YEARS AGO FOR MAY 31

May 31, 2018 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Thursday, May 31, the 151st day of 2018. There are 214 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1578: The Christian catacombs of ancient Rome are accidentally discovered by workers digging in a vineyard along the Via Salaria.

1790: President George Washington signs into law the first U.S. copyright act.

1889: Some 2,200 people in Johnstown, Pa., perish when the South Fork Dam collapses, sending 20 million tons of water rushing through the town.

1921: A race riot erupts in Tulsa, Okla., as white mobs begin looting and leveling the affluent black district of Greenwood over reports a black man had assaulted a white woman in an elevator; hundreds are believed to have died.

1935: Movie studio 20th Century Fox is created through a merger of the Fox Film Corp. and Twentieth Century Pictures.

1962: Former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann is hanged in Israel a few minutes before midnight for his role in the Holocaust.

1977: The Trans-Alaska oil pipeline, three years in the making, opens.

1985: Eighty-eight people, including many in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys, are killed and more than 1,000 injured when 41 tornadoes sweep through parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and Ontario, Canada, during an 8-hour period.

2005: Breaking a silence of 30 years, former FBI official W. Mark Felt steps forward as “Deep Throat,” the secret Washington Post source during the Watergate scandal.

VINDICATOR FILES

1993: The Vietnam Veterans Moving Wall is on display at the Washingtonville VFW Post on Leetonia Road for Memorial Day.

A touring collection of 12 American LaFrance fire fighting rigs will make stops at Carson Field in New Castle, Pa., and Brittain Motors in East Palestine.

Harold Lymor, principal of the Warren City School District’s Alternative School, who joined the Mosquito Lake Power Squadron so he could learn about safety on the water when he bought his first boat five years ago, is now commander of the squadron.

1978: Mahoning County deputy sheriffs vote to accept a one-year wage increase that raises the top minimum more than $1,000 to $12,122.

St. James Episcopal Church in Cleveland votes to withdraw from the Episcopal Church over the issue of women priests, accusing Ohio Bishop John H. Burt of breaking with tradition by ordaining women priests.

Commercial Shearing Inc. reports record sales of $51.6 million and earnings of $4.4 million for the second quarter.

1968: A black and gold Cadillac driven by missing Cleveland Teamsters Union President Joseph Patrick Catalano is found near Canton, badly damaged by fire but with no blood stains on the seats.

Mrs. Vernie Lynch, wife of 7th District Appellate Judge John Lynch, who was active in many clubs, church, veterans and civic groups, dies at home.

Mercer County commissioners reject sponsorship of a community college for Mercer County. Opposition came from the Sharon and Farrell areas.

1943: The annual exhibition of the Youngstown College Art Department opens at Butler Art Institute for two weeks.

About 200 attend the 13th annual Memorial Day sunrise service conducted by American Legion Post 15.

Eugene Terry, son of Mrs. A.D. Terry of Youngstown, is field director for the American Red Cross in India.