The Press-Dispatch
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C-8 Wednesday, Januar y 1, 2020 The Press-Dispatch HISTORY Submit history photos: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: news@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO The Petersburg Press Friday and Tuesday, August 25 and August 29, 1944 Lt. Kermit and Kenneth Coleman, sons of County Commissioner and Mrs. Dennis Coleman, of Win- slow, have just recently been sent to Wendover Field for advanced training as P-47 pilots. The Coleman broth- ers resemble in action and looks enough to be twins, but there are two years dif- ference in their ages. Ker- mit is 21 and Kenneth is 23. They signed up as avia- tion cadets within the same week and were called and accepted on the same date, being sent to the same field, Fryder Field, near Pine Bluff, Ark., for their elementary flight train- ing, and were graduated with like grades on May 23, 1944, and were both sent to Wendover Field on August 1, and were placed in the same group. They hope to become P-47 fighter pilots and form a team. Mrs. Sadie Dupont, of St. Croix, Ind., received a tele- gram from the War Depart- ment, Saturday stating her her son, Pfc. James W. Du- pont, has been missing in ac- tion since July 31 in France. He was in the 23rd division the army infantry and had been overseas for the past nine months. He owned and operated a farm in Pikeville, but when he was inducted into the army, he disposed of his farm interests. He is not married. Births: To Mr. and Mrs. George Horrell in the Da- viess County Hospital, a boy, on August 24; To Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Cox, of Pe- tersburg, a girl, Marilyn Kay, on Aug. 11; To Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Weathers, of Ca- to, a boy, James Lawrence, on August 18; To Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Fowler on Au- gust 18, a daughter, Shan- non Kay; To Mrs. Eugene Stillwell, in Miller Hospital in Winslow, on August 19, a girl, Helen Marie. Marriages: Estella Har- rison and T/Cpl. John Grest- er Toler were united in mar- riage Saturday at 3 p.m. at the home of Rev. Edgar Cur- ry in Scottsburg. Deaths: Dora Bell Mitch- ell, of Stendal, died at her home Sunday afternoon near 1 o'clock; George Fred- erick Manning, 74, of Win- slow, passed away at his home at 8:30 o'clock on Au- gust 25; Maggie Crow, of Glezen, died at her home at 8 o'clock Monday evening; David Leigh, 68, of Peters- burg, died at 2:30 o'clock Tuesday morning in the Da- viess County hospital. SIXTY YEARS AGO The Petersburg Press Thursday, November 26, 1959 A Petersburg man was killed instantly at about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday morn- ing in a one-car and truck collision at the edge of Rog- er's Bridge on Highway 57 six miles east of Peters- burg. Donald Gray, 37, of near Bowman, was dead when taken from the scene. The truck driver, Ed Mc- Cormick, assistant direc- tor of operations for India- napolis and Southern Motor Express, Inc. was injured in the accident. Gray was alone in the car. According to reports, McCormick had slowed his truck to enter the south end of Roger's Bridge because two trucks were traveling south on the nar- row bridge. Gray apparently did not see the truck until he was very near it because of a small hill just south of the bridge. When he went over the hill and saw the truck, he tried to pass the truck. It was indicated that he must have seen the two approach- ing trucks on the bridge and then tried to cut back be- hind the I and S truck. How- ever, he evidently was going too fast to stop and crashed into the left rear corner of the large truck. The front of the car went under the end of the truck trailer and smashed to the rear wheels of the trailer. The corner of the trailer was sticking through he windshield of the car, resting over the dashboard. Gray died from a crushed chest, compound fracture of the skull, broken and mangled right arm and a broken neck. Five Oakland City res- idents narrowly escaped death Thursday night af- ter being overcome by gas fumes. Had it not been that one of the women, Mrs. Donald Auberry, failed to re- port for work at the Oakland City Hospital, all five would have probably died. Mr. and Mrs. Auberry, their three- year-old son, Perry, Mrs. Cecilia Sanders and her one-year-old daughter, Ju- dy, were taken to the hospi- tal after they were found un- conscious in their home at about 11 p.m. Mrs. Auber- ry works at the hospital and when she did not appear for work, Dr. H.A. Peters, hos- pital administrator, sum- moned two Oakland City policemen, secured a key to the house from the own- er, John Smith, and went in- to the house to investigate. The five stricken people were rushed from the gas- filled house to the hospital. Fire Chief P.M. Slack and representatives of the Hoo- sier Gas Corp. of Vincennes conducted an investigation. Chief Slack said that it is possible the gas heaters in the house had been turned up too high for the vents to take care of the exhaust. The heaters were proper- ly vented, he said, but at- mospheric conditions out- side were such that the gas was not escaping. There was no other ventilation in the house, he said. All five have recovered from the narrow escape. Births: To Mr. and Mrs. Harold Schlottman, of Oak- land City, a son, last week in the Gibson General Hos- pital; To Mr. and Mrs. Ar- thur Zimmerman, of Peters- burg, a son, born Saturday at the Daviess County Hos- pital; To Mr. and Mrs. James Kabrick, of Otwell, a daugh- ter, November 23, in Me- morial Hospital in Jasper; To Mr. and Mrs. Glen Wis- caver, of Otwell, a son, Glen Dale, Friday, November 20 in Memorial Hospital in Jas- per; To Mr. and Mrs. De- Wayne Bailey, of Spurgeon, a son, Jeffrey DeWayne, in Gibson General Hospital November 12. FIFTY YEARS AGO The Press-Dispatch Thursday, December 11, 1969 A D-X Station owned by Leon Sutt was broken into sometime during the ear- ly morning hours Tuesday. The station is located on Highway 57 near Glezen. A double tool chest full of mechanics' tools was taken from inside the station and a chest full of plumbers' tools was taken from Sutt's auto parked near the station. Entry was gained into the locked auto by prying open a window. A small fire Sun- day damaged the electrical system at the station and it has been closed since then because there was no elec- tricity. Pike Automotive, Inc. was broken into some- time Tuesday morning by thieves. Over $ 900 worth of merchandise was stolen. Entry was made to the auto- motive supply business by prying open the front door. A fter thieves loaded up all they apparently could haul, they left by way of the back door. Taken were chain- saws, battery chargers, nu- merous spark plugs, jacks and several other articles. Other parts were thrown on the floor. Births: To Mr. and Mrs. Bill Grubb, of Oakland City, a son, Donald Ray, Thurs- day, December 4 at Gibson General Hospital; To Mr. and Mrs. Richard Greene, of Winslow, a daughter, Ma- rie Angela, born at 10 :40 a.m. Tuesday, December 9 in St. Mary's Hospital; To Mr. and Mrs. James Kent Johnson, of Petersburg, Monday, November 24 at 12:13 p.m., a son, Kent Eu- gene, in Daviess County Hospital. Deaths: Donald Ray Beck, 39, of Francisco, died at 4:40 a.m. Thursday, December 4 in St. Joseph's Hospital in Huntingburg; Essie B. Ropp, 81, of Peters- burg, died at 4:30 p.m. Fri- day, December 5 in Wirth Hospital in Oakland City; Millie R. Purl, 88, of Camp- belltown, passed away Sat- urday, December 6 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Vin- cennes; Warner L. Carl- isle, 83, of Petersburg, died at 12:35 p.m. Sunday, De- cember 7 in Daviess Coun- ty Hospital; Gotha McK- inney, 74, of Oakland City, died Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Wirth Osteopathic Hospi- tal. TWENTY- FIVE YEARS The Press-Dispatch Thursday, November 24, 1994 A Pike County jury could not determine guilt or inno- cence in a four-day involun- tary manslaughter trial. A fter almost 12 hours of delibera- tion, jurors could not break a 7-5 deadlock. Jurors could not decide if James Carlisle, of Pe- tersburg, was guilty of invol- untary manslaughter. Carlisle shot and killed James Douglas Westfall, 24, of Petersburg, on April 26 at 11 p.m. after the two had fought and argued about Tori White. Jurors had trouble deciding if Carlisle's shooting of Westfall was