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BOUND VOLUMES

May 6, 2021

Compiled by Tom Heitz/SHARON STUART, with resources
courtesy of The Fenimore Art Museum Research Library

185 YEARS AGO

Congress has been between five and six months in session and the general appropriation bill is not yet passed. The consequence is that the salaries due on the first of April have not been paid, to
the great inconvenience of those officers of the government who have no other dependence. In the meantime, the members of Congress take better care of themselves and they draw their pay at their pleasure, even in advance. This is not very fair. To whom should the blame attach? If we look at the daily account of doings of Congress we find the proceedings filled with dilatory motions – speeches of some days duration made upon an amendment to defeat an ordinary appropriation and supported by only six votes after consuming 58 days in the discussion.

May 2, 1836

160 Years Ago

Reserved Corps – A number of our citizens meet three or four times a week at Burgess Hall for military drill. They will be ready to respond to the call of the Government for troops, when needed. Home Guard – It has been proposed to organize a “Home Guard” for Cooperstown, with the understanding that it shall not be required to leave the village unless invaded! A military soirée will be given at the Eagle Hotel this Thursday evening, by citizens of this place, complimentary to the Officers of the Fifth Division, S.S. Burnside, General. Music by Crumwell’s full band.

May 10, 1861

135 Years Ago

Excerpts from a letter to Samuel M. Shaw, editor of The Freeman’s Journal and compiler of The History of Cooperstown: “I have just finished reading your History of Cooperstown. Certainly you have made a most readable and interesting book, and one which ought to be especially prized by your town’s people. It seems to me that you have shown rare good taste in making a chronicle of local matters just the right length. You have neither spun it out to an undue length, to tickle the vanity of some of the neighbors, nor have you gratified personal spite by treading upon some disagreeable neighbor’s pet corn.”

May 8, 1886

110 Years Ago

On Saturday morning a committee of Cooperstown citizens went out by automobile to look up some places that had been mentioned as the possible site of the encampment of the Boy Scouts of America. The committee consisted of R.W. Ellsworth, W.M. Bronner, Rev. F.S. Squyer, James Willis and Geo. H. Carley. The auto was left on the road beside the lake, while the party scouted about on the Brooks’ property near Three-Mile Point. When they returned they found that a swarm of several hundred bees had camped out upon the car, covering the seats and railings; the steering wheel was a mass of the insects. Mr. Ellsworth, being somewhat of a diplomat, succeeded in persuading the king bee that while his companions looked peaceable, they were really dangerous men, and that it would behoove the trespassers to depart quietly. The swarm then arose and the car was on its way without anyone being wounded.

May 3, 1911

85 YEARS AGO

“Play ball! Batter up! It won’t be long now until that old familiar cry will ring in the ears of all prospective baseball players as Cooperstown high school prepares for the season. This season, the second generation of boys will represent the Orange and Black and they are a well-trained group. Every boy on the squad has been under Coach Red Bursey’s observing eye since he enrolled in the Kindergarten and in the Cooperstown summer playgrounds. Guy McRorie and Joe Cortese, both moundsmen, are the only veterans on hand from last year’s championship team. The Orange and Black won the crown of the Schohanna Baseball League last season and dropped but one game.

May 6, 1936

60 YEARS AGO

A new dial communications system will begin serving 225 telephones at the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown Wednesday morning. The heart of the dial set-up is the modern switching equipment that has been installed in a new room – formerly the boiler room – in the hospital’s basement. The equipment will handle calls from telephone to telephone in the hospital without the need for an operator.
This year’s theme for celebrating National Hospital Week, May 7-13 is “Your Hospital – A Community Partnership.” “The community’s role lies in support of the hospital,” Earle Nicklas, Bassett’s assistant director said. “Our citizens should offer their services in volunteer capacities at the hospital and encourage young people to enter the health professions.”

May 3, 1961

35 YEARS AGO

Fourth-grade honor roll students at CCS include Lisa Alicino, Abigail Clark, Mandy Green, Kirsten Harris, Matt Hoskins, John May, Patrick Murray, Betsy Roesch, Lucy Schaeffer, Aaron Stayman, Shelley Stocking, Scott Brush, Will Green, Ben Hayes, Matt Pernat, Melanie Strickland, Christine Vatovec, Daniel Ahrens, Keely Bunt, Janice Dean, Bruce Dunn, Lisa Folds, Ross Fox, Scott Hansen, Maggee Hobbie, Tim Hoffman, Jessica Jennings, Peter Kelly, Jennifer Lee, Tyler Lee, Matt Nelson, Jill Poulson, Seth Schaeffer, Stacey Smith, and Chrissy Wayman.

May 7, 1986

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