HOMETOWN HISTORY, October 12, 2012

125 Years Ago
John Hartigan, brakeman for conductor Carter of train 28, was killed at 11:30 last night near the Fonda Avenue crossing. Hartigan, an unmarried man of 33, came from Binghamton on Train 28, and was making up the train for its return when he went between the engine and car to make a coupling. In some way he missed his calculation, and was caught at the chest between the deadwoods and crushed so badly that he never spoke after his initial cry of anguish. The coupling was made and Hartigan was so firmly held between the engine and car that it took several minutes to release him. He was dead when taken out. Hartigan lived in Binghamton. He has two brothers who are brakemen in the employ of the Delaware and Hudson Company.
October 1887

100 Years Ago
Activity is everywhere apparent in Company G of this city and it is expected that orders will be issued for resuming the company drills. The enlistment of several recruits affords the company considerable satisfaction and all indications point to a prosperous and successful new year. Following the first drill, arrangements will be completed with reference to the intended trip to the inauguration ceremonies at Washington in March. Pullman tourist sleepers have been engaged. The only point regarding which the company has not yet been assured is whether or not the railroad will furnish a kitchen car. In addition to its regular work the company is contemplating the formation of an indoor baseball league and a call will probably be issued shortly for a meeting of those interested in such a proposition. It is the desire of those back of the movement to organize four teams and have two games each week throughout the winter thus permitting each team to play one game per week.
October 1912

80 Years Ago
On the basis of his utterances on his long campaign swing around the continent which ended with his return to Albany, Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt may be fairly regarded as the most promising nominee that either major party has put forward for the presidency in the present century. The trip, indeed, has been one long series of promises. The candidate has promised to solve every vexatious social or economic problem that burdens his countrymen, easily and effortlessly. But he has failed, in virtually every instance, to give more than a vague hint as to what his solution of a given problem might be. And he has failed to explain why he has not undertaken the solution of more of these problems while governor of New York.
“Problems of a Theatre Manager” was the subject of an interesting address by Harry F. Rose, manager of the Oneonta Theatre, at the meeting of the Business Women’s Club at the club rooms over the Oneonta Theatre last evening. Mr. Rose corrected the impression that a theatre manager has little to do other than come down and open the theatre. He mentioned that 16 and more hours a day are the usual practice. The speaker said that the theatre manager has little choice in the selection of films. He stated that often the theatre must contract for its pictures a year ahead, whether or not it likes the films. Mr. Rose told how employees of the theatre preview the pictures and that their reactions form the basis for cutting any portion of the films that might be objectionable to Oneonta audiences.
October 1932

60 Years Ago
A 24-year-old record was surpassed Saturday as Oneonta voters trooped to the polls in unprecedented numbers to register for voting in the coming presidential election. By the close of the registration period on Saturday, a total of 6,652 voters had registered. The previous high number in Oneonta’s electoral history was 1928 when the Smith versus Hoover contest brought 6,400 voters to register. A total of 1,501 voters signed the register on Saturday, the last day.
October 1952

30 Years Ago
The Planned Parenthood Association of Delaware and Otsego Counties is celebrating its tenth anniversary in 1982. Two clinics were opened in 1972 to assist local people in family planning education and medical services. The clinics were opened through the efforts of Norma Lee Havens of Oneonta and a group of hardworking, committed people from both counties. Fox hospital was the site of the Otsego County office for three years and the other clinic was opened in Delaware Valley Hospital in Walton. The first year 800 people were served. The Oneonta Center moved to Market Street and a clinic was added in Stamford. More than 3,000 people were served last year.
October 1982

20 Years Ago
With violent behavior appearing more frequently among college students, volunteers with the Alternatives to Violence Project are approaching high schools in an attempt to stop the problem before it starts. “It would be ever so nice to start when people are young,” said Kate Ryan, a facilitator from Delhi. She and Rose Marie Sheehan will be explaining what their workshops can do for students at the next Delaware Academy school board meeting on Monday, October 19. “We want to incorporate the workshop in some form,” Ryan said. “We want to open people’s eyes.” In the past two years, Ryan has led two-day workshops for Delaware Academy’s student senate members and teachers. Through the program, students realize that violence is not limited to physical abuse.
October 1992

10 Years Ago
Former President Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his “untiring effort” to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts and to advance democracy and human rights. The Norwegian Nobel Committee contrasted Carter’s success in finding peace between Egypt and Israel through diplomacy with President Bush’s vow to oust Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, by force if necessary.
Hartwick College will host a lecture titled “Man, Chimps and War” at 8 p.m. Monday in Yager Hall. R. Brian Ferguson of Rutgers University, founder and director of the Working Group on Political Violence, War and Peace at the Center for Global Change and Governance at Rutgers University, will present the lecture.
October 2002