Bound Volumes
November 21, 2024
135 YEARS AGO
More on the Rev. C. Hudson Smith (who, had been pastor, 1883-1885, of the First Presbyterian Church, Cooperstown): Some points deserve to be stated in order to set at rest rumors and conjectures that Mr. Smith may be still alive. The relatives and family friends accept fully the suicide as a fact, and this seems most plainly indicated by a simple circumstance. Mr. Smith was afflicted with astigmatic vision, requiring a peculiar form of lens. These were expensive, and needed to be expressly ground for him. He carried two pairs on his person, showing a serious loss if deprived of them. Both of these glasses were found on the clothing heaped in the berth of the stateroom of the steamer Puritan, with the gold watch, the money. From all the evidence, it is believed that his purpose of suicide in the Charles River at Boston last year was only diverted by the fact that he had in his pocket a large sum of money, the possession of which suggested the means for distant flight and he was next heard from three months later at San Francisco, the intermediate period being a blank. A reward of $500 has now been offered for his return, alive or dead.
November 22, 1889
110 YEARS AGO
Mrs. Henry Swartout of Hartwick Seminary, wife of the well-known cattle breeder, received injuries which resulted in almost instant death Friday evening when she was thrown from a Buick touring car at the D. & H. crossing on Chestnut Street, Cooperstown. Having been in the village for several hours the Swartouts started home shortly after nine o’clock in their Buick, with Mr. Swartout at the wheel. Moving up Chestnut St. at a lively clip, upon reaching the D. & H. tracks, Mr. Swartout did not have the car in the middle of the roadway. It struck the tracks just south of the wooden planking which has been constructed between tracks to make a roadway over them. Skidding along the tracks it crashed into the trolley pole throwing Mrs. Swartout out. She arose after the accident, but soon collapsed and was carried by passers-by to the porch of the residence of Mrs. Evelyn Van Horne. Dr. F.J. Atwell was called and had the injured woman moved into the house where she died a short time later.
November 18, 1914
85 YEARS AGO
The entire undefeated and united football squad of Cooperstown High School were guests of the Cooperstown Rotary Club at a luncheon at the Cooper Inn on Tuesday last week. Following the repast Coach Lester G. Bursey introduced each member of the varsity eleven and each responded with a few words. William Beattie, director of the A.C.C. gymnasium and curator of the National Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame presented James Callahan with a beautiful silver trophy to be kept by the school as a memento of the glorious season of 1939.
November 22, 1939
60 YEARS AGO
John Sheffield, Cooperstown Central School senior and one of New York State’s top schoolboy cross country runners, won his third successive state individual Class C championship Saturday at Baldwinsville. Sheffield ran the 2.4 mile course in 11 minutes, 38 seconds, to best a field of 112 runners from schools throughout the state.
November 18, 1964
35 YEARS AGO
On November 30th the Friends of the Library will celebrate the 200th anniversary of James Fenimore Cooper’s birth. The evening will begin in a most appropriate setting with cider, wine and cheese. There will be a display of the fine library collection and an additional exhibit of early books collected by members. Hugh MacDougall will sign copies of “Cooper’s Otsego County,” a guidebook to Cooper-related literary and historic sites.
November 22, 1989