The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, August 12, 2020 B-5 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, April 6 and April 10, 1945 The next paper waste drive will be held Saturday, April 14 with the boy scouts of the country making the ef- fort to finish their quota for the national Boy Scout drive. The last county drive netted just under 11 tons counting what had been collected by the Hi-Y boys and stored in the Montgomery barn. Any- one having a great quanti- ty of paper in a basement of shed should call the Press of- fice and make arrangements for its collection before the day of the drive as it is diffi- cult to make the best use of the trucks if no plans are laid in advance. Mr. and Mrs. Prentice Kin- man were hunting mush- rooms, Sunday afternoon along the old ditch and heard a rattling sound in the weeds and upon investigating they found a 4 and a half long rat- tlesnake. Mr. Kinman killed the snake with a large club that was nearby. He said he saw a rattlesnake near the same place last year but didn't get a chance to kill it. They also found some nice mushrooms, Births: To Mr. and Mrs. Delbert Johnson, of Ander- son, a girl, Karen Louann. Marriages: Miss Glad- ys Kathline English and Charles Maxwell, Jr. were married on Easter Sun- day, at 5 p.m., at the Algiers Cumberland Presbyterian church; Norma Jean John- son and Howard Russel were married Saturday evening, at 5 p.m., at the home of Rev. Herchell Long, in Ayrshire. SIXTY YEARS AGO The Pike County Dispatch Thursday, July 7, 1960 The storm which went over Friday morning, short- ly after midnight, badly dam- aged the home of Mr. and Mrs. Otho Corn in the east end of Winslow. It blew the stoop from the front of the house into their neighbor's, Tina Walts, yard. A large limb from a tree, split by the storm, feel across their roof and the chimney was moved over several inches by the wind. The roof was not only damaged by the falling limb, but was torn loose in several placed by the wind. The rain also leaked through soiling their newly-papered ceiling and walls. The limb had to be sawed in sections before it could be removed from the roof. One of the large limbs from the tree blew into Miss Walt's yard and would have blown against her house had it not been stopped by her clothes line. Russel Ruckriegle and his son, Rodney, of Otwell, col- lided on a sharp hill north of Otwell Tuesday of last week. Mr. Ruckriegle was headed east in the Otwell Milling Company's sales car, a 1960 Ford, and Rodney was driv- ing his new 1960 ford with only 11,00 miles on it, head- ed west, when they collided head on at the top of a steep hill. Mr. Ruckriegle had been to Lafayette to take some turkeys for analyzing and was accompanied by Elza Breidenbaugh, who was tak- ing Mr. Breidenbaugh home at the time. The accident oc- curred one-fourth mile from Mr. Breidenbaugh's home. Mr. Breidenbaugh received a cracked vertebra in the acci- dent. Rodney was alone. Es- timated damage to both cars was $ 600 each. Births: To Mr. and Mrs. Everet Sigler, of Martins- ville, a daughter, Mary Beth, was born on June 23, in a Martinsville Hospital; To Mr. and Mrs. James King, of Petersburg, a daughter, was born Friday, July 2, in the Da- viess County hospital. Marriages: Miss Cathy Lynne and Gerald P. Can- non were married Saturday, June 25, at St. Peters Luther- an church, in Stendal. Deaths: Fred Millard, of Winslow, died Monday, at 10 :45 a.m., at his family home; Ralph C. Klassen, of Petersburg, died Tuesday morning, at 9 a.m., in his home. FIFTY YEARS AGO The Press-Dispatch Thursday, July 23, 1970 Kenny Hobson, president of the Petersburg Jaycees, had the honor of crowning Miss Dixie Traylor 1970 Miss Pike County at the Pike County 4-H Fair Tues- day night. The beautifully jeweled crown was donated by the Petersburg Jaycees. Miss Traylor, a tall, graceful brunette, was chosen queen by the panel of judges from among 12 pretty contestants. The judges were Gerald El- liot of Jasper, Gary Dawson of Princeton, Wally Reeves of Vincennes, Mrs. Mari- on Blazey and Mrs. Beulah Lindsay, both of Washing- ton. Chosen first runner-up was Miss Marla Gordon and second runner-up was Miss Pat Swift. Receiving a plaque for being the most Harmo- nious was Miss Suzie Offil who was chosen by the oth- er Queen contestants. The plaque was given by an anon- ymous donor. The setting for the Queen Contest includ- ed a newly remodeled stage backdrop which was beauti- fully decorated for the occa- sion by Mrs. Nola Corn, Di- rector. Roscoe Sims is man- ager of the Queen Pageant, this most popular event of the Fair each year. He has been doing an excellent job at this post for several years. His assistant this year was Bill Wonder. Miss Traylor was beautifully attired in sleeve- less gown of heavy white lace over mint green satin styled with a wide mint green satin sash accented with a rhine- stone buckle in front at the waist. The flat satin bow at the back waist extended to floor length streamers. Mrs. Grayson Richard- son of Winslow was tak- en by Harris Ambulance to Memorial hospital in Jas- per Friday evening follow- ing a one car accident. The station wagon Mrs. Rich- ardson was driving headed north on highway 61 blew a left rear tire causing the car to leave the right side of the highway turning completely over in a corn field known as the Gross bottoms. Passen- gers in the car were five chil- dren, David Morton and Lar- ry Russell and her three