jus- tified. Pike County prosecu- tor Jeff Biesterveld claimed that it was not justifiable once Westfall left the house and Carlisle followed him out of the house. Biesterveld said if Carlisle had shot West- fall in the house, when West- fall had a .357 pistol and fired it in the house, the shooting would have been justifiable. He said Westfall had left Car- lisle's house and was headed to the car to leave when Car- lisle followed him out of the house and the two got into another argument. Scott Mc- Beth, who had driven West- fall to Carlisle's house, then witnessed the shooting, and claimed Westfall had turned sideways and was not attack- ing Carlisle. Births: To Jerry and Suzanne Lane, of Petersburg, on November 15 at St. Mary's Medical Center in Evans- ville, a son, David Clayton; To Shawn and Phoebe Kend- all, of Velpen, a son, Randall Scott, October 31 at Memorial Hospital in Jasper; To Mr. and Mrs. Brian Kinman, of Peters- burg, a daughter, Cassie Jo, at St. Mary's Hospital, Tuesday, Liquid oxygen plant at Enos The liquid oxygen plant at Enos Coal Mine made explosives for use in mining coal. Elvis E. Crooks is shown in the plant in 1953. The photo was furnished courtesy Sandy McBeth of the Pike County Museum. Wednesday, Jan. 1 • Batista forced out by Castro-led revolution (1959) • The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect (1863) Thursday, Jan. 2 • Georgia enters the Union (1788) • Nixon signs national speed limit into law (1974) Friday, Jan. 3 • Noriega surrenders to U.S. (1990) • United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba (1961) Saturday, Jan. 4 • The euro debuts (1999) • President Nixon refuses to hand over tapes (1974) Sunday, Jan. 5 • Golden Gate Bridge construction begins (1933) • Truman delivers his Fair Deal speech (1949) Monday, Jan. 6 • Morse demonstrates telegraph (1838) • Harold II crowned king of England (1066) Tuesday, Jan. 7 • First U.S. presidential election (1789) • Truman announces U.S. has developed hydrogen bomb (1953) Source: History.com Presbyterian Wesleyan MAIN STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 10th and Main Streets, Petersburg 812-354-6844 Sunday worship 10 :30 a.m. We have a nursery for chil- dren up to the age of seven and we also have a van route in Petersburg to pick anyone up. Come visit us, our doors are always open to you. A Rib Tickler A fter her husband was out late for a few nights, Eve was upset. "Are you out with oth- er women? " she asked. "Don't be unreasonable," replied Adam. "You're the on- ly woman on earth." The quarrel ended when Adam fell asleep. When he awakened with pokes to the chest, he asked, "What are you doing? " "Counting your ribs! " Eve said. Blessings and Happy New Year from our church to yours. Office hours: 9 a.m.-noon, Monday-Friday. Boyd Heldring, Pastor Amy Melhiser, Secretary OTWELL WESLEYAN CHURCH 2277 N. Mechanics Street Otwell Pastor 812-354-3028 Sunday school 9:30 a.m.; morning worship 10 :30 a.m.; evening worship service 6:30 p.m. Nursery available. Tuesday morning women's Bible study at the fellowship hall 10 a.m. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" ( Jeremiah 29:11). A great New Year's reso- lution: Let God take control of your life and see what will happen. Life is better when you're laughing. We invite all of you to come and worship with us. Roy Stilwell, Pastor Pam Lemond, Reporter Church Notes Continued from page 3 November 8; To Mr. and Mrs. Chad Western, of Petersburg, at St. Mary's Medical Center in Evansville, Wednesday, No- vember 15, a son, Jacob Tyler. Marriages: Christine Ma- rie Bolte and Lyle Kent Ox- ley were united in marriage at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, October 22 in Sts. Peter and Paul Cath- olic Church in Petersburg. Deaths: James P. Vinyard, 90, of Winslow, died Saturday, November 19 at Wirth Hospi- tal in Oakland City; Estell Bat- tles, 84, of Petersburg, died Thursday, November 17 at 2:15 a.m. at Crestview Nurs- ing Home in Vincennes; Eth- el E. Dyer, 94, of Hazleton, died Monday, November 14 at 2:15 p.m. at Holiday Man- or Nursing Home in Prince- ton; Edith Louise Self, 66, of Oakland City, died Tuesday, November 15 at Welborn Bap- tist Hospital.