YEARS AGO

Today is Saturday, Jan. 31, the 31st day of 2015. There are 334 days left in the year.

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On this date in:

1606: Guy Fawkes, convicted of treason for his part in the “Gunpowder Plot” against the English Parliament and King James I, is executed.

1797: Composer Franz Schubert is born in Vienna.

1865: The U.S. House of Representatives joins the Senate in passing the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution abolishing slavery, sending it to states for ratification. (The amendment was adopted in December 1865.)

Gen. Robert E. Lee is named general- in-chief of the Confederate States Army by President Jefferson Davis.

1915: Entertainer and TV personality Garry Moore is born in Baltimore.

1929: Revolutionary Leon Trotsky and his family are expelled from the Soviet Union.

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1990: James O. Drake, chairman of the Mahoning County Republican Party, will relinquish the reins of the party in May. Among other factors, Drake says smoke-filled rooms are literally a factor in his decision, because smoke aggravates his asthma.

George Fabe, director of the Ohio Department of Insurance, names a nine-member committee to review the health-care insurance crisis in the state regarding availability and cost.

Thirty-six Poland residents attend a meeting of the Village Planning Commission to voice their opposition to a zone change that would allow construction of the proposed $2 million Western Reserve Plaza on U.S. Route 224

1975: Mahoning Valley communities may find that federal funds for highway projects will be hard to come by unless the area shows support for mass transit, warns William Fergus, director of the Eastgate Development and Transportation Agency.

Robert H. Roberts III is the first Democrat to officially announce his intention to run for mayor of Warren. Republican Arthur Richards has already said he intends to seek re-election.

Mike Manning, 15, of Hubbard is in satisfactory condition in St. Elizabeth Hospital with a bullet wound of the abdomen suffered when a .22-caliber rifle he was cleaning accidentally discharged at his Sauls Drive home.

1965: People’s Bank of Youngstown announces four promotions: William Gubbins to a vice president; Charles Fire and Roger Williams, assistant secretaries, and William A. Hallewell, assistant treasurer.

Youngstown University has a spectacular upset victory over the Philadelphia Textiles, 104-81. The Philadelphia team is ranked fourth among small colleges. Coach Dom Rosselli swept the bench before the end, and the second team kept up the pace.

Dr. James N. Primm is elected president of Hiram College to succeed Dr. Paul Sharp, who resigned.

1940: The Warren Chamber of Commerce water resources committee headed by Atty. H.H. Hoppe will study the problem of providing more water for domestic and industrial uses in Warren.

The body of Harry Kroynovich, 30, of 1010 Mahoning Ave. is found caught in a trap door leading from the basement of the Williams Smoke Shop at 701 W. Rayen Ave. He apparently entered the building through an unlocked coal chute, but became trapped and asphyxiated while trying to climb though the trap door.

Approximately 78 percent of students in Mahoning County local school districts had some health defect in 1939, says Dr. S.G. Patton, county health commissioner. Of 6,330 school children, 152 had heart ailments, 2,179 needed dental care, 538 had defective vision, and 1,302 had diseases of the tonsils and adenoids.