HOMETOWN HISTORY, February 14, 2014
125 Years Ago
The Local News – Two strangers in town last Saturday attracted considerable attention from the fact that their clothing – coats, vests, etc. – was fastened together with hooks and eyes instead of buttons. On inquiry it was ascertained that they belonged to a sect known as “Hook and Eye” Baptists and one of their particular foibles is that they will have no buttons on their clothing. The sect is said to be quite numerous in the northern part of the state.
The ladies of the Chapin Church are arranging for a unique entertainment in the Metropolitan Theatre, February 22, the evening of Washington’s Birthday. It is termed a flag festival and acted by young ladies, each one representing some state or territory. They will be appropriately dressed and each will carry a shield and flag.
February 1889
80 Years Ago
In spite of the extreme cold this winter, excellent progress is being made by Harrison and Burrowes of Brooklyn, contractors on the new bridge over the Susquehanna River on lower Main Street, and it is planned to swing the span of the old bridge on the city side next week so that the abutment may be built for the new bridge. The approach from the side of the river will be moved upstream about 60 feet and will remain in that location until it is removed after the new bridge is open to traffic. About 40 men are at present engaged on the project including a large number of Oneontans. The foundation and wings on the south side of the river have been poured and the center pier foundation and abutment is completed. Within a few weeks steel work will be underway, the bridge being of two 125 foot spans of the pony strut type. These will be placed on the abutments with ornamental concrete pylons on the three piers and six decorative lighting units will be installed. Ornamental steel sides of open design will be placed.
February 1934
60 Years Ago
Violet Marie Bradshaw’s long masquerade as a man exploded dramatically in a criminal court in Columbus, Ohio after a judge sentenced her to the penitentiary for embezzlement. Arrested last summer as Vernon Bradshaw, 35, of Kenova, West Virginia, on a charge of embezzling $2,000 from an ice cream company, Violet served three days in a county jail before release on $1,500 bond. After sentencing at her trial on February 10, a man who identified himself as Patrick Bradshaw, the defendant’s brother, came to court to reveal his sister’s sex. “I was not masquerading,” Violet explained. “I always have considered myself a man”
Four of the 12 members of the Hartwick College Warriors’ basketball squad are averaging more than ten points a game. Co-Captain Paul Lambert, guard, leads the scoring parade with a 12.5 average. Close behind him are Jim Shiekhofer, guard with 11.5. Center John Johnstone and Tom Barbur forward, average 10.5 each. The Warriors’ offense averages 80 points a game. The team is on a riding a 7-game winning streak.
February 1954
40 Years Ago
Faced with one their worst wrecks in recent years, D. & H. Railroad workers are preparing for a massive cleanup operation near Emmons where a 25-car derailment has shut down all traffic on the line. D. & H. Railroad President C.B. (Bruce) Sterzing, Jr., said he hopes to restore traffic movement by tonight. That will depend entirely on when fires in seven 30,000 gallon tanker cars filled with liquid propane burn themselves out. No dollar estimate of damages was available when Sterzing met with newsmen late last night. A train out of Binghamton leaving Oneonta at 4 p.m. picked up speed and was moving about 30 miles per hour when the locomotive crew felt a sharp jolt in the units just to the rear. Twenty-five cars of the 127-unit train and one of its three locomotives derailed. The two remaining locomotives and crew moved beyond the wreckage and called for assistance. A yard engine dispatched from Oneonta pulled the remaining cars out of the area and took them back to the Oneonta yard. A fire started immediately in one of the propane cars and within minutes the fire spread. Soon, searing explosions followed about every twenty minutes and a number of firemen were injured, many of them badly.
February 1974
30 Years Ago
The calendar says it is February but the thermometer reading made it seem more like late March over the weekend as unseasonably mild temperatures in the 40s and 50s melted snow and ice accumulated over the winter. The mild weather is expected to continue. National Weather Service estimates for coming days predict highs in the 40s and 50s and lows in the 30s and 40s. Five years ago the February 12th temperature fell to 28 degrees below zero, a record for that date. And, on that date in 1944, a record 11 inches of snow fell on Oneonta in a 24-hour period.
February 1984
20 Years Ago
A theological squabble has broken out over an ecumenical conference on women that invoked “Sophia, Creator God,” and used other feminine images of the deity. The conflict reflects attempts to modify pervasively male references to God as “He” or “Father” and to bring out biblical indications that God has “motherly” qualities. United Methodist Bishop Earl G. Hunt says deifying Sophia is an “attempt to reconstitute the Godhead,” and “no comparable heresy has appeared in the church in the last 15 centuries.”
February 1994
10 Years Ago
Computer expert Bo Lipari will present a talk titled “Will Your Vote Count? The Challenges of Electronic Voting Machines” at 7:30 p.m. in the new Red Dragon Theater in the basement of Hunt Union on the State University College at Oneonta campus. Lipari will address questions raised about the reliability of electronic voting machines.
February 2004