In 1912, New York state went Democratic in practically every branch of its government. Congressman William Sulzer was elected governor and Martin H. Glynn lieutenant governor by an estimated 150,000 over the nearest opponent, Job E. Hedges, the Republican candidate. President-Elect Wilson would have behind him a greatly strengthened majority in the national house of representatives and on early returns the Democrats apparently had a chance to secure control of the United States Senate. In Illinois the Progressives and Socialists held the balance of power in the legislature which was to select two senators.
Late blight of potatoes had been quite general throughout the state in this year. Not only had the yield been greatly reduced in many cases, but tubers had become infected and had rotted or soon would rot as a result. Numerous inquiries regarding storage which would prevent rot had been sent to the state college of agriculture. Some growers wished to know if the seed might be treated or if lime might be sprinkled on the tubers in order to prevent or to delay the rot in storage. Unfortunately, nothing could be done in the way of treatment to prevent rot, but if infected tubers were stored in a cool, dry place, it might be somewhat retarded.
In 1937, the high school and advanced grade students of the Music Department of the Bemus Point grade and high schools presented a minstrel show in the school auditorium Friday evening, which the capacity audience greeted with rounds of applause. The general comment was complimentary to Albert Harvey, head of the music department and the cast both as to the moral tone of the show and the excellence of its presentation. The net proceeds of the affair, $64.75, would be added to the fund for basketball and band uniforms.
Two little girls, Norma Howatt, 9 and her sister, Louise, 6 years old, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Howatt of Seymour Street, Fredonia, had a narrow escape from asphyxiation in the bathroom of their home. Mrs. Howatt had heard the children bathing and laughing in the bathroom and then, quite suddenly, their noise ceased and she heard one of them crying. Investigating, she found Norma unconscious on the floor and her sister dazed. She carried the children from the room where a gas heater was burning and sent for a physician who came with an oxygen tank. Both girls would recover.
In 1962, three persons, including two Jamestown residents, narrowly escaped death in a car-tractor trailer accident on Route 17J in front of the Jamesway Plaza. The Jamestown motorists, John K. Loux, 60, of 28 Locust Street, driver of the car and his wife, Daphne, 61, were injured. The truckman, LeRoy Turner, 26, of Endwell, was shaken up. Both vehicles were westbound and the truck was in the process of passing the Loux car as the car was attempting to make a left turn into the east entrance of the Jamesway parking lot. The truck struck the left rear of the car, dragging the vehicle underneath the trailer. Both truck and car landed on their sides in the deep ditch on the south side of the road with the auto still underneath the trailer.
Mohawk Airlines scored a freak "first" in air transportation the previous night when its plane carrying 18 passengers struck and killed a deer on Municipal Airport's main runway. The deer dashed in front of a two-engine Convair during a landing. The impact with the animal bent two of the engine's three propeller blades and caused damages estimated at $8,000. Airline officials believed the mishap was the first of its type. The 46-passenger plane was arriving from Cleveland, Ohio, en route to Boston, Mass. Because of the slow speed of the plane at the time of the incident - less than 30 miles per hour - the pilot reportedly had no difficulty in controlling the aircraft.
In 1987, a town of Busti man lost his life in a weather-related traffic accident at 5 a.m. this day. Ellicott Town Police said Kenneth W. Waite, Sr., 65, of Route 3, Riverside Road, Busti, lost control of his pickup as he traveled north on Peck Settlement Road near Falconer. Waite's truck skidded into the path of a southbound tractor-trailer driven by Kevin L. Poss, 33, of Lockport. Poss was uninjured. The accident was being attributed to slippery road conditions.
Nearly everybody got it but some got more of it than others and Warren Borough got more of it than anybody else. It was snow and it came as an unwelcome visitor in the night, leaving a white world, treacherous roads and memories of a summer too soon gone. "It's just a long winter, that's all. You might as well figure six months," said New York Department of Transportation spokesman Richard Westpfahl. Most of the snow fell between 6-8 a.m. and bursts of it were still flying at times later in the morning. At the National Weather Service Station in Buffalo, spokesman Joe Pace said only 1 inch of snow had been recorded by 8 a.m. in Jamestown. Warren Borough has received 5.5 inches by 8 a.m.