Sunday, August 1, 2021

On This Day In Local History - August

 

On This Day In Local History, August
JAN    FEB    MAR   APR    MAY    JUNE   JUL   AUG   SEP   OCT   NOV   DEC

In the early 1920's, the Miltonian newspaper ran a weekly page of Historical Notes, with history listed by day.  It's one of my favorite things to read, and many of the articles on this blog have come from those blurbs.  This is my version of those 1920's pages, in a month format rather than a daily one.  (They typically post daily on my facebook page, when I remember to schedule them to do so)


For an index of history posts by Subject & Town, go here:
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/history.html
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THIS MONTH IN LOCAL HISTORY
August
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1st
"The Emperor Agustus, for whom the month of August was named, wanted his month to have as many days as any other month of the year. You know six other months have thirty-one days. So he just took a day from poor February, which already had one day less than any other and added it to August."

2nd
  • 1806 - Andrew Straub, founder of Milton, died at his home, age 59 years.  Straub's wooden mill was razed, the Baker Gristmill was erected in its place - https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/04/baker-grist-mill-milton-pa.html
  • 1847 - Funeral of General Robert H. Hammond, who died on his way home from the Mexican War, fatally wounded, attended by 6000 people.  Largest funeral ever held in this section of the state.  General Abbott Green of Lewisburg was marshal of the military division.
  • 1854 - Broadway House in Milton opened to the public.  Milton Ahlmun was the first proprietor
  • 1909 - Charter issued for the Sunbury, Lewisburg and Milton Electric Railway
  • 1910 - Milton Electric Light Plant burned to the ground.  Milton was temporarily without lights or trolley service. 
  • 1917 - No More Free Lunch.  Bars were prohibited from using "free lunches" to entice patrons to come in to drink.  https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/08/when-free-pretzels-were-banned-in.html
  • 1941 - Thousands flocked to Berwick for a parade and celebration, as the 1,000th tank made there was handed over to the US Army. A "Sham Battle" was held, demonstrating what the tanks could do.  See more photos from the celebration here: https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-1000th-tank-parade-berwick-1941.html
  • 1949, Aug 2 - six men from National Geographic Magazine were expected to be in Danville as part of their canoe trip down the Susquehanna River  The Story appeared in the magazine in 1950.
One summer early in the  civil war, a group of  soldiers took a wagon with a false bottom full of gold through the north central Pa mountains.  The group left St. Marys—and that was the last anyone ever saw of the ill-fated expedition. In August, a wild-eyed hysterical Connors staggered into the village of Lock Haven about 40 miles east of Driftwood. He told a pitiful story of the death of every member of the expedition and the loss of the entire cargo.

At least, that's what a legend written for a 1970's Treasure Magazine said.
In 2018, the FBI became involved in the search for the missing Dents Run gold.  Which most historians agree never actually existed.  So what exactly was the F.B.I. looking for?  Well, I do have a theory.
Take it with a grain of salt, but you can read it here:

3rd

4th
On a Sunday in August of 1849, Charles Bell, a slave, ran away.  Successfully escaping, he eventually walked across the campus of Lewisburg University, where he was hired to cut down a tree.  He then continued to work for the college for the next 40 years.  His memoirs were eventually published in the Lewisburg Journal.  https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/02/charles-bell-escaped-slave-who-worked.html

5th
6th
In August of 1907, a passenger coach was attached to the train on the White Deer Lumber Company's road to Loganton.  It left the mill, one half mile west of White Deer, every morning at 6:30am.

7th
  • 1819 - Phoenix Light Infantry organized
  • 1854 - Milton Gas Works completed and first gas furnished to customers
  • 1878 - Tannery of Samuel McNinch at Pottsgrove robbed
  • 1903 - John D Clymer, famous musician & head of the Clymer family, died
  • 1908 - The Miltonian reported that the Rotharmel brothers, of this place, who formerly owned "Dreamland" have purchased the "Savoy" theater at this place (Milton) and will hereafter show their fine picture on the west side opposite Hotel Haag, which will once again undergo repairs. https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/02/when-there-was-motion-picture-contest.html
  • 1946 - Official Groundbreaking was held for the Sunbury Flood Wall. it was followed by a luncheon for honored guests at the Hotel Edison.  Read more about when Sunbury got a flood wall, here:  https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/06/when-sunbury-got-flood-wall.html
In August of 1843 it was decided to "erect two tollhouses on the hill west of Lewisburg along John Brown's field, and the other in the east end of Mifflinburg"  - read more about when the road between Lewisburg and Mifflinburg was a toll road: https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-toll-road-between-lewisburg-and.html

