BOUND VOLUMES, December 26, 2013
200 YEARS AGO
There is not a man in this country who, having in his veins a drop of true American blood, that will not applaud the spirit and promptness of the President’s conduct in retaliating British outrage on the persons of our naturalized citizens, or those who are taken in arms, fighting the battles of our country. The brave fellows fought for our rights, and to defend us – and we should be despicable, indeed, if we did not avenge them. With respect to avenging naturalized citizens, the duty of avenging their injuries is imperative; they have sworn allegiance to us, and we are pledged to protect them. This protection will be given. It is no party question, varying with the change of opinion – but a deep, solemn, sacred obligation.
December 25, 1813
175 YEARS AGO
From the formation of our government up to a very recent period, the commercial interest has been the pet interest. Our foreign treaties and our home legislation have all been fashioned and framed almost with a single eye to favoring and advancing its peculiar interests. With that view we have instituted a discriminating tonnage duty. With that view we have imposed unequal and oppressive tariffs. For that interest chiefly have we built and maintained a navy. And, for that interest, have we entered into all the foreign wars and fought all the foreign battles in which we have been engaged. To protect and foster that interest we have expended our hundreds of millions, drawn from the pockets of the industrious consumer. And, to answer the claims and the wants of that interest, we have instituted and chartered banks, and thereby run the risk of making ourselves slaves to moneyed monopolies.
December 24, 1838
150 YEARS AGO
The Sanitary Commission – Miss Pickens has a letter from the U.S. Sanitary Commission, in New York, announcing the arrival there of the box of “useful fixins” for the soldiers forwarded by the ladies of this place and vicinity. Another box for the relief of the sick and wounded soldiers will be forwarded to the Sanitary Commission by ladies of Cooperstown during the Holidays. Those desiring to contribute a Christmas offering for our brave soldiers can do so by leaving the same with Miss Loper.
December 25, 1863
125 YEARS AGO
The new Village Hall is to be formally opened with a Grand Ball given by the Fire Department on Friday evening, January 18. Gartland’s Tenth Regiment orchestra has been engaged to furnish the music. Previous to the Ball a concert will be given. A first-class lady singer, Mr. Gartland, cornet, and Mr. Prussian, piccolo, will be soloists, and will be supported by the orchestra, which all Cooperstown people know to be first class.
December 28, 1888
100 YEARS AGO
The body of a new-born baby girl weighing about ten pounds was found in the Susquehanna River just below the Main Street Bridge on Sunday around noon by some youths who were throwing stones into the water. Jesse St. John, Harry LaDuke, William Betterly and Herman Smith were throwing stones into the river from the bridge when their attention was called to an object in the water below near the Middlefield bank. A bath towel was wrapped around it and this with a woman’s skirt, which was found on the river bank furnish the only clues in the case. An autopsy was held on Sunday afternoon by Coroner Parish, assisted by Doctors Burton and Atwell, but the findings have not been made public. The condition of the child showed that it must have lived several hours after it was born, and then died of neglect. The body was buried in Lakewood cemetery Monday afternoon.
December 24, 1913
75 YEARS AGO
Al Stoughton, Secretary of the National Baseball Centennial Commission, will be the principal speaker at the annual dinner of the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce, at the Cooper Inn on Thursday evening, January 5, 1939. The tickets will be limited to 135, the capacity of the dining room. The speaker, whose office is at 247 Park Avenue, New York City, is in close touch with the plans of organized baseball for the 1939 Centennial Celebration. Mr. Stoughton graduated from Bucknell University, the alma mater of his uncle, the immortal Christy Mathewson, in 1924. He is a principal in the Steve Hannagan Promotion organization, which among other projects, has been engaged by organized baseball to publicize the Baseball Centennial throughout the United States.
December 28, 1938
25 YEARS AGO
Excerpts from a Poem titled “Hark the Hordes of Tourists Come’ – “Three hundred thousand tourists came just to see the Hall of Fame. But they found no place to park and nothing to do after dark. As they walked about the street, litter fell beneath their feet. Trash may come, but trash won’t go, ‘cause there’s no landfill as you know. Recycle, recycle is all that’s heard, spoken as a magic word. But will tourists recycle their junk, or toss it out with quite a clunk? Living here for peace and quiet, finds the summer more like a riot. Fighting crowds throughout the town, turns that smile into a frown. Take advice from a friendly seer – Get out of town before next year.”
December 28, 1988
10 YEARS AGO
Tyler Harris, a 2003 graduate of CCS, is competing, for the Winged Beavers basketball team at Avon Old Farms in Connecticut. Avon Old Farms is a small private college preparatory school with 369 students. Its athletic teams compete against other prep schools such as Hotchkiss, Berkshire, Taft, Choate, Westminster, Kent and Worcester Academy. Harris was an All-Star member of the Cooperstown Redskins basketball team that won 25 straight games before a loss to Buffalo Honors in the Class C State Final at Glens Falls in March of 2003. Harris is the son of Steve and M.J. Harris of Hartwick.
January 2, 2004
