catherine Balint of $53.

Stepping in for Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh Quarterback Joe Gilliam passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns while leading the Steelers to a 30-0 victory over the Baltimore Colts.

Record-high cocoa bean prices are driving up the cost of candy bars, with the price of a vending machine bar increased to 20 cents.

1964: Cleveland police interrupt a concert by The Beatles at Public Auditorium after the crowd rushes the stage while the group was singing. After 15 minutes, and a warning that the fans had to stay in their seats, the show resumed.

John McCarthy of 39 LaBelle Ave., is installed as commander of American Legion Post 15.

1939: A temperature reading of 93 degrees at noon smashes records for Sept. 16 set in 1915 and 1936. Two mill workers are sent to South Side Hospital with heat prostration.

Youngstown’s 1939 scholastic football season gets off to a flying start with a rugged Ursuline High eleven crushing Rayen School, 12-0, before 6,000 students and fans attending the inaugural night game in Rayen Stadium.

Alexander A. Ramsey, 87, the oldest member of the Columbiana County Bar Association and organizer of the Peoples Savings and Loan of Lisbon, dies at his home at 430 W. Lincoln Way.