8th

9th
10th
  • 1816 - Richard Smith was executed, charged with killing the husband of his current "wife", Ann Carson.  Carson hatched a kidnapping plot involving Governor Simon Snyder (or his son, more likely?) in attempt to save her lover from the gallows. Carson was a woman men could not resist.  She took advantage of that, going on to write a "tell all" book about her life, in which its impossible to not wonder how many paid to keep their names OUT of her story.  Read more here - https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2022/09/when-governor-simon-snyder-wasnt.html
  • 1851 - First Commencement held at The University Of Lewisburg [later renamed Bucknell University] https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-early-days-of-bucknell-university.html
  • 1871 - Workmen began to excavate for the foundations of Applegate, Shimer and Company's factory for making paint kegs.  This later became S. J. Shimer and Sons.
  • 1974 - On Saturday morning, August 10th, at 9:30 am, four inmates at the Lewisburg Penitentiary jumped a fence, stole a garbage truck, crashed it through the gates, and drove to a wooded area near my great grandmothers house in Forest Hill area. After driving the truck into the woods, they went to my Grammy Mook's house where they tied everyone up, and stole Uncle Franks car to continue with their escape.   https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/02/when-4-lewisburg-inmates-crashed.html
11th
  • 1795 - James Black of Sunbury, owner of the land in Milton which extended from what is now Broadway to Locust Street, had it laid out in building lots and it came to be known as Black's Addition to Upper Milton.
  • 1854 - Barbara Harper was acquitted of the charge of poisoning the family of David Runkle of Milton
  • 1900, the town of Turbotville was just sitting down to lunch, when a fire broke out in a load of hay recently stacked in a nearby barn.  Although the fire was spotted early, strong winds and frame built buildings, burned faster than men could dump water from buckets onto the flames.  And then, the town ran out of water - every cistern and well was dry.  One fourth of the buildings in the town burnt to the ground, before a row of brick buildings stopped the flames. See photos of the 1900 fire here: https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/07/when-load-of-hay-burnt-down-14-of.html
  • 1906 - Pottsgrove Academy burned to the ground.
  • 1911 - The local Edison Battery Car had it's first accident when it came in contact with a buggy and demolished it, on it's trip between Montandon and Lewisburg.  Neither the horse, nor driver, were injured. https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-edison-battery-car-that-ran-from.html
  • 1915 - Between August 11, 1915 and October 21 1915, there  were one hundred and twenty one cases of typhoid fever were documented in the Danville area, in addition to  the 135 cases in the Danville State Hospital.  The cause, in town,  was eventually traced to the water supply, which was being contaminated by sewage. https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/03/when-typhoid-outbreak-cancelled-parades.html
12th
  • 1841 - Harmony Fire Company of Milton Incorporated - https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/08/an-incomplete-history-of-fire-companies.html
  • 1871 - Union baseball team composed of players from Milton, Watsontown, McEwensville and Turbotville won a series, three out of four, from the starts of Sunbury, which was made up of players from the lower end of the county.  Great excitement over the championship series.
  • 1895 - The Sun Gazette reported that the Nice Memorial Fountain at Vallamont was almost completed.  The fountain, with two water bowls, was in memory of Mrs Nice, and was erected by by the Society for The Protection of Cruelty To Animals https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/05/vallamont-park.html
  • 1909 - Daniel Laidacker, aged 8 years, died in Williamsport hospital the result of a shooting accident while camping.
13th
Andrew Montour worked with men such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, teaching them how to understand the customs of the Native Americans.  He also worked with General Braddock, but of him, he said:
"We Six Nations must let you know that it was the pride and ignorance of that great General that came from England. He is now dead; but he was bad when he was alive: he looked upon us as dogs, and would never hear anything what was said to him. We often endeavored to advise him and to tell him of the danger he was in with his soldiers; but he never appeared pleased with us, & that was the reason that a great many of our warriors left him & would not be under his command." August 1755

14th
  • 1818, at the age of 69, Lorenzo Da Ponte left Sunbury, to make yet another fresh start.  "at twelve o'clock in the morning I bade my last farewell to the, for me, new Egypt and its most fatal inhabitants." Read more about when the man who wrote the text for Mozart's most popular operas lived in Sunbury, Pa -  https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2022/06/when-mozarts-librettist-lived-in-sunbury.html
  • 1865 - Brevet Brigadier General W. H. H. McCall, who placed the rope around the neck of Mrs Surrat, returned to his home in Lewisburg.  he had enlisted as a private in 1861. [Mrs Surrat, the first woman executed by the US Federal Government, was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln.]
  • 1909   - Machinery in Nesbit Mill at East Lewisburg shipped to New York City.
  • 1941 - Map of the new super highway between Harrisburg & Pittsburgh published in the Lewisburg Journal.  See it here: https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-new-super-highway-between.html
15th

