YEARS AGO FOR JAN. 9

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 9, the ninth day of 2019. There are 356 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1788: Connecticut becomes the fifth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1861: Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union, the same day the Star of the West, a merchant vessel bringing reinforcements and supplies to federal troops at Fort Sumter, S.C., retreats because of artillery fire.

1908: French philosopher and feminist Simone de Beauvoir is born in Paris.

1913: Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, is born in Yorba Linda, Calif.

1945: During World War II, American forces begin landing on the shores of Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines as the Battle of Luzon gets underway, resulting in an Allied victory over Imperial Japanese forces.

1987: The White House releases a January 1986 memorandum prepared for President Ronald Reagan by Lt. Col. Oliver L. North showing a link between U.S. arms sales to Iran and the release of American hostages in Lebanon.

2009: The Illinois House votes 114-1 to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who defiantly insists again that he had committed no crime.

VINDICATOR FILES

1994: Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger worked for a short time in the early 1930s at a gambling club in Masury, and at least two local residents still remember him. Joe Detelich, 72, and Joe Kozarich, 83, describe him as a generous and likable card dealer who loved kids.

In three years, Mahoning County’s cost of defending indigent defendants has risen from $600,000 to $900,000 a year.

Four boroughs and eight townships in Mercer County are participating in a feasibility study on consolidating into one police department.

1979: In his State of the Village report, Lordstown Mayor Carl Underwood says the future of the village is bright and suggests that the office of mayor should be full time.

Assistant Fire Chief Michael J. Dolak, 67, a 34-year veteran of the Youngstown Fire Department, dies in the emergency room of St. Elizabeth Hospital. He collapsed an hour after fighting a fire at a Carlton Street house.

James H. Fries of New Waterford is installed as president of the Youngstown Shrine Club. Other officers include Lee Hively, first vice president; Glenn Beatty, second vice president; Willard Hughes, secretary; and Philip Booth, treasurer.

1969: Freezing rain throughout the Youngstown district glazed streets and caused scores of accidents., one of them a fatality. Kermit McDaniel died after striking a tree.

“Our roots are here, our plants and equipment are here, and we are going to stay,” Robert Williams, president of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., tells a Rotary audience at the Hotel Ohio. He said the business outlook is good.

A robber is thwarted when pharmacist Thomas Canale fires on him at Canale’s Drugs, 1106 McGuffey Road. The bullet lodges in a candy counter.

1944: Youngstown’s blood quota for the American Red Cross lifeline to servicemen all over the world has been increased to 800 pints to be collected in four days. The increase is due to Spanish influenza and the increased needs of soldiers.

Youngstown Bishop James McFadden announces four pastoral assignments: Fr. Robert C. Lyden, assistant pastor at St. Edward, Youngstown; Fr. Arthur M. Nist, assistant at St. Mary, Warren; Fr. George F. Winca, assistant, St. Matthias, Youngstown, and Fr. Aloysius Rzendarski, administrator at Our Lady of Czestochowa, Newton Falls.