Bound Volumes

June 6, 2024

185 YEARS AGO

Lamentable Occurrence—On Sunday morning, about 10 o’clock, six persons—Abraham Walter, Catherine Walter, Nancy Walter, Caroline Barringer, Charles Hardendorff, and Celinda Walter, attempted to cross Lake Summit, in the north part of the town of Springfield, in a small, leaky boat. Before they had reached half the distance they were alarmed at the increase of the leakage and commenced bailing out the water, the women using their shoes for that purpose, but to no effect, as it increased rapidly in depth, and the boat filled and sank in about fifteen feet of water and thirty rods from the shore. The five first named were drowned. Celinda Walter, aged about fourteen, saved herself holding onto the boat, which came to the surface bottom upwards, and was rescued by a person who came to her relief in a boat, having heard the cries of the sufferers from a half mile distant.

June 3, 1839

135 YEARS AGO

An appalling catastrophe is reported from Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, the meager details of which indicate that the city of 25,000 inhabitants has been practically wiped out of existence and that thousands of lives have been lost. A dam at the foot of a mountain lake eight miles long and three miles wide, about nine miles up the valley of the south fork of the Conemaugh river, broke at four o’clock this afternoon and the whole tremendous volume of water swept in a relentless avalanche down the mountain side. The flood swept onward to the Conemaugh like a tidal wave, over twenty feet in height, to Johnstown gathering force as it tore along and quickly swept everything before it. Houses, factories and bridges were overwhelmed in the twinkling of an eye and with their human occupants were carried in a vast chaos down the raging torrent. The great calamity exceeds anything of the kind that ever afflicted any portion of our country. Upwards of eight thousand lives were destroyed in an hour.

June 7, 1889

110 YEARS AGO

An excellent piece of Macadam pavement is being laid on Chestnut Street from the railroad crossing south to the corporation line. It will be completed this week and is being constructed in Michael Mack’s best manner under the supervising eye of Mayor Burditt. There is a 10-inch base of crushed stone beneath the surfacing material. Several of the poles are to be removed from the vicinity of the crossing and the street widened at that point, doing away somewhat with the curve. The trolley company is cooperating to the extent of raising its tracks and filling in between them at the crossing.

June 3, 1914

35 YEARS AGO

Rolf Beutelspacher of Morelia, Mexico will be the Cooperstown Rotary club’s youth exchange student in the coming school year. Beutelspacher is the son of Moises Beutelspacher and Sigrid Veronika Hirsch, both veterinarians. He was born in Germany but has spent most of his life in Mexico. He is 16 years old and enjoys swimming, skateboarding, collecting key chains, listening to music and helping his parents in their animal clinic. This will be the 25th year that the Cooperstown Rotary Club has participated in the international exchange program.

June 7, 1989

20 YEARS AGO

Everything is a “go” for the concert with music legends Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson at Doubleday Field on Friday, August 6. With a crowd of 10,000 to 12,000 expected concerns were raised about the number of police officers required to ensure public safety. The concert contract calls for 20 state troopers and two supervisors at a cost of $20,000.

June 4, 2004