16th
17th
18th
19th
20th 
  • 1829 - In a match race at Lewisburg, the Milton horse Tammany was defeated by Sergeants Sorrel and the Milton sports lost heavily on the race.
  • 1858 - Jane McWilliams died at Mooresburg, aged 96.  She was the first white child born between the North and West Branches of the Susquehanna.
  • 1871 - Two months before the great fire in Chicago, Williamsport had their own great fire. Referred to in local papers as "The Great Conflagration", fire destroyed 45 homes and numerous landmarks, as well as the center of the cities business and culture.  Read more about the fire here: https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/08/williamsports-terrible-conflagration.html
  • 1909 - Home of I.A. Eschbach, known as Fallowfield, burned.  Built in 1814 in Milton.
  • 1935 -  Buffalo Valley Inn at Mifflinburg went under the Sheriff's hammer when it was purchased by the Mifflinburg I. 0. 0. F. Lodge for $400  https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-buffalo-valley-inn-mifflinburg-pa.html
21st
22nd
  • 1749 - Deed for Indian purchase signed by Tagheneghdorus, son of Shikellamy, and himself then chief of the six nations.
  • 1884 - Family of John Clymer gave their first musical concert.  Famous family of musicians.
  • 1911 - Davis Fetzer and son Lester killed at grade crossing on P. And Ar. at Dougal station by pusher.
  • 1915 - Watsontown began their Old Home Week, a week long celebration.  https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2022/08/old-home-week-watsontown-1915.html
"Bark peeling (hemlock) started in May and ended before the middle of August. Logs had to be peeled within six weeks of felling or the bark would become too tight to be removed economically".  Read more about the woodhicks, and life in lumbering camps, here: https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/04/woodhicks-life-in-lumbering-camps.html

23rd
24th

25th
  • 1872 - Maj. John Lee and family, Mrs Boatman, and others, killed by Indians near Winfield.  John Walker killed the same day. https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-lee-massacre-in-winfield-pa.html
  • 1809 - James Cummings drove the first stage coach from Williamsport to Northumberland.  Milton relay post.
  • 1877 - Peter H. Beaver began publishing The Deacon at Montandon.  It was devoted to the interest of the Dunkards and German Baptists.
  • 1914 - Bernard O'Donnel killed at P.R.R. Crossing 
  • 1919 - Independent Hose co of Milton received new auto hose truck.
  • 1931, a dynamite explosion at the Moser stone quarry in Turbotville killed two men, Scott a Frymire age 70 and John William Yerg, aged 54.  The two men had approached the charge to see why it had not went off, it exploded as they approached. https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-lime-kiln-in-turbotville.html
  • 1962 - A contracting company began the task of extinguishing the fire that had begun underground in Centralia 3 months earlier. A state mining inspection revealed that all of the old workings were interconnected, and toxic fumes were in practically all of the mining operations in the area. https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/02/a-town-on-fire-centralia-graffiti.html

26th - 
27th
28th
  • 1835 - Samuel and Seymour Ball commenced wholesale and retail confectionary business in Milton
  • 1852 - A.W. Hause and son Lewis arrested in Danville in connection with a celebrated local counterfeiting case.  James Brass also arrested.
  • 1907 - Milton Firemen hold monster picnic at Edgewood Park (amusement park in Shamokin)  https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/05/edgewood-park-shamokin.html
29th

30th
31st
  • 1847 - Dr Edward D. Hammond of Milton wrote home from the Mexican War. His letter was published in the Miltonian. https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2022/01/letter-home-from-mexican-war-milton.html
  • 1852 - Union County subscribed for $200,000 in bonds of Susquehanna Railroad after stormy meeting at New Belin
  • 1859 - Odd Fellows Hall at Milton destroyed by fire.  Also restaurant of P.H. Schreyer, drug store of John F. Caslow, David Krausers boot and shoe store, law office of P.H. Hilgert, the town hall and Masonic Lodge room, and the law office of John Miller. The building, which was a very large three story brick structure, owned by J.V. Goodlander, contained the above tenants.  It stood on the site now occupied by the Dreifuss Block, and as far north at the Lewissson building.
  • 1875 - E.P. Rohrbach opened a classical school in the Reformed and Presbyterian church on Walnut street.
  • 1914 - Emory Malick flew over Rolling Green Park,  making him the very first pilot to fly over  Northumberland County, and also the first to fly over  Snyder County. https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-first-aviator-to-fly-over.html
  • 1918 - Blain Wilson and Alex Socialy seriously injured at the A.C. & F. Co when the tank bottom fell on them
  • 1919 A 4 day celebration began in Danville Pa, to welcome the soldiers home - https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/07/when-soldiers-were-welcomed-home-in-1919.html
  • 1979 - The Passenger Train Station at Trinity Place in Williamsport was destroyed by fire. https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2022/04/fire-at-passenger-railroad-station.html

Misc August History


"Old Battleship" a carp who lived in the fountain at Danville State Hospital, ended his life.

