Bound Volumes
Compiled by Tom Heitz/SHARON STUART, with resources
courtesy of The Fenimore Art Museum Research Library
185 YEARS AGO
Under an apparent state of inaction as a party in this county, certain of the Whig corps are making preparations for a vigorous onset at the Fall campaign, by a gratuitous and other distribution of the Evening Journal, one of the most violent of the opposition papers published in the state. Having no confidence either in the ability or force of their local agent, a foreign power is sought to effect revolution in public sentiment, and the county is to be flooded with the vituperations and falsehoods of Thurlow Weed, a hireling, whose notoriety as connected with the Morgan excitement, makes him a fit instrument for political mountebanks and knaves to work with. We refer to this movement of the enemy, not because we fear the corrupting influence of Weed’s labors, but simply to apprise our democratic friends that their opponents are not so inert as they would feign induce the public to believe.
July 18, 1836
160 YEARS AGO
Sad Affair – A young man by the name of Jacob Grimer was accidentally drowned in Allen’s Lake, near Richfield Springs, a few days since. Mr. Amenzo Sliter, son of L.H. Sliter, who lived in the vicinity of the Lake, being informed of the accident, ran a distance of three-quarters of a mile, and being much heated by excitement and running, immediately plunged into the water in order to recover the body of the unfortunate man. This heroic act cost Mr. S. his life. He died on July 13, aged 27 years.
July 19, 1861
135 YEARS AGO
The Central New York Telephone and Telegraph Company, whose territory under license from the American Bell Company now includes the counties of Oneida, Madison, Chenango, Otsego, Delaware, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Jefferson and St. Lawrence, a territory which embraces nearly one-third of the area of New York, is steadily developing its field and increasing its business. Utica is the head-center of this company. Mr. Paul T. Brady of Coopers-town has done a great deal toward the establishment and building up of this business, and is one of the most useful and active of the company’s agents, having Chenango, Delaware and Otsego under his supervision. He has just commenced the construction of a line extending from Norwich to Oneonta and Cooperstown, for the private use of a firm of brokers having their principal office in New York. Copper wire will be used on this line. It is much superior to iron in the transmission of sound. The line will be completed in about a month.
July 17, 1886
110 YEARS AGO
Fred Truax, a desperado from Fly Creek, was lodged in the Otsego County at a late hour Thursday, on a charge of illegal fishing issued by Wm. F. Newell, game protector. Armed with the warrant, Newell found Truax Thursday afternoon in front of the home of Jane Foote at Fly Creek. Truax resisted arrest, ran into the Foote house, locking one door after another, pursued by the constable, battering down the doors. The desperate man was cornered in the woodshed, where a hand to hand encounter took place, during which the constable’s revolver was exploded, wounding Truax slightly in one hand. Truax escaped into the house again, and Newell gave up the chase, came to Cooperstown, and turned his warrant over to the sheriff. Sheriff Brown, accompanied by policeman
Southworth, drove an automobile to Fly Creek. Stopping some distance down the road, Southworth got out and made a detour through an orchard to the rear of the Truax house. When Sheriff Brown in the auto drove up in front, Truax ran out the back door and was confronted by Southworth. He was then handcuffed, and brought to Cooperstown.
July 15, 1911
85 YEARS AGO
A new Cooper book is about to make its appearance. The author is James Fenimore Cooper, Esq., of Fynmere, Cooperstown, grandson of the famous American novelist, and great-grandson of William Cooper. The volume is a reprint of the series of articles from his facile pen which appeared in Cooperstown newspapers last winter. It will be the first publication of the Otsego County Historical Society, of which Mr. Cooper is president. Chapters headings include “The Streets of Cooperstown,” “Some Old Houses of Cooperstown and Their Stories,” “Some Men of Cooperstown,” “Around Otsego Lake,” and “Around About Cooperstown.” The book will contain 74 pages on good quality paper with a heavy paper cover and will sell for 75 cents.
July 15, 1936
60 YEARS AGO
Property owners in the Village of Cooperstown will go to the polls Friday between the hours of noon and 4 p.m. to vote on a special $27,000 bond issue referendum, which also will authorize the Board of Trustees to purchase the Louise M. Fish property on the Otsego Lake front. The purchase will be financed from the proceeds of serial bonds. The property fronts 70 feet along the Otsego Lake shore, and a similar distance along Lake Street. It is about 400 feet deep. In addition to the land involved, the property includes the Fish residence on Lake Street, a souvenir and refreshment stand on the lakeshore, three boat mooring docks, and a number of rowboats and canoes.
July 19, 1961
35 YEARS AGO
Scouts from Cooperstown recently completed a 50-mile trip to earn coveted “50-Mile Affoot & Afloat” awards. Led by scout leaders Hank Nicols, Dave Hargrove, Bruce Reinholdt, Jack McCartney and Steve Shauger, the scouts embarked on their river journey at Callicoon, New York. They journeyed down the Delaware River in canoes but swam the narrows at Narrowsburg and floated with life preservers through the white water at Mongap Falls.
July 16, 1986
20 YEARS AGO
The Fly Creek Cider Mill & Orchard will celebrate its 145th anniversary with a party on Saturday, July 14 from 6 to 9 p.m. The event is free and open to the public with Fly Creek sage Jim Atwell acting as master of ceremonies. The mill was built in 1856 and is the oldest water-powered mill remaining in central New York.
July 13, 2001.
