In 1912, there would be no more ice bridge tragedies in the Niagara gorge if the cooperation of the Canadian and United States government commissioners could prevent it. The commissioners of the New York State reservation met and enacted an ordinance making it a misdemeanor for anyone to go out on the ice bridges. The commissioners of Queen Victoria, Niagara Falls Park, the Canadian reservation, had given an assurance they would enact a similar ordinance. The action had been taken as a result of the tragic deaths the past February of three tourists who went to their deaths in the whirlpool rapids on the ice floes when an ice bridge went out beneath them.
The recent death of a child of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Onuffer, Slavs who lived in a woods camp on the Marchburg Road near Bradford, Pa., had called to the attention of the health authorities a deplorable condition. The child died of diphtheria and at the present time the mother and two other children were suffering from the same disease. The "camp" where the Onuffer family lived was a two-story shack of about 14 x 16 feet and housed 12 men, two women and four children. The shack had one room on the first floor and two on the second floor. All 18 persons were huddled into a space that was hardly large enough for a bed chamber. The building and its surroundings was unsanitary and ideal for the propagation of disease.
In 1937, members of the Model Engineer's Society of Chautauqua County continued to lay track in the freight yards of the miniature Chautauqua Valley railroad, following a short meeting. Other members continued the work of altering the curves on the main track, which proved somewhat too sharp, following tests recently. Herbert Robinson displayed some of the unfinished parts of a small gas engine which he was constructing. When finished, the engine would be about two inches in height and would have a cylinder bore of one-half inch. Mr. Robinson invited the members to his Celoron home on Sunday to watch his scale model train in operation.
Albin Anderson, 60, of Bowen Street, Jamestown, said to have grown despondent over the loss of his job at the Art Metal Company in August, plunged into the icy Chadakoin River at the dam south of Buffalo Street, across that street from the Dahlstrom Metallic Door Company's plant. His body was found floating about 25 feet from where he had apparently entered the water, by Fred Olson of Chandler Street, while on his way to work at 7:20 a.m. Anderson's overcoat was found where he had apparently placed it, carefully folded over a guard rail near the dam. His hat was on the ground under his coat. His hands were folded before him, as if in prayer, when his body was brought out of the water.
In 1962, an 82-year-old deer hunter's lusty lungs enabled a search party to locate him quickly in the dense woods near Cherry Creek. It was the opening day of the season and the county's first lost hunter. The missing hunter, identified as Henry Schafer, Dunkirk, became separated from his two companions, who reported him missing at 5:30 p.m. Within minutes after searchers arrived in the woods they heard Schafer shouting for help. By 6:18 p.m., the lost hunter and his companions were together again. Schafer said he last had seen his companions at 2 p.m. Other than a good walk on a bright, sunny day, the hunters reported they did not see a deer during their long trek through the woods.
Two-thirds of the applicants who took the new written test for driver licenses flunked, Nathaniel Y. Elliott, Chautauqua County clerk, reported. "Four out of six who tried the examination, a much more difficult test than the true-false questionnaire previously used, did not achieve a passing grade," Mr. Elliott said. "This is probably because the applicants did not heed the suggestion that they thoroughly study the new driver's manual upon which the new test is based." The 175 questions in the manual served as a study guide for applicants and, "if they learn the answers to all of the questions, they should have no difficulty in passing the examination," said Elliott.
In 1987, a man who Jamestown police said pointed a .22-caliber rifle at a city bus with six passengers this morning near Jefferson Junior High School was charged with menacing. Police took the man into custody minutes after they arrived at the scene around 8:40 a.m. where the bus driver had stopped the bus near Bradmar Circle apartments across from the school. No shots were fired from his gun, which was not loaded when police recovered it. The bus driver spotted the man with the gun and decided to back the bus up near the apartments. Apparently, the driver noticed the suspect screaming and pointing the gun at the bus as he walked. Police were recommending the court request a mental exam for the suspect.
About 200 Pine Valley teenagers were out all night but their parents weren't concerned. Parents in the district hadn't abandoned their senses or responsibilities. They allowed their children to participate in Pine Valley's first Impact program. High School Principal Lucinda Miner said the program held at the high school was geared to show youths alcohol and drugs were not needed to have a good time. The program was open to seventh to 12th-graders. No one was to be admitted after 9 p.m. or released before 7 a.m.