100 Years Ago
In 1912, Bert Krone, 26 years old, a well-known Portville farmer, was drowned in Oswayo Creek two days previously. He had been at work in the field upon his farm near Ceres and left his team in the field to go for a swim in the creek. When he did not return for dinner, his wife became anxious and went in search of him. She found his clothes on the bank and immediately started a searching party. The body was recovered. It was believed that the young man was seized with a cramp as the water was not deep at this point. A 10-year-old boy working in the field nearby, said he heard cries from the direction of the creek but paid no attention to them. Krone and his wife had been married for four weeks.
By the accidental discharge of a rifle in the hands of Deputy Sheriff Doyle, Mrs. Joseph Moraski was shot and killed at the National Conduit and Cable Company works in Hastings, N.Y., where a strike was in progress. There had been some disorder proceeding the shooting and a crowd of striking employees faced the line of guards protecting the plant. A small boy, running through the line, tripped over Deputy Sheriff Doyle's gun, the butt of which was on the ground. As the gun fell, it was discharged and Mrs. Moraski fell dead.
75 Years Ago
In 1937, the 17th annual girls' summer camp of the Cheney Farm Clubs, which included business girls from Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Erie, and Rochester, was in full swing at Dewittville, in the charge of Mrs. Louise Ely and her sister, Miss Ada Myers. The sessions were held during June, July, August and September. At the present time, a group of underprivileged children from the above cities were attending the camp. They would be at camp for a ten day period as guests of the business girls.
Badly injured Monday morning when his bicycle collided with a truck at South Work and Everett streets in Falconer, James Ralph Johnson, 14, of East Elmwood, Falconer, died at WCA Hospital from shock and loss of blood. The Falconer boy's death was the third resulting from traffic accidents within Chautauqua County in the past five days. Coroner Henry C. Wadsworth of Lakewood announced, following his preliminary investigation, that he would probably issue a verdict of accidental death. The boy was survived by his parents, John O. and Minnie Laird Johnson; a sister, Gayvell and a brother, Jack.
50 Years Ago
In 1962, Elliott Ellsworth, while sitting on the lawn of his home on Colt Road, town of Portland, the previous evening, thought his eyes were deceiving him when a big black bear came ambling down the road. The animal also was spotted by the Ray Burnside family and, as Mr. Burnside moved toward the bear, the bruin reared and made its way for the local dump. Those who saw the beast estimated its weight at 400 to 500 pounds.
That a 9-year-old Corry boy was alive was nothing short of a miracle. Gerry McCray, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. Marvin McCray, was visiting at the farm of Donald Triscuit a short distance from the McCray farm. Triscuit was working on the second floor of his barn when Gerry got on a tractor, with the motor running, without Triscuit's knowledge. The vehicle tore through the wall of the frame barn, dropping about 20 feet to the floor of a silo filled with soft ensilage. The tractor landed upside down with Gerry trapped under it. When the tractor was removed, he was rushed to Union City Hospital suffering from shock and bruises. Mr. Triscuit was also admitted to the hospital suffering from extreme shock.
25 Years Ago
In 1987, only limited nostalgia surfaced in the area following the deaths the past week of veteran movie actors Jackie Gleason and Fred Astaire. Gleason, perhaps known best for his role as a bumbling bus driver in the long-playing television series "The Honeymooners," also had parts in several movies. He died of cancer at 71. Astaire, best known as a debonair dancer, took part in numerous Hollywood musicals. He had suffered from pneumonia and died at 88. However, the deaths of the two veteran performers failed to trigger any mass reaction to view their films by way of the video cassette. A check with a number of area distributors found only one who said all of its Gleason tapes were rented shortly after the actor's death.
"This is the saddest day of my life," said Bigelow's President Marian E. Olson Saturday as she watched customers make their final purchases before the 99-year-old store shut its doors forever. The main commodity on the stores' shelves on its final day of business was air, and there was plenty of it. The space once crowded with dresses of all sorts was as sparsely populated as the Sahara Desert and boxes stuffed with greeting cards from all seasons were lined up on an accessories counter. Cashiers were kept busy as a constant stream of customers snatched up last-minute bargains. The few remaining items on the store's shelves - and the store's fixtures - would be sold at auctions.