HOMETOWN HISTORY, October 25, 2013

125 Years Ago
Will Randall, the 17-year-old son of E.P. Randall, a machinist at the railroad shops, was almost instantly killed soon after five o’clock yesterday afternoon by a pistol shot from his own hand. Young Randall and Harry McLean, son of M. McLean of the Central Hotel, were in the workshop of Randall’s father, which is in the upper story of the Randall house on Front Street. A short time since the boys had come into possession of a 38-calibre revolver, and young Randall had been cleaning it in the shop. After this was done he loaded it and went to the stoop and fired a shot. Then, returning to the workshop, he said lightly to young McLean. “I am going to shoot myself.” Then, pointing the revolver toward his head, he pulled the trigger. The ball entered almost the exact center of the forehead and penetrated the brain. Without a word he fell backward to the floor. Young McLean, badly frightened, rushed downstairs and hastened for Dr. Entler, whose services, however, were not needed as Randall was dead when he reached the house.
October 1888

100 Years Ago
On Tuesday afternoon, November 4, Sousa’s band of 93 people will visit Oneonta for a matinee performance, and all people in the city who love really good music and who know what that greatest of bands can do are sure to make every effort to hear the concert. The band will arrive at Oneonta from Glens Falls and after the matinee concert they will leave at 5 o’clock for Binghamton where they are to play in the evening. The cost of getting this attraction at the Oneonta Theatre is very high, but the quality of the production should guarantee the sale of every seat in the house.
Dr. Frank Marx, a well-known Andes young man, and Dr. David Mills, formerly of Providence, R.I., have formed a co-partnership for the practice of medicine and surgery in Oneonta and vicinity with headquarters in Oneonta. Their offices will be at 7 Ford Avenue. The young men are both graduates of New York University and Bellvue Hospital Medical College.
October 1913

60 Years Ago
All of Oneonta and the surrounding area have been invited today to attend the inauguration of Hartwick College’s fourth president, Dr. Miller A.F. Ritchie. Some 1,000 delegates and official guests, including leading educators from throughout the United States will participate. Special busloads have been chartered from Rochester and other cities. Today is also Founders Day at Hartwick. Oneonta’s Mayor, Roger Hughes, has proclaimed Saturday, October 24, “Inauguration Day” in Dr. Ritchie’s honor. Special programs are to be broadcast over station WDOS. Automobile dealers will transport the delegates. Inauguration ceremonies are scheduled for the morning with a reception in the afternoon and a semi-formal inauguration ball in the evening. Tickets are available for a luncheon at the State Armory. Among the dignitaries will be newly elected officers of the college’s board of trustees – Dr. Morris C. Skinner, Albany, who was re-elected board chairman; Charles Ryder, Cobleskill, vice-chairman; Clyde Bresee, treasurer; and Warren Shaver, Elsmere, secretary.
October 1953

40 Years Ago
The State University Board of Trustees has approved the naming of the newest and largest dormitory at SUCO in honor of Burton Hulbert, a prominent Oneonta civic leader and banker who, at the time of his death on January 7, 1972, was a member of the College Advisory Council. The dormitory is in its second year of operation. Officially the building was designated Stage XV Dormitory and Dining Hall Complex. It was unofficially dubbed “Phippie Hall” by students. Located on the right hand side of Ravine Parkway at the entrance to the college campus from West Street, Hulbert Hall opened in the fall of 1972 with 452 beds and seats for 492 in the dining area. Burton Hulbert had a long and distinguished career at the Wilber National Bank where he started as an employee in 1918.
October 1973

30 Years Ago
President Reagan asked the widow of Martin Luther King, Jr. on Friday to take no offense from his remarks about whether King had been a Communist sympathizer. In a personal letter written 18 days ago, to New Hampshire’s Governor Meldrim Thomson, Reagan had expressed reservations about creating a legal holiday in King’s honor, but said the perception of King as an “immoral man who associated with communist agents” was “based on an image, not reality.” On Wednesday night, a few hours after the Senate voted overwhelmingly to establish a holiday honoring King, the president told a news conference he would sign the bill. Governor Thomson had asked President Reagan to veto the bill, calling King “a man of immoral character whose frequent association with leading agents of communism is well established.” Reagan telephoned Mrs. King before leaving Washington for a weekend of golf at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, which has no black members.
October 1983

20 Years Ago
Community Maternity Services is offering a newborn assessment program in conjunction with A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital. This early intervention effort seeks to identify through the Brazelton Assessment an infant’s neurological and behavioral strengths and weaknesses. During the 20-minute assessment, parents learn about their child’s unique personality traits and how to interpret their infant’s behavior. The program includes light and sound response, reflexes and behavioral orientation.
October 1993

10 Years Ago
The number of American women ages 15 to 44, who are foregoing altogether, or putting off motherhood, has grown to 44 percent according to U.S. Census Bureau data collected in 2002. An estimated 26.7 million women of child-bearing age often cite getting an education and establishing a career as priorities that have affected their decisions about child-bearing. The percentage has increased by 10 percent since the 1990 census when roughly 24.3 million women were in that class. “It’s just difficult to explain to people that we don’t hate kids,” said Anne Hare, a married fitness program coordinator from Georgia. “It’s just that we don’t want our own.” In a counter trend, more married couples are choosing adoption as an alternative.
October 2003