100 Years Ago
In 1912, although there was a large force of men systematically organized and working under competent direction dragging Cattaraugus Creek and searching the country on both sides of the creek at Irving, up to a late hour in this afternoon, no discoveries had been made to add further light to the mysterious disappearance of Walter A. Robinson, the missing fish and game warden. So long a search without any more tangible results than the finding of the missing man's coat, handcuffs and revolver, articles which could easily have been thrown away by a man who wished to create the impression of drowning, had not added any confidence to the officials making the search, that they would find any trace of the missing man in this direction. It was said that Robinson was heavily in debt to some Buffalo concerns and a judgment had recently been entered against him.
An interesting and impressive ceremony would take place Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. in the new Italian church of Our Lady of Loretto at Falconer which was dedicated a short time ago by Bishop Charles H. Colton of Buffalo. This ceremony would be the blessing of the new bell which was to be placed in the church tower by Rev. Father Richard Coyle of Ss. Peter & Paul Church of Jamestown, dean of the Buffalo diocese, who would be assisted by Rev. Father James Carra of St. James Church of Jamestown. It was expected that there would be a large attendance at the service and that many of the Italians if Jamestown would join with their fellow countrymen residing in Falconer in making the occasion a memorable one.
75 Years Ago
In 1937, Sunday, Nov. 14 was a red letter day on the Allegheny Seneca Indian reservation. It was the occasion of a visit of the Tonawanda band of singers and gospel workers to the several Presbyterian churches. The Seneca singers were: Mr. and Mrs. Ed Logan, Simeon Skye, Mr. and Mrs. Asa Hill, James Skye, Adam Spring of Tonawanda and Mr. and Mrs. Louis Pierce of Cattaraugus. They sang in their own Seneca language the old hymns of the church, translated by Rev. Asher Hare, for more than 50 years a missionary of the American board of missions to the Senecas. The music was wonderful in its rhythm and timing, the ladies' voices sweet and well controlled. The tenor exceptionally sweet and clear and the basso marvelous in its purity of tone.
Fires that for many years had smoldered eight to 13 feet underground in an old coal and cinders fill in the Erie Railroad yards at Salamanca burned with renewed vigor after causing a sink into which one switching track dropped. Workmen who were using a digger with a clam shell bucket to take out the coal and cinders and cars to haul them away, admitted it might take weeks to put out the flames. Smoke billowed forth after an area of perhaps 50 square feet had been excavated near where the switch track dropped in the wake of the fire, calling public attention to it. Railroad men, however, had known it was burning for the past seven years, they said. Many times in winter, switchmen had sought spots where the heat from the smoldering blaze penetrated to the surface, there to stand and keep warm while waiting for shunting cars.
50 Years Ago
In 1962, Pennsylvania State Police were still without clues in connection with the theft of $515 from an elderly Sugar Grove couple living on funds provided from the Social Security program. The money stolen had been given to the couple, David Finley Locey, 85, and his wife, 80, by friends and relatives as gifts during the recent observance of their golden wedding anniversary. Trooper William C. Timmons said the money was stolen by two men posing as Pennsylvania Electric Co. workmen. The two men, each about 25, were admitted to the Locey house after they told the couple they had been sent to investigate electrical trouble. One of the men rifled a desk and found a strongbox with the money while the other stayed with the couple in the cellar on a pretense of locating the trouble. When they tried to phone police, the couple discovered the thieves had cut the phone wire.
Swimming pool - extravagance - or necessity? That was the dominant issue raised by residents of Southwestern Central School District during a public meeting on the proposed $779,000 expansion program for the junior-senior high school building. An undercurrent of opposition to the program on the grounds that the district's school taxes were already excessive was manifested during the session which was held in the school auditorium with an estimated 350 persons in attendance. Whether the building program would "sink or swim" would be decided by eligible voters of the district at a special election Saturday when a $676,000 bond issue proposition to finance the proposed expansion would be submitted for their approval.