100 Years Ago
In 1912, the post office at Ashville was entered about 3:30 a.m. but, so far as known, the yeggmen secured only about a dollar which had been left in the cash drawer. They made three attempts to open the safe but were unsuccessful. Richard Ocoboc, who lived next to the post office, heard them and gave an alarm. Clarence Wellman and a number of other men gathered and started to surround the building but Postmaster C.F. Neil's revolver, fired too early, frightened the burglars, who escaped through a window and disappeared down the line of the Chautauqua Traction Company in the direction of Jamestown. The police department of Jamestown was communicated with by telephone and a number of men were sent out along the traction line to look for three men who had been seen in the village the previous day and were thought to be the men wanted.
The Journal had made arrangements with the management of the Paul J. Rainey African Hunt motion pictures for 50 schoolchildren of the city of Jamestown to be its guests at the exhibition of the marvelous motion pictures of this greatest of all wild animal hunts, which would be exhibited at the Samuels Opera House all the following week. These pictures had been proclaimed by no less an authority than Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn, of the American Museum of Natural History, to be "the greatest contribution to natural science within the past decade." In other cities, whenever shown, these pictures had elicited the highest praise from public educators. Showing as they did, many different species of the African jungle under the natural conditions in which they lived, it was easy to understand why they were considered such a noteworthy contribution to our knowledge of wild animal life. Were it possible, The Journal would send every schoolboy and girl of the age to understand, to see the Rainey pictures.
75 Years Ago
In 1937, the film industry, shaking off the effects of the introduction of sound, was due for another radical change soon said Clarence Brown, veteran of more than 20 years behind the megaphone. Three-dimensional films, creating an illusion of depth, would greatly heighten the realism of the screen but also would call for a great change in technique, Brown said. Brown had directed many leading stars, including Greta Garbo. One of the changes he saw in the new type of picture was the discarding of painted scenery. Directors would have to use more discretion placing actors and objects.
Mr. and Mrs. George E. Warren, Little Theater directors, announced the selection of Eugene O'Neill's four-act drama, "Anna Christie," as the fourth production of the present Little Theater season. The play would be given a run of six nights in the Scottish Rite Temple starting Jan. 25. June Swanson, of Detroit, who played leading roles for several years in Jamestown productions, would return to this city to play the part of Anna. J. Ralph Carlson, who had also been prominent in Jamestown theatricals, had been cast in the part of Chris Christopherson, Swedish sea captain and father of Anna. A series of intensive tryouts would be held to cast the remaining characters in the play. O'Neill was recognized as the foremost American dramatist of all time.
50 Years Ago
In 1962, enroute home from grocery shopping, Mrs. Edna Bearfield, 44, of Warren, was injured when her southbound car was struck by an eastbound New York Central freight train at the Glass Seal Manufacturing Co. grade crossing road, one and one half miles west of Warren. The railroad tracks were parallel with Route 6. State police said the woman's condition was listed as poor in Warren General Hospital. Bearfield, who was alone, was hurled from her car, ahead of the train and she landed 50 feet down the tracks in a shallow ditch which was also parallel with the tracks. The train, which comprised 20 cars, struck the left rear of the car, which spun around in the air before it crashed against the Pennsylvania Gas Co. meter house, 20 feet from the railroad tracks. The car landed upright. The groceries remained in the wrecked car.
Because of continued rowdyism of a few unruly juveniles, Jamestown teen-agers were being deprived of their Friday night dances at the U.S. Naval Reserve Training Center, 301 Hazeltine Ave. The decision to discontinue the weekly record hops at the center was confirmed by Lt. Cmdr. John L. Calkins, commanding officer of the local Naval Reserve unit. Cmdr. Calkins absolved young people attending the dances of blame for behavior leading to the suspension. Closing down of the dances, he said was due to frequent disturbances caused by troublemakers who had been congregating in the vicinity of the center on the evening of the dances. He said the actions of these "outsiders" had been the subject of frequent complaints by residents of the neighborhood.