Bound Volumes, Hometown History
August 13, 2026
135 YEARS AGO
News Items—The dancers at the Paris Opera—some of them—are paid $30,000 per annum. John B. Gough’s house is for sale. It has all the modern improvements except a wine cellar. A man drew a wagon weighing 520 pounds, eleven and a half miles in Mantus County, Ohio one day last week, winning a wager of $40. A Norwegian woman 105 years old, and seventy-eight of her descendants are on the road to Utah. The old woman declares her intention of “setting her cap” for Brigham. A little girl in Delaware County, while driving cows home, came across a bear’s cub. The cub caught hold of a switch which the girl had in her hand, and she, thinking the stranger was a dog, both cub and girl had a nice time playing on the way home. The cub was secured in the yard. Soon after the old bear came along looking after the truant cub. The old bear was also secured. Reports from all quarters in New York indicate a steady abatement of cholera.
August 1866
110 YEARS AGO
The police department made 33 arrests during the month of July. The list is as follows: speeding, 5; public intoxication, 4; petit larceny, 10; vagrancy, 3; forgery, 1; riding on sidewalk, 4; extortion, 1; attempted suicide, 1; illegal train riding, 6; miscellaneous, 6. A night’s lodging was given to five applicants. The patrolmen found the doors of 10 stores unlocked. Seven prisoners were sent to the county jail at Cooperstown to serve sentences; one to the Albany penitentiary, and one was held to await the action of the grand jury. Twenty-two paid fines aggregating $178 and sentences were suspended in 39 cases. The rest of the prisoners were discharged upon being arraigned.
August 1916
90 YEARS AGO
Rural Telephone Party Lines—The rural telephone party line is one of the greatest civilizing forces in the short- sleeves democracy. Every one of the eight Subscribers shares and shares alike in the information and gossip confided to the line. Routine business, for the man who happens to have any, can be satisfactorily transacted over a party line; no one need hesitate to bellow into the transmitter perfunctory messages of no general consequence. Since there are eight voracious outlets to every line, however, private business that involves bargaining or courtship should be reserved for personal visits. No man can safely court more than one girl to a line. To listen or not to listen is the principal question. What goes into a party line has eight ears. There is, of course, an intangible impression that eavesdropping is in bad taste. You are supposed to ignore the click of receivers promptly going up whenever your number is called, or you ring Central, and the decrease in mechanical audibility that comes from community listening is no excuse for bad temper.
August 1936
20 YEARS AGO
Russ Trong of Personal Computer Services in Oneonta says he has seen a large drop in computer prices in the past four years. “Prices have dropped dramatically, while quality and speed have increased immensely,” Trong said. “Features and accessories have improved and evolved beyond imagination. Burning a home video on DVD was all but unheard of four years ago. A DVD burner just 18 months ago would cost several hundred dollars. Today, you can get a DVD for around $80. That’s just one example! There are wireless keyboards and mouse, fingerprint recognition for keeping your data secure, and much more. And, it’s all more affordable than you think,” Trong said. Trong estimates that a well-rounded desktop system including an LCD monitor, Microsoft Student/Teacher edition software with networking capabilities will cost parents $850 to $1,000.
August 2006