chil- dren, Scotty, Timmy and Sal- ly. She was on her way to pick up their dog at Dr. Wrights in Petersburg and drop the children off at the show when the accident occurred. Mrs. Richardson remained in the hospital until Saturday. She received a slight concussion, badly bruised and skinned knees and bruises over her entire body. Births: To Mr. and Mrs. Alan Gladish, of Peters- burg, a son, Michael Alan, was born July 20, in Good Samaritan hospital; To Mr. and Mrs. George Faith, of Petersburg, a daughter, An- gela Sue, was born July 17, Daviess County Hospital. Deaths: Mrs. Myrtle Pride, 76, of Oakland City, died Tuesday morning, at 6 a.m., in the Gibson County hospital, in Princeton; Fred P. Veeck, 89, of Petersburg, died Monday, July 20, at 2:15 a.m., in his home. TWENTY- FIVE YEARS The Press-Dispatch Thursday, July 6, 1995 What began as an evening of fun and amusement quick- ly turned into a nightmare for several people when a demolition derby driver plowed into a crowd of spec- tators at the Jefferson Town- ship Ruritan July 4th Cel- ebration during the Fire- cracker Demolition Derby on Sunday in Otwell. Fred- erick E. McClellan Jr., 22, of Petersburg, was arrested on a charge of criminal reck- lessness causing bodily inju- ry following the incident in which at least two spectators were injured, one seriously, according to Pike County Sheriff Jeff Clements. Mc- Clellan drove off the track area through an opening at the end of the track, which was left open so cars could get to and from the track. The track had concrete bar- riers around it with bleach- ers behind the barriers. Al- so a large number of people were standing behind the barriers, but it was open to the pits. McClellan was driv- ing straight for several feet beyond the barriers through the opening, but then turned left into the crowd, according to Clements and other wit- nesses. McClellan claimed the throttle stuck on his car causing the accident. How- ever, Clements said even if the throttle did stick, there were several things he could have done to avoid going in- to the crowd, such as taking it out of gear and hitting the brakes. Sheriff Clements al- so claimed that McClellan had been warned by his crew to not to run that car in an- other heat because the throt- tle had been sticking and he drove it anyway. Several wit- nesses to the incident de- scribe the crowd scattering like the "parting of the Red Sea." Sheriff Clements said the incident is still under investigation. At the same time ambulance crews were assisting those injured from being hit, they also had re- ports of two women suffer- ing possible heart attacks. The names of the two wom- en and their condition were not available at press time. A rural Winslow wom- an was seriously injured in a Monday morning crash and power was knocked out for about half of Petersburg last Wednesday night when a utility pole was knocked down by a pickup truck. Flor- ence Jones, 75, of Winslow was flown by LifeFlight he- licopter to welborn Baptist Hospital in Evansville with multiple injuries including a head injury. Jones apparently "blacked out" at about 11:15 a.m. while she was driving west on Highway 356 about a mile east of Pike Central, according to Pike County sheriff Jeff Clements. He said Jones went left of center and off the south side of the road hitting a tree and flip- ping upside down onto the east bound lane of Highway 356, where she was pinned in the car. Petersburg and Jefferson Township Fire De- partment as well as Rescue Squad 51 and Emergency Medical Service worked to free Jones from the wreck- age. She is listed in seri- ous condition at Welborn. Her 1994 Buick Regal Sport was a total loss. Traffic was blocked for about 75 min- utes as crews blocked High- way 56 to allow rescue per- sonnel room to work and a place for LifeFlight to land. In a separate accident elec- tricity for about half of Pe- tersburg was knocked out for more than two hours Wednesday night, when a truck driven by Donald Al- ley, 37, of Petersburg. Alley was driving east on high- way 356 about 500 feet east of Lakeview Drive, when he went left of center and ran off the left side of the road hit- ting a PSI utility pole with five transformers on it. Al- ley then hit a ditch and over turned. Alley showed signs of being intoxicated, includ- ing lack of balance and odor of alcohol. He was treated at the scene for minor injuries and he had tested almost twice over the legal limit on a portable breath test for blood alcohol content. Alley was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated and speed too fast to avoid a collision. His 1990 GMC truck was a total loss and damage to the utility pole and five transformers were estimated to be more than $5,000. Marriages: Rachel Good- man and Jeffery Stafford were married on June 3, at 1:30 p.m., at Lincoln Hills Christian Church, in Coryd- on; Melanie Brooke Brew- ster and Tony Scott Traylor were married on Saturday, June 10, at the Winslow Gen- eral Baptist Church. Deaths: Wilma Arm- strong, 76, of Petersburg, died Sunday, July 2, at 7:40 a.m., at the Amber Manor Care Center, in Petersburg; Art N. Willis, 60, of Winslow, died Tuesday, July 4, at 1:53 a.m., at Mary's Medical Cen- ter, in Evansville. Pike County Champs The Pike County Champs in independent baseball from 1948 through 1951 were Bill's Cafe team. Members of the team were, front, Bob Cox, David Willis, Bob King, Doyle Selby and Joe Wilson (bat boy). In the back row were Bