HOMETOWN HISTORY, August 17, 2012
125 Years Ago
Affliction indeed has laid a heavy hand upon Mr. and Mrs. DeWitt Slade of this village. In October last a little casket containing all that was mortal of their boy Louie, ten years old, and of their baby girl, two years old – both of whom died of diphtheria within a few days of each other – was taken to Franklin and placed in the cemetery there. The day that Louie died, as if to temper their grief, two little boys were born to Mr. and Mrs. Slade. Sunny-haired, bright-eyed and pretty they proved to be, and a comfort and blessing to the grief-stricken household. But their stay was brief. Yesterday morning another funeral procession wended its way to Franklin. The little casket contained two wax-like figures, the remains of Sherrill and Sherman Slade, twin sons of Mr. and Mrs. DeWitt Slade. One died on Monday, and the other, as if beckoned to follow his little mate, died on Tuesday. Both succumbed to an attack of whooping cough and cholera infantum.
August 1887
100 Years Ago
The Local News: Bert Walker, the Dean Academy player, who has been doing such fine work behind the bat for Oneonta and who was struck in the throat by a foul ball last week, was obliged to leave for his home in Berlin, Pennsylvania, Monday. Since the time he was injured he has been unable to speak a word above a whisper, the force of the blow affecting his vocal organs and he is leaving for his home under the advice of Dr. Cutler. While in Pittsburgh on his way home he will consult a specialist in throat diseases and it is the earnest hope of his Oneonta friends that he will soon feel no ill effects from the accident.
O.B. Rowe and Frank H. Monroe have both purchased new Marquette touring five-passenger cars of Jack Finn, the local agent, and they are much pleased with the cars. The cars are large and have powerful engines and are being retailed at a close margin.
August 1912
80 Years Ago
Hundreds of women have been enlisted throughout the state in the drive of the state’s temporary emergency relief administration to meet the winter clothing needs of the more than 1,000,000 persons who are dependent upon relief in New York. Oneonta, through its Red Cross chapter and Family Welfare Association, will participate in this service. Already 40 cities and 22 counties have established as part of their work relief program clothing bureaus, where old garments are cleaned and repaired, and new clothing made for unemployed and needy families. These bureaus are manned almost entirely by women. Local women’s committees have agitated for the creation of these clothing factories. The need of clothing, which was at first almost disregarded because food and shelter were the most urgent demands of the unemployed, has become a serious problem as the winter months draw nearer.
August 1932
60 Years Ago
The grave threat that the sky holds over Oneonta, and all other American cities, will be graphically shown in a “no punches pulled” motion picture that is coming to the city soon. How air power beat Japan and how Russia can deliver A-bombs to any part of the United States will be told in an official Air Force film to be shown at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, September 3, in Oneonta City Court Room. Postmaster Samuel J. Bertuzzi, supervisor of Oneonta Aircraft Warning Service, said the showing will be open to the public as well as all plane spotters. The 50-minute film, “Strategic Attack,” will be narrated by Edward R. Murrow and shown by Lt. David Miller, a veteran of 60 flying missions in Korea. The picture uses captured Japanese films on the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It also shows the fire-bombing of Tokyo which took more lives in the first six hours than any other six hours in history. The film dwells on Russia’s 400 long-range bombers capable of raining atomic terror all over the U.S.
August 1952
30 Years Ago
Federal taxes paid by the largest U.S. corporations declined to 20.5 percent of their earnings in 1981, and dozens of highly profitable firms – particularly banks, railroads and paper companies – paid no taxes at all, according to an independent tax study. Thirty-three companies with U.S. earnings of $100 million or more paid no U.S. corporate taxes in 1981, according to Tax Analysts, a non-profit research organization. Four of the firms had earnings exceeding $500 million. Due in part to last year’s tax cut, the actual rate of taxation for the nation’s 514 largest corporations fell in 1981 from an average 22.7 percent in 1980. Under current law, the corporate tax rate is 46 percent of U.S. earnings. However, the actual tax rate is much lower because of the numerous deductions and credits that companies may claim.
August 1982
20 Years Ago
Freshman ranks at Hartwick College have grown by about 50 students, thanks in part to a new football team this fall. The State University College at Oneonta, meanwhile, is turning to transfer students to keep enrollment up. “I wish we had a few more freshmen,” Director of Admissions Richard Burr said. With approximately 940 freshmen, SUCO will be about 60 students short of its goal. In New York, some 250,000 students graduated from high school in 1977, a total that has now shrunk to about 155,000 this year,”
August 1992
10 Years Ago
Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) has told its 490 local affiliates to give openly gay and lesbian volunteers an equal chance to serve as one-on-one mentors to children. The 98-year-old youth organization, which is devoted to helping children from single-parent homes, says it is undaunted by criticism from conservative groups and calls for corporate backers to halt donations. “We’re getting incredible, positive support for the action we took,” the organization’s president Judy Vredenburgh said. The BBBSA has endorsed nondiscrimination principles for 25 years that cover sexual orientation, race, religion and ethnicity. Only last month, however, did the provision about sexual orientation become mandatory policy for all BBBSA affiliates.
August 2002