100 Years Ago
In 1912, Jamestown policeman James M. Young, while chasing a man in the back yards between Water and Allen streets, a short distance west of Winsor Street, Saturday evening, fell into the open culvert that carried away the water from the English Street gully, striking on his head. He also wrenched his knee. Police Captain Reeder sent the police ambulance to the place and brought the injured officer to the police station. Later he was taken to the office of Dr. R.B. Blanchard, where his injuries were attended to. He would be unable to report for duty for a short time. The man he was chasing escaped.
Fashionable society in Johnstown, Pa., had not recovered from the shock given by the announcement that Miss Gladys Rose, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Horace R. Rose, and granddaughter of W. Horace Rose, first mayor of Johnstown, would not marry Mr. Stewart Hamil of Oakland, Md. Both families were prominent socially. Miss Rose received a letter from Hamil that was not intended for her but for a young woman in New York City. It was said that Hamil had hoped, on his honeymoon, he would be able to "slip away" for a while and see the other girl. The bridegroom, his parents and several members of the wedding party had arrived at Johnstown in a special train from Baltimore. Only a few hours before, Miss Rose had declared she would never marry Mr. Hamil. The Hamils returned to their train and headed back to Baltimore.
75 Years Ago
In 1937, Dr. Charles H. Goodrich, president of the state Medical Society said the existence and maintenance of beauty "is dependent upon normal construction and normal workings of the body and mind together." In an address prepared for delivery before the New York State Federation of Women's Clubs, Dr. Goodrich told the delegates that "increased rest, diminished drive and proper diet, a calmer view of life and perhaps a little medicine can restore your graceful curves, your color and your easy breathing." Dr. Goodrich said worry "makes lines in the face." At a dinner meeting, Margery Wilson, writer and lecturer, told the delegates "it is up to women like you to get your own ideals across and thereby halt the present day trend toward lower standards of personality." She described charm as "the smooth adjustment to new conditions in the helter-skelter existence of today," and decried the theory that women sought charm on the impulse of a "get-your-man" philosophy.
Harold O. Burt, infantile paralysis victim, who spent 13 weeks in the respirator at the WCA Hospital, died in President Roosevelt's sanitarium at Warm Springs, Ga., aged 31 years. He had been making a remarkable recovery when stricken with pneumonia. Burt succumbed gradually to infantile paralysis since the past December, his case receiving widespread attention when he was placed in the new respirator at the WCA Hospital. He, however showed such marked improvement after 13 weeks in the respirator that on April 25 he was taken to Warm Springs. Burt had been employed at Maddox Table Company in Jamestown at the time of his illness.
25 Years Ago
In 1987, local congressional and Veterans Association representatives joined President Reagan in saluting plans in Washington to elevate the Veterans Administration to a Cabinet-level position. Reagan, with unanimous support from the House Government Operations Committee, announced his endorsement of the idea of creating a Cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs. U.S. Rep. Amory Houghton Jr., R-Corning and Rep. William F. Clinger Jr., R-Warren, agreed. "I think it's a good idea," Houghton told The Post Journal. "It's worthwhile to do it. It (the VA) has come of age - it's a big boy now." Houghton, a Marine Corps veteran, noted the VA already had more responsibility than many Cabinet-level positions and he though it was right for that higher level. Hiram L. Borst, director of the Chautauqua County Veterans Service Agency, said elevating the VA to the Cabinet level was a step in the right direction, a step that was "long overdue."
The decision was no and there was no doubt about it. Mayville and Westfield residents turned out in large numbers to soundly vote down the proposal to merge their school districts. In Mayville the proposition was rejected by a count of 613 to 249. Westfield voters defeated the issue 870 to 317. "I'm pleased the voting turnout was as large as it was," Westfield Board President Ronald Catalano said, describing his reaction as mixed. Catalano said he was disappointed because "we (the board) worked quite hard to present the merger and we tried to do it as fairly and unbiased as we could. Personally, I was in favor of the merger," he said, explaining that he believed the students would have gained from it. "My personal feeling was that if you had to make the choice solely on education or finances, it had to be supported," Catalano said. "Obviously emotion played a part."