BOUND VOLUMES, March 6, 2014
200 YEARS AGO
Editorial Card – S.R. Brown, the late Editor of the Saratoga Patriot, an eccentric and versatile being, yet firm and persevering in his purposes, when powerful incentives stimulate to exertion, respectfully informs the American people, from St. Croix to Sabine, from the Atlantic to the wilds of Louisiana, that, life, health and contingencies permitting, he will on Monday, the 28th of February, instant, issue from the press of Mssrs.E. and F. Hosford, State Street, Albany, the first number of a weekly paper, to be intitled “Geographical & Military Museum. The objects, nature and conditions of the intended publication will then be made known. Editors of newspapers who may wish to exchange, will confer an obligation by inserting this notice in their gazettes. Not a single subscriber is obtained – a few, however, are expected. Don’t laugh, Gentlemen.
March 5, 1814
175 YEARS AGO
Action is necessary, spirited action, on the part of all those opposed to any and all of the projects to divide the County (Otsego County). Some among many reasons which go to oppose a division are that in small counties, the burden of taxation is heavier than in large; and that proximity to the county courts is calculated to increase litigation. Remonstrances, we understand, are in circulation, or about to be, which all are requested to sign who are opposed to a division.
March 4, 1839
150 YEARS AGO
Summary of News – A new telegraph line has been established between this place and Herkimer. It is already completed to Springfield Centre, and the wires will be extended to Cooperstown as soon as the frost is out of the ground. For this new enterprise we are mainly indebted to certain go-ahead gentlemen at Richfield Springs.
Income Tax – Persons who have an income above $600 per annum, should make out a statement of last year’s receipts, and be prepared for the call made by the Assessor.
March 4, 1864
125 YEARS AGO
Japanese – That was a pleasant entertainment which was afforded a few friends by Mr. and Mrs. Heber White on Saturday evening last, when, by kind permission of “His Serene Highness, the Mikado,” a dozen or more of our village lads and lasses, arrayed in the costumes of their almond-eyed cousins, executed the coquettish “Fan Drill,” followed by a Shadow Dance and ending with a Sleigh Ride Symphony; altogether a dainty feast for eye and ear. Much credit is due to the ladies interested in the affair, for the taste and ingenuity displayed in the devising of the varied costumes and decoration, and especially to Mrs. Heath for the skillful drilling necessary for its success. Could it not be repeated in the spacious parlors of one of the village hotels, for the benefit of the Orphanage?
March 8, 1889
100 YEARS AGO
Hot Basketball –There was a lively and intensely interesting basketball contest at Friday night’s meet between the Leatherstockings and Fort Plain Husky Athletes. No grass was permitted to sprout under the feet of either team, strenuous endeavor being the constant and very necessary conviction of every man of the contestants. The first division of the game was well in favor of the visitors, the score showing 19 to 14. In the closing half the home lads got into their stride, and overhauled the visitors after a determined struggle, tying the score when within a few minutes of the time whistle. At this point Withey threw for the basket and made it, but was roughly fouled at the same time by Waters, gaining thereby two points for the basket and one point penalized for fouling, with the privilege of free throw for the goal. The game closed with the score of 34 to 31 in favor of the Leatherstockings.
March 4, 1914
50 YEARS AGO
Double tragedy struck the home of a Toddsville family on Monday morning. Mrs. Priscilla Wright, a 44-year-old hospital nurses’ aide employed at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital, and a mother of three, is believed to have shot to death her 19-year-old son Gordon and then taken her own life with the same .244 rifle. The double shooting took place in a second floor bedroom in the Wright home in Toddsville. Mrs. Wright’s husband Reginald had departed on a business trip to Brooklyn, and their youngest son Mark, age 16, had gone to school in Cooperstown.
March 11, 1964
25 YEARS AGO
Graham Jones of Boy Scout Troop 7 in Fly Creek, and Bob Cook, president of the Cook Foundation, recently discussed plans for a nature trail to be constructed this spring on Brookwood Point, part of the Brookwood Estate on Otsego Lake just north of Cooperstown. Jones is planning and organizing the project as part of his Eagle Scout Award. Brookwood was donated to a nonprofit foundation in 1985. The grounds, formal gardens, and garden house have been open to the public on a limited basis for the past three years.
March 8, 1989
10 YEARS AGO
Bassett Healthcare has established the Mithoefer Center for Rural Surgery to improve general surgery training and patient health in rural communities in the U.S. and abroad. In December of 2003, the Robert Keeler Foundation of Cincinnati committed $1 million over five years in memory of Dr. James Mithoefer, a general surgeon who practiced at Bassett in the 1950s and 1960s. Educated at Harvard Medical School, Mithoefer (1914-1963) was an experienced and skilled surgeon, an outstanding clinician and a stimulating teacher. Starting his career at Bassett in 1950 as a general surgeon, Mithoefer developed an Orthopedic and Plastic service, established a Tumor Registry, and was devoted to teaching and research investigation. At the peak of his career, Mithoefer died in 1963 in a tragic accident. The Center for Rural Surgery will address the shortage of general surgeons practicing in rural communities. Nationwide, just 10 percent of the practicing general surgeons serve 24 percent of the U.S. population who reside in rural areas. Rural areas also lack specialists and general surgeons are called upon to perform many different types of surgery.
March 5, 2004