HOMETOWN History

Dec. 20, 2019

150 Years Ago

Miscellaneous: It is authoritatively stated that the loss of life by kerosene is greater than by railroad and steamboat accidents combined.
A German astronomer says that we are soon to have another moon, and that it will be nearer the Earth than our present satellite.
Some of the Syracuse papers now call the Cardiff humbug the “Exposed Giant” The Rochester Chronicle thinks the term ought to have been adopted in the first place.
Young lady physicians are multiplying throughout the country, and consequently, the young men are more decidedly sickly than they used to be.
A Massachusetts paper says “The good old style of things is coming round again in Berkshire. A farmer takes a load of wood to market and it pays for a barrel of flour, which has not been the case in nearly ten years.

December 1869

125 Years Ago

News Items: L.M. Warriner of Franklin has killed a pig eight months and 15 days old that weighed 268 pounds.
Snow fell to the depth of about 14 inches last Saturday night. Beautiful sleighing for Christmas.
The American Hotel in Albany is to be conducted hereafter on the European plan. This cannot fail to please all who have occasion to stop in Albany. For a city of its size, it has the worst accommodations of any city in this state. Charles A. Watkins is the proprietor.
The hardware store of Edwards & Liddle in Franklin was entered by burglars on Wednesday evening last and $300 to $400 worth of fine cutlery, plated goods, etc. stolen therefrom. They offer a reward of $50 for the return of the property “and no questions asked.” This is the second time the store has been robbed within two years.
The Methodist Church, aided by its own and neighboring pastors has been holding evening services for several weeks, and are doing much good. Help these people, men and brethren, for Oneonta is full of sinners of the toughest kind to whom any kind of Christian religion will be a new and startling God-send.

December 1894

100 Years Ago

Anarchists and undesirables from all sections of the United States were being rushed by special trains tonight to Ellis Island to join the large colony of radicals already assembled there awaiting deportation to Soviet Russia. Immigration officials said that the transport which will take the radicals, including Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman on their homeward journey, will probably sail sometime Sunday. The radicals were told tonight to hold themselves in readiness to go aboard. Three special trains – one from Buffalo, another from Pittsburgh, and a third from Philadelphia – will arrive in New York City tomorrow with contingents of radicals for deportation, it was learned at Ellis Island.

December 1919

80 Years Ago

Fred Waring, the nationally-known band leader, will compose a song for Hartwick College and play it on his radio program at 7 p.m. Friday evening, February 9, 1940 according to Frank Hakanson, Hartwick Director of Music. When Mr. Waring announced during his college program that he would compose songs for any interested colleges, Professor wrote of the traditions of Hartwick College, its athletic teams, the history of the institution and its location and requested that Hartwick be considered. In reply Waring indicated that colleges whose students showed the most interest in the project would be considered first among a huge list. Hartwick students then worked on the idea and sent a number of cards requesting the composition for Hartwick. Mr. Hakanson received a telegram telling of the forthcoming broadcast.

December 1939

60 Years Ago

Fast-coming Hartwick College gave the New York Metropolis a large dose of its own “give-and-go” “pin-point shooting” brand of basketball Saturday night as it upset Yeshiva 77-72. The Warriors beat Yeshiva at its own game – shooting proficiency – scoring on 55 percent of their shots from the floor.
The Mighty-Mites were second among small college fives during the 1958-1959 campaign, averaging 50.4 percent. Yeshiva might have expected the 24 points scored by Barry Lewis, Hartwick’s ace. But the shocker of all was that Lewis was outscored by a guy who had previously confined his point-making to soccer. Jack McCormack, who in nine games last fall set a Warrior “booting” record of 16 goals, nearly doubled that output on the game’s High School of Fashion and Industry court, canning a personal high of 28 points. McCormack’s output was more than he had scored in three previous games combined.

December 1959

40 Years Ago

In the stiffest punishment of Pope John Paul II’s papacy, the Vatican ordered Professor Hans Kung stripped of his teaching post for continued “contempt” of church doctrine. But the liberal priest said he would fight to keep his job. The declaration by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, once known as the Office of the Inquisition, said the Swiss-born Kung can no longer be considered a Roman Catholic theologian. A spokesman said Kung could remain a priest.
Kung, 51, one of Western Europe’s most liberal theologians said he would seek to keep his posts as professor of dogmatic and ecumenical theology, and also as Director of the Institute for Ecumenical Research at the prestigious University of Tubingen, West Germany, which he has held since 1963. “As a Catholic theologian, I will continue to stand up for Catholics and fight so that this step will be revoked,” Kung said. “I am ashamed of my church,” Kung said, adding that it was a scandal that “inquisitional trials were still conducted in the twentieth century.

December 1979

10 Years Ago

After months of playing it coy and flirting with a bid for statewide office, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday that he won’t return to the campaign trail next year, leaving a wide-open field for New York Republicans interested in gubernatorial and Senate races. Giuliani, who is viewed by many Republicans as a savior for the struggling party, said his “significant commitments” to his lucrative law and consulting businesses made it impossible for him to run for office in 2010. Giuliani’s
most recent foray into politics ended with a loss to John McCain in the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

December 2009