| YEARS GONE BY ARCHIVES |
| Pottsville Republican of November 1, 1909 Town Council Meets Chief Burgess Hartman submitted the following report for October: During the month four arrests were made for violation of ordinances, two of them were settled by paying a one dollar fine each. The others are still unsettled but will shortly be disposed of. Served notices on Jesse Batdorf, Edward Riley, Mrs. Charles Schief, Albert Kline and Milton Schwenk to reset curbs and relay pavement in Pleasant Row. All complied with the request. It is now the borough's duty to lay gutter along this street where curbs have been reset. These property owners now ask that in addition to laying this gutter a crossing be laid across the alley from Schwenk's store to Murphy's pavement so that residents from Pleasant Row can come down town without wading through the mud of this alley. Mr. Butz, the surveyor, tells me that Mr. Murphy did not lay his pavement in the alley according to grade so if council lays a crossing at that point as requested they should lay it according to grade and then require Mr. Murphy to raise his pavement to meet it and thus establish the fact that parties laying pavement must lay them according to requirements established by council. I also notified William Becker on North Main Street to relay his pavement. He complied and is now putting a cement pavement down. The P. and R. Railway Company have laid a walk across their road and west of their road on Union Street as ordered, but have not done so on the east side of their tracks owing to the fact that the borough has not laid any on the ten foot alley adjoining their right of way. They claim they will do so as soon as the borough adjusts the matter. I made to visits to Harrisburg as prosecutor of the Water Company accompanied by the attorneys and several of the Water Committee. I will let them report proceedings to you. The Electric Light Committee have painted the borough poles and Bell Company theirs. The Traction Company are at theirs. The American Union Telephone Company have not yet started although their district superintendent at Pottsville has given me promises repeatedly that they would start in a week or so. Finally on October 29th, I again called up Mr. Miller and he said that I had better take the matter up with the main office at Harrisburg, that he had communicated with them at least eight times regarding the matter without any definite results. I accordingly sent them a registered letter informing them that if progress is not made by November 10th, proceedings will be started against them. Now I desire the expression of council in this matter. If they do not comply with my notice, shall i proceed to prosecute them and will you instruct the solicitor to assist me or shall we continue to let them trifle with us? Council instructed the Burgess to act in conjunction with the solicitor. The hardware firm of F. D. Starr and Company has been dissolved, Frank Portz having sold his interest to F. D. Starr who will continue the business at the old stand. Mr. Portz has not announced his plans but he may remove to Shenandoah to engage in the merchant tailoring business with his brother, who has a large establishment there. William Kline, Abe Maberry, Howard Maberry, Clayton Maberry, Roy Huy, Abe Huy, John Witman, Walter Witman, John Messer and Will Huy forming the Huckleberry Club, enjoyed a chicken and waffle supper at the Halfway House the other evening. On account of the crowded condition of the last trolley car up from Orwigsburg on Friday night, William Sheaf of town, aged twenty two years, who was hanging on the rear platform, was struck by a pole and had several ribs injured. He was removed to his home. SCHOOL BOARD MEETS The school board met in regular session. Directors Jones, Hoffman, Bast, Reinhart, Webber, Brown, Minnig and Berkheiser were in attendance. Principal Heckert and Treasurer Schumacher were also present. The Truancy Committee's report was received and the cases taken. Several parents appeared before the board. The officer will be ordered to look for several boys who have been truant. Mrs. Charles Goas was elected janitor of the school room in the Liberty Street house, Mrs. Brown having resigned. A communication was received from the North Manheim School Board stating that they would have the distance from Mr. Martin's and Mr. Conley's homes to the nearest school house measured and if the township board was found responsible for these people's tuition, the board would pay it. The teacher's desk in Room Number 4 was reported in bad condition. The matter was referred to the chairman of the Supply Committee with power to act. At this point of the proceedings, the room was invaded by a band of High School pupils in Halloween fantastic array and made merry for a while. The principal reported total enrollment was 862 for the month. He made sixteen calls and twenty five visits during the month. Pupils have been raising their averages wonderfully all through the schools. Pottsville Republican of November 8, 1909 The social event of the season was the annual banquet of the Sigma Club held last Friday evening in Keystone Hall. The affair opened with a concert by Seltzer's orchestra, then followed dancing with progressive euchre during the intermission and the banquet closing the event. Seltzer's orchestra played a number of choice selections during the banquet. Each of the sixteen members of the club was accompanied by his lady. Souvenir programs were given to each person present. The hall was handsomely decorated in the club's colors, gold and black and one end of the hall was decorated with cornstalks, pumpkins, etc. in representation of the autumn theme. The local coal storage yard is screening and shipping the culm from the big bank at Saint Clair that is being removed in the construction of the new P. and R. yard. The bank is rich in good marketable coal. Pottsville Republican of November 11, 1909 The street paving contractor is rushing the work to get in ahead of the cold weather. The concrete work on the south side of the street has progressed so far that by next Monday evening it is expected the brick will all be in place along that side of the street. The pavement must lay about one week to allow the concrete and the cement grouting to thoroughly set before traffic will be allowed over the pavement. Before the close of this week the work of concreting the north side of the street will be begun and the contractor expects to have the job finished by Thanksgiving Day if he has favorable weather. The merchants of town along the three squares being paved will hail with delight the completion of the work as they have been seriously hampered and handicapped in the transaction of their business by the street being closed to traffic for so long a time. On Friday of last week a series of fire drills were executed at the main school building. The pupils were marched out by the several exits, lined up on the vacant lot in front of the building and marched back again. A couple of men distributing bills for a Pottsville firm were arrested by Burgess Hartman on Wednesday for throwing the circulars carelessly on the streets. They were taken before a justice and fined five dollars each and costs. Pottsville Republican of November 16, 1909 HAND TORN OFF IN REVOLVING FAN At ten o'clock this morning at the Union Knitting Mill at Schuylkill Haven, Moses Leininger, one of the members of the firm of Reed and Leininger, while examining some machinery in the drying room in the bleaching department had his left hand caught in a big rotary fan which was revolving at a high rate of speed and three fingers and part of his hand were torn off. Dr. Lenker was summoned. He was removed to his home in Orwigsburg where Dr. Binckley met him and made an examination to ascertain whether amputation of the hand would be necessary. Mr. Leininger is a man close on to sixty years of age and is one of the most prominent and wealthiest citizens of Orwigsburg. The Union Knitting Mill, of which he is part owner, is one of the largest and most complete mills not only in Schuylkill Haven but in this section of the state. Mr. Leininger is a man of very wide mechanical knowledge and much of the machinery at the mill was installed under his direction. The mill was shut down and the employees sent home for the day. Pottsville Republican of November 16, 1909 SCHUYLKILL HAVEN SHORTS Thomas Earl, for being drunk and disorderly around the P. & R. station, was arrested on Saturday night by Chief of Police Butz at the instance of Burgess Hartman, and Squire Moyer sent him to jail for five days. Washington Bittle, the well known Long Run farmer, came to town by way of Spring Garden on Saturday night, driving a spirited double team attached to a light spring wagon. In front of Shollenberger's Hotel he collided with Flammer's milk wagon, knocking that vehicle across the street on to the trolley track directly into the path of an approaching car, the motorman of which had to apply the emergency brake in order to avoid running down the wagon. Bittle kept going at a high rate of speed until he reached a point on Dock Street, near Madame Bunn's, where one of his horses fell. Burgess Hartman swore out a warrant which was served by Chief of Police Butz. Mr. Bittle waived a hearing and on Monday paid the usual fine and the costs amounting to $8.70. He directed Mr. Flammer to have his wagon repaired and agreed to pay the bill. Property owners along Saint John Street between the P. & R. station and Union Street are considerably agitated over a notice issued by the P. & R. Company that it proposes to fence up its right of way along the alley in the rear of those properties. The P. & R. Company claims that certain of the property owners have buildings encroached on the alley which should be ten feet in width. If the company places a fence on the line on what it claims is its right of way the alley will be closed to traffic. Just what action the property owners will take has not been definitely decided by them, but the closing of this alley will work a real hardship to the property owners, most of whom make frequent daily use of it in the transaction of their daily business. The daily team traffic over this little stretch of roadway being equal to that on the most traveled equal sized section of any of our streets. Pottsville Republican of November 18, 1909 SERIOUSLY HURT Mike Hurock, a section laborer employed on the section gang around Schuylkill Haven and residing on what is known as Goat Hill, was struck by a southbound train in front of the "J" office in Schuylkill Haven and received injuries that will keep him confined to bed for several weeks. The fellow was on his way home about eleven o'clock and in crossing the tracks was hit by the approaching engine. He was placed aboard an engine and brought to the Pottsville Hospital where his injuries were found to consist of a badly bruised arm and a fracture of the femur. Pottsville Republican of November 24, 1909 SCHOOL NOTES There are eight of our former pupils present in the Keystone Normal School. They are Nellie Reinhart, Edith Emerich, Lulu Confehr, Mary Reed, Fred Sterner, Lester Beck, Anna Cleary and Mabel Wildermuth. The Literary Society, of which all the above are members, held its anniversary on Saturday evening of November 20th. Mabel Wildermuth took a leading part in the program and delivered her speech in a most excellent style. All our students at this institution are highly spoken of by those in authority. Thirteen Schuylkill Haven people visited the school and took in these exercises. Our young people over there, coming in contact with students from other towns inquire into conditions existing in the other towns to make comparisons. While we compare favorably in equipment, courses and efficiency, one striking contrast is exposed. Towns our size and much smaller turn out many more graduates then we do. This arouses considerable unfavorable comment on Schuylkill Haven. Why such a condition should exist here is hard to explain unless we ascribe it to the utter indifference to the educational advantages offered in our schools and possibly to the inordinate desire to put the children to earning money. Pottsville Republican of November 29, 1909 BANQUET OF THE K. K. K. WAS MOST ENJOYABLE AFFAIR The K. K. K. Social Club held its fourth annual banquet in Keystone Hall on Friday evening and it proved to be the most delightful of the series of such entertainments which the club has held. The hall was decorated in the club colors, black and white, with the club emblem, a skull and crossbones, conspicuously displayed. The evening's program opened with a concert of half a dozen popular numbers by Seltzers orchestra followed by dancing. A grand march was then made to the banquet table and while the waiters were serving the club and assembled guests, the president of the club, Esmond G. Moyer made an address of welcome. The K. K. K. Glee Club rendered a selection, Edward O. Davies gave a humorous talk, the Glee Club sang again and Harold Shoener gave a talk entitled "Nonsense". Dancing and various games filled in the evening. The club's officers are: President E. G. Moyer, Vice President C. S. Detweiler, Secretary I. L. Lautenbacher and Treasurer D. C. Gilham. |