Bound Volumes, Hometown History
October 8, 2026
160 YEARS AGO
Truth is Mighty and Will Prevail—During the last session of Congress, after the most thorough investigation, the representatives of the North presented to the States lately in rebellion a plan of restoration which is embodied in the proposed Amendment to the Constitution. In order to harmonize the legislative and executive departments of the Government, and, if possible, to consummate a speedy restoration of the States, Congress in the spirit of compromise and peace, stooped as low as it possibly could without being recreant to duty, in order to unite the people and restore the Union. The result was a plan of restoration which has surprised the world in the mildness and liberality of its terms, and in the magnanimity with which the traitors are readmitted to the privileges and blessings of a Government they strove four years to destroy.
October 1866
135 YEARS AGO
An old and unoccupied house at the corner of West and Cherry streets, the property of George Timewell, was found to be on fire early Tuesday morning. E. Durfee, railroad caller, who first noticed the fire, notified Officer Judd, who at once hurried to the spot and, with some assistance, extinguished the flames. Investigation showed that kerosene had been scattered over the floor and up the stairway and set on fire, a window being opened at the head of the stairs and another below to give a draft. Carefully as the incendiary had planned the fire, he had failed in his purpose, the fire in the stairway, after charring the wood to the depth of half an inch, having gone out. Only some straw on the floor was blazing when the officer reached the house. There was about $150 worth of furniture stored in the building. The authorities have no clue to the offender.
October 1891
70 YEARS AGO
Adlai Stevenson took Richard Nixon, President Eisenhower’s vice-presidential running mate and the entire GOP, to task at a rally in Morristown, New Jersey. “Nixon always talks about opponents in terms of appeasement, communism and treachery and words like that. I do hope the vice-presidential taste for extreme and loose language is not becoming contagious.” Stevenson told the audience that “the historic function of the Republican Party is to represent the economic and social philosophy of the well-to-do and the privileged, of the big corporations, the big interests. This administration has performed that well. The Republican Party is not a fit instrument to govern a nation that wants to make progress for the benefit of ordinary people.”
October 1956
20 YEARS AGO
A state trooper who shot a young man five times at close range after his gun belt got caught on the man’s speeding all-terrain vehicle was cleared of any charges in the man’s death. The ruling has angered the victim’s family. A grand jury in Chautauqua County decided not to indict trooper Sean Pierce, who said he had no choice but to shoot 25-year-old Bradley Horton to save his own life. Pierce clung to Horton’s back for more than half a mile on a darkened country road after his gun belt got looped around the ATV’s luggage rack. He said he shouted repeatedly for Horton to stop, and then shouted “I’m going to shoot you,” and did. Pierce said he was trying to incapacitate Horton so he would stop accelerating. The incident began when Pierce tried to pull Horton over for not wearing a helmet. The incident occurred during a massive manhunt for fugitive Ralph “Bucky” Phillips, an accused police shooter who was suspected of hiding in the western New York County at the time. Horton’s family members said the evidence given to the grand jury was only from the police perspective.
October 2006
