The Press-Dispatch
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C-12 Wednesday, Januar y 22, 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, Sept. 15 and Sept. 19, 1944 A Fire Training school will be held in Petersburg next week for four nights starting Tuesday night at the City Hall. Training will be given by Mr. Hartman, from Purdue University, and by Mr. Hamm, from the state fire inspection depart- ment at Indianapolis. While the training is for the fire- men, any others who are in- terested are invited to meet with the group. At least 25 persons were killed and about 65 injured at 2:30 o'clock Thursday morning in the collision of two Chicago and Eastern Illinois railroad passenger trains near Terre Haute. Virtually all of the dead and injured were soldiers. The trains, one of the crack Di- xie Flyer, southbound, and the other a mail and express train, crashed head-on dur- ing a heavy fog. The engine, tender, two baggage cars and the first two of three Pullmans on the Dixie Fly- er left the track and piled up along the roadway. All cars of the other train held the track. The first two Pull- mans of the Flyer carried on- ly soldiers. A major, who de- clined to give his name, said all of the men were overseas Air Force veterans, most of whom wore the Purple Heart decoration. He said they were on 30 -day furlough, after which, they were to have been taken to redis- tribution centers. The first Pullman, containing 39 sol- diers, split open like a mel- on. Some passengers were pinned in their seats, oth- ers were thrown out along the tracks and some were caught beneath other cars. Most of the soldiers and ci- vilians were asleep at the time of the crash. Through the wreckage and alongside the tracks, lay Purple Heart decorations and air med- als. Baggage of the soldiers and civilians was strewn for a hundred yards. Louis Rausch, Jr., serving as fire- man on the Dixie Flyer, was killed. He was pinned in the cab and it took several hours to extricate the body. Births: To Mr. and Mrs. Ed Chamberlain, of Peters- burg, a boy, Saturday. Deaths: John Minnis, 75, of Oakland City, died at his residence at 4:30 o'clock, September 15; William West, 77, of Logan Town- ship, died at his home Satur- day morning at 2:10 o'clock. SIXTY YEARS AGO The Petersburg Press Thursday, December 17, 1959 "Vivian, I want your mon- ey," a man with a gun in his hands and a white handker- chief over his face demand- ed of Mrs. John Lewis Fri- day night at 10 :30 at the Lewis home on the north edge of Winslow. Shortly af- ter Mrs. Lewis had gone to bed Friday night, someone knocked on their front door. Then she heard a noise, She asked her husband, who was sleeping in a room ad- joining hers, if it was he. He told her he was still in bed. She got up and saw the front door was open and the light on. She closed the door and went back into her bedroom and asked her husband if he had been up and turned the light on. As she started to get in bed, a man standing in the hall reached around the door with the gun and asked for her money. When she told him she didn't have any, he said, "your husband has." She went to the door of her husband's room and told him to get up because there was a man with a gun wanting money. The culprit ran when he heard Mr. Lew- is open a drawer. They were so frightened for a few min- utes after the attempted rob- bery that they were not able to call the authorities for a while. Births: To Postmaster and Mrs. Thomas M. Gray, of Otwell, a son, Andrew Spencer, at Memorial Hos- pital in Jasper, December 10 ; To Mr. and Mrs. Charles Teague, of Otwell, a son, Mi- chael Alan, born at Memo- rial Hospital on December 9; To Mr. and Mrs. Charles Breidenbaugh, of near Ot- well, a son, Charles Keith, at Memorial Hospital De- cember 9. Deaths: Laura Harker, 74, of Petersburg, died at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes at 6:15 a.m. Mon- day; Thaddeus Potter, 77, of Oakland City, died Monday morning at 7:30 a.m. from a heart attack. FIFTY YEARS AGO The Press-Dispatch Thursday, January 1, 1970 The debut of a new decade has not been a particularly pleasant experience for this nation in the memory of the vast majority of its present populace. In four of the past five such historical inter- vals, the economy was sub- jected to varying stresses for at least a part of the first year of each decade. The year 1920 was a bad year for both business and the stock market; 1930 was an even more terrifying expe- rience on both fronts; 1940 witnessed a sharp slump in the stock market during the spring, with business suffer- ing a mild easing in the fore- part of the year before em- barking upon the upsurge of W W II; 1950 was a change of pace, as the post-W WII boom provided a fertile en- vironment for both the stock market and general busi- ness; but the "jinx" returned in 1960 when, despite the much-heralded promis- es of the "surging sixties," a year-long downslide in business occurred, and the stock market was in a reac- tionary phase for most of the year before rallying in late summer. As we enter the decade of the 1970s, once again the initial year seems destined to be hampered by the "freshman jinx," which tripped four out of five of the years which ushered in the past five decades. The year, which is now unfolding, has many favorable factors, but there are also many major problems and impondera- bles which lie in ambush and threaten the economy. Births: To Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Byrd, of Petersburg, in Daviess County Hospital, Wednesday, December 24, a son, Ronald Jeffery; To Mr. and Mrs. Michael Vaughn, of Velpen, a daughter, Darla Louann, Friday, December 20 in the St. Joseph Hospital. Marriages: Carolyn Kay Cain became the bride of Kenneth A. Veale in a dou- ble-ring ceremony Saturday, December 20 at 7 p.m. in the First Christian Church in Petersburg. Deaths: Lora A. Cum- mins, 87, of the Bowman Community, died at 3 p.m. Thursday, December 25 in the Good Samaritan Hos- pital; Mrs. Flossie B. Tray- lor, 75, of Otwell, died in the Memorial Hospital in Jasper, Wednesday, December 24 at 3:30 p.m. TWENTY- FIVE YEARS The Press-Dispatch Thursday, December 15, 1994 The Pike County School Corporation board meeting, Thursday night, Dec. 8, was dominated with discussions on increasing graduation credits and fixing the dilem- ma of high school students doubling classes. The idea of increasing graduation cred- it requirements was brief- ly introduced at the Octo- ber meeting by Rick Fears, Pike Central principal. Sara Mendel, junior represtant- aive on the committee, said, "I've talked with other stu- dents and the majority agree that this credit increase will help motivate and challenge students to do their best." Fears informed the board, "Now with a program the state department is work- ing to get, it looks like within the year, there will be a man- date that will require cred- its to be over 40." Pike Cen- tral now requires 38 cred- its. Fears and the commit- tee believe Pike Central has the curriculum to increase credits to 42. This action will let Pike Central get a head start on the coming mandate. Committee mem- bers chose 42 credits af- ter they researched credits earned by past classes. They found that last year's seniors earned 47 credits on an aver- age. Most students earned 41 credits or above on the 38 required scale, so the com- mittee decided 42 was the most reachable increase. The committee also sur- veyed the faculty and staff and the majority agreed on the credit increase. A f- ter further discussion, the board did approve the pro- posal. The credit increase to 42 will be effective with the senior class of 1999, the 1995 -96 freshman class. Births: To Rev. and Mrs. Terry Neace, of Winslow, at Memorial Hospital in Jasper, Tuesday, Dec. 6, a daughter, Alyson Michelle; To Mr. and Mrs. Mark McCandless, of Winslow, at Memorial Hos- pital, Thursday, Dec. 8, a daughter, Kirbi Kay; To Am- ber Traylor, of Otwell, and Ja- son Leighty, of Petersburg, a daughter, Olivia Paige, Nov. 2, at Daviess County Hospi- tal; to Mr. and Mrs. Bud Un- derhill, of Winslow, at Good Samaritan Hospital, Decem- ber 8, a daughter, Sara Beth. Deaths: Betty Har- rington, 69, of Petersburg, died Monday, Dec. 12 at 10 :22 a.m. at Vanderbilt Uni- versity Hospital in Nashville, Tenn.; Ruth Henager, 91, of Oakland City, died Thurs- day, Dec. 8 at 12:40 p.m. at Wirth Hospital in Oakland City; Michael W. Clark, 44, of Monroe City, died Satur- day, De. 10 at 11:05 p.m. at Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes; Emery L. Potts, 77, of Hazleton, died at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, De. 10 at Pe- tersburg Healthcare Center. The McCandless Quartet The McCandless Quartet was, left to right, Robert McCandless, Gilbert Jarvis, Bruce McCandless, Amber McCandless and Earlene Burkhart. The group was made up of the grandchildren of Sam and Amanda McCandless. They often sang on radio station WAOV out of Vincennes. The photo was from the Pike Coun- ty Museum, courtesy Sandy McBeth net edition pressdispatch.net/edition Web, Smartphone, Tablet Streamline the Headline! 812-354-8500 • 820 Poplar St., Petersburg, IN • ads@pressdispatch.net Wednesday, Jan. 22 • Ted Kaczynski pleads guilty to bombings (1998) • Roe v. Wade (1973) Thursday, Jan. 23 • Toy company Wham-O produces first Frisbees (1957) • Elizabeth Blackwell becomes first female physician in U.S. (1849) Friday, Jan. 24 • Boy Scouts movement begins (1908) • Winston Churchill dies (1965) Saturday, Jan. 25 • Charles Manson and his followers are convicted of murder of seven people (1971) • First Winter Olympics (1924) Sunday, Jan. 26 • "The Dukes of Hazzard" premiers (1979) • U.S. Olympic Committee votes against Moscow games (1980) Monday, Jan. 27 • National Geographic Society founded (1888) • Americans bomb Germans for first time (1943) Tuesday, Jan. 28 • Challenger explodes (1986) • American recording artists gather to record "We Are the World" (1985) Source: History.com