 


In August of 1857, James Curly was fined $10 and sentenced to 9 months in jail.  He had set a raft loose, in retaliation for the iron in his saw logs. - Read more about the Raftsman Riots, a conflict between lumbermen and raftsmen, here: https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-riot-between-rafts-men-timber-men.html 
In August of 1944, the first Flying Farmers Association meeting was held, and from there, a social club began.   https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/05/when-flying-farmers-landed-in-milton.html
Fields Of Tomatoes - The Tomato Harvest would historically run from August to Octoberhttps://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/10/tomato-harvesting.html
 1974, August - Robert Partchey agreed to sell the Hotel Milton [Formerly Hotel Haag] to the Northumberland County Redevelopment Authority, after three years of litigation.  The historic building was immediately torn down. https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-hotel-haag-milton-pa.html
At the annual Williamsport Turn Verein picnic, at Union Park, held in August of 1890,  "Joseph Losch will walk the tight rope, and he wants it to be fully understood that those interfering with  the supports of the ropes while he is abroad of it will make a terrible mistake, as he proposes to carry with him, during the performance, in lieu of a balancing pole, two 42-caliber revolvers, one in each hand ."Turnverein Societies were German-American gymnastic clubs, known as Turners.  They promoted German culture, physical culture, liberal politics, and supported the Union war effort during the civil war. Their picnics and events by 1890 sound like carnivals, but the group came from a series of political upheavals, and the original German Turnen movement in the United states was brought here by political refugees. Read more about when the tightrope walkers came to Williamsport, here: https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/06/when-tightrope-walkers-came-to.html
In August of 1909, N.D. Masetller brought a suit for damages against the Sunbury & Selinsgrove Trolley Company, after he threw his arm out the window and struck it against the iron river bridge, breaking his arm in 3 places.  https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-s-trolley-in-selinsgrove.html
The Imperial Motor Car Company was organized in Williamsport Pa.https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-1908-imperial-runabout-manufactured.html
"Tell your father, that it is his labors more than to those of any other man that the people of this country owe the continued life of this nation." General Ulysses S. Grant to Jay Cooke Jr.
There's fishing lodge along Larry's Creek, in Salladsasburg, Lycoming County Pa, where Presidents, as well as Katharine Hepburn, have stayed. In 1884 it was established by Jay Cooke as his summer vacation spot, and Cooke's accomplishments, as well as the descriptions of life there, are just as interesting as the famous visitors it brought to our area. Cooke celebrated his 81st birthday in August of 1902 at Ogontz.  "In order to supply his birthday breakfast, that morning he went out on one of the streams of his reserve and caught big bass on his own line & hook." Read more about Jay Cooke, and Ognotz, here: https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/06/ogontz-lodge-in-lycoming-county.html
Hank Williams appeared at the Radio Corral in Montgomery in August of 1949 https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2021/03/when-hank-williams-came-to-watsontown.html

The Watsontown Record & Star reported that the eel market promised to be overstocked in the 1908 season.  "A dam and basket has been placed in the river below the lock by a Milton party, and Watsontown parties have placed similar devices  in the river at the Raccoon Riffles and near the mouth of White Deer Creek.

In 1863, during the civil war, Union Seminary in New Berlin closed for two years.  It reopened in August of 1865, at the end of the war.  Read more about The Union Seminary School in New Berlin, here: https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2021/04/union-seminary-new-berlin-pa.html


In August of 1798, two years after the first log school was built near this spot, the land was deeded from Andrew Straub to five trustees, "for an in consideration of that great desire to promote education of the youth of Milton."  Read more about the site of the first school in Northumberland County here: https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-grant-school-milton-pa.html

In August of 1948, the drive in movie theater on the Milton island was showing films 6 nights a week, with 260-275 cars there each Saturday night.  Read more about when Milton had a drive in, here: https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/07/when-there-was-drive-in-movie-theater.html

There's a story you hear from time to time around here, about Stonewall Jackson heading to our area because he had a sister in law from here.  And it's true. The sister in law part at least. In August of 1853, Eleanor Junkin married Major Thomas J. Jackson, a graduate of west point, and then a professor at the Virginia Military Institute.  Eleanor died in childbirth a year after her marriage, but the man who came to be known as "Stonewall Jackson" continued to live in the Junkin household for several more years. This however, was not in Milton Pa.  The Junkins did not live in Milton after 1830.  Eleanor's sister Margaret, who had also been born in Milton Pa, later became known as the Poetress of the Confederacy.

In August of 1955, a 10 year old girl "narrowly escaped death in a freak accident" at the Rolling Green Park Swimming Pool.  Eunice Weiser and some friends were watching employees clean the pool when she was pushed into the pool and swept 40 feet through a 12 inch pipe.  The girl suffered two fractured legs and numerous cuts and lacerations, but was expected to make a full recovery, in Packer hospital. https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2019/06/rolling-green-park-peoples-playground-in.html


In August of 1857, William Cooner built a hotel on the northeast corner of First and Main streets in Watsontown.  The hotel is still in operation today, as the Watson Inn. https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/04/from-cooner-hotel-to-watson-inn.html

"The brick road leading from McEwensville to Watsontown was one of the first of its kind to be built in Pennsylvania. Construction was begun at McEwensville in 1912 and completed the following year. " https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/04/when-road-to-watsontown-was-paved-in.html

In August of 1835, Earls went to Mr Sheffley of Lewisburg, where he purchased white arsenic, telling Sheffley that he wanted it to destroy rats.  Instead, he put it inside an apple he gave to his wife.  Read about John Earls, the first man executed in Lycoming County, here: https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2021/05/john-earls-first-hanging-in-lycoming.html

The Milton Shoe Factory, which had operated for 41 years in the old silk mill building, closed in August of 1991.  https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/07/from-silk-mill-to-shoe-factory-history.html

In the 1972 flood, when the levee at Forty Fort broke, it turned the cemetery grounds into a deep muddy pit, carrying caskets throughout the town.  More than 2,700 graves were destroyed.  In August of of 1972, a judge had to order a Wyoming couple to allow the US Army Corp of Engineers onto their property to remove remains there.  Why would such a matter have to go to court?  Because apparently the Engineers planned to remove just what they could see, a casket and a vault,  and leave. The Ceccoli's wanted all of the water drained and ALL of the bodies removed from their property at once. Read more odd and incredible stories from after the 1972 flood here: https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/06/odd-incredible-stories-from-after-1972.html

In August of 1979, a large number, if not all, of the covered bridges in Pennsylvania were added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

"Why cook at home with the Montour House will furnish you a 10 meal ticket for $7.50.  Good for any meal but Sunday dinner.  Sunday dinner $1.00."
Advertisement in the Danville News, August 1923 

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In January of 1923, the Miltonian ran several pages recapping the news of the prior year.

This is what they had to say about August 1922:





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READ MORE - Assorted Fall History
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 "In times of vacation prepare tor the days "when school begins." Since "clothes" are such an important element of the schoolgirl equipment why not begin to plan now "what to wear"? No more essential item In the school-time wardrobe exists, than that of the sweater. To Imagine a schoolboy or girl, or college student who does not own at least one sweater, more likely a collection, Is Impossible. Perhaps the Illustration herewith tells the story of the future for sweaters better than words. Long sleeve and high neck are ultimatum which has reached the public so far as fall sweaters are concerned and they are to be quite tailored looking and of conservative styling so the mode declares. However, all this tendency toward the severe and conventional Is counteracted by the happy note sounded in the new colorings. They are Irresistible, these new color combinations, not always "color combinations" for If one's taste runs to solid effects, they" are presented In entrancing shades, pansy purple being the very smartest. A plaited skirt of exact match should be worn with the purple sweater, for It is the color ensemble which bespeaks correct vogue for fall. Another very Interesting new color Is carrot and its allied shades. The autumn trend toward blue is evident, especially navy with powder-blue continuing In high favor, rust, green and orchid are all accented. Turning from monotone colorings to color combinations, one Is Impressed with the "prevalence of stripes, some running zig-zag like streaks of lightning, others around and around rather than vertically. The model In the picture describes stripes In an Intriguing effect of gray with Chinese blue. Of course, the turtle-neck and long sleeves stamp this sweater as being of "very latest" style Inspiration. One of the charms of the newest sweaters Is that they are for the most part knitted of very tine Imported yarns. This insures a certain exquisiteness about them which Is appreciated in the wearing, for there is nothing cumbersome or over-heavy In the modern sweater. JULIA BOTTOM LiEY. 1(E). 1925. Western Newspaper Union.)"







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