Bound Volumes

February 16, 2023

210 YEARS AGO
The Wisdom of Solomon – The Federalists and Republicans like the two women who each claimed the child both say – We are Patriots – the only true lovers of our country. And many honest, well-meaning men, not possessing all the wisdom of Solomon, have been puzzled to know who is the true mother, or, to drop the metaphor, who is the true Patriot. But, let the honest candid man apply the question in other words, and ask – Who would divide the child, and who would save it? Who can smile and rejoice at the calamities of our country and who feels every misfortune of his country as a wound inflicted on himself? Let him I say ask the question, and he will find no more difficulty in determining than Solomon did in judging who was the true mother.

February 13, 1813

185 YEARS AGO
A Suspension of the Small Bill Law passed the (New York State) Senate on Wednesday last by a vote of 19 to 12. It suspends the operation of the present law for two years, and provides that the bills issued under the Act shall be gradually withdrawn immediately thereafter. This course on the part of the Senate does not compromise one jot or tittle of the principle of prohibiting the circulation of small notes, and for which we earnestly contend. A majority of the Senate think it expedient to have the operation of the present law for a short time suspended; many others, with ourselves, think it is not; it is merely a difference of judgment on a matter of expediency.

February 12, 1838

160 YEARS AGO
The attention of the proper authorities is called to the conduct of certain soldiers of the Ninety-Ninth New York Regiment, stationed between Norfolk and Suffolk, who by confession of several of their officers, have been kidnapping Negroes and selling them to individuals within the Rebel lines. The mode is thus: A squad is sent to a post upon picket duty. Several remain and the rest prowl around for an unfortunate black, whom they seize and deliver to buyers waiting at appointed places. The Confederate money received is then divided among the participators and easily exchanged in Norfolk for National bills at a discount.

February 13, 1863

135 YEARS AGO
Literary Society – The essay of Mr. C.C. Edgerton, on the evening of the 8th, was a scholarly and instructive production, informing his audience as to what “literature” is and is not. It was a paper which would read well in print, as it was very carefully prepared. We wish that all liberal and enterprising citizens of Cooperstown could have heard his forcible remarks on the influence for good which would be exerted here by the erection of a library building and the establishing of a good public library – for which, as he remarked, the school library affords a fair nucleus.

February 17, 1888

110 YEARS AGO
Challenge to the World –There was shipped out of Cooperstown on Thursday a sample bale of hops to Elizabeth, N.J., and with it went a challenge to the world, offering one thousand dollars to any person who would produce a carload of hops equal to the sample bale. The bale will be shown at a hop exhibit in Elizabeth. The letter accompanying the bale read in part as follows: “I hereby challenge the world and will freely pay to anyone $1,000.00 who will produce a car of hops like these, taking them for color, richness, lupulin, oils and flavor. I claim there is not a hop growing section in the world that can produce as perfect a hop as Otsego County.”

February 12, 1913

85 YEARS AGO
A unique and interesting program was enjoyed at the regular meeting of the Cooperstown Woman’s Club held Wednesday afternoon, February 9th when the members saw the pages of “History’s Book of Fashions” come to life before their eyes. Living models wearing the various costumes walked through the curtains into the spotlight as the scroll was read describing the changes in woman’s dress throughout the ages from the days of the Pharaohs of Egypt to the modern sport suit and evening gown. Mrs. Oscar I. Lyon was general chairman of the program. The costumes represented and their wearers were: Egyptian, Mrs. Alexander Adamovitch; Roman, Mrs. Theodore Lettis; Grecia, Mrs. Edward Curtis; Middle Ages, Mrs. M.T. Chapman; Elizabethan, Miss Martha A. Harding; Puritan, Mrs. Daniel Romano; Empire, Miss Katherine Lee; Hoop, Miss Mabel H. Wagner; Bustles, Miss Marie McNamara; Gibson Girl, Mrs. C.J. Pierce; Nightdress, Mrs. Thomas Wilkman; Hobble, Mrs. Ernest Lippitt; Evening Dress with Long Waist & Short Skirt, Mrs. Clyde S. Becker; Modern Sport Knitted Suit, Miss Beatrice Van Steenburgh; Modern Evening Dress, Miss Garnet Jacobson.

February 16, 1938

35 YEARS AGO
About 3 p.m. on February 8, more than 800 gallons of Number 6 fuel oil, a very thick heating oil grade, combined with hot water, leaked into the village sewer system. Had the fuel oil entered the storm sewer system, the Susquehanna River would have been polluted. Once in the village sewer system, the oil was contained and kept away from the pumps by raising the water to a high level, allowing the oil to float on top of the water. The sewage plant could have been incapacitated had the oil gotten into the pumps.

February 17, 1988

20 YEARS AGO
Santo Sapienza opened a confectionary at 65 Main Street in 1918. Eighty-five years later, his granddaughter, Barbara Landers, will serve her last cup of coffee no later than March 31 – the date she has been ordered to vacate the premises. In the years following 1918 the store evolved into an ice cream shop and in 1939 the Sapienzas opened a full-fledged restaurant. In the early 1950s, when Landers’ father, Salvatore Sapienza returned from the Korean War, he took over the family business. Landers and her sister both worked for their parents as teenagers and Barbara has owned and run the business on her own since 1989, the year Salvatore passed away.

February 14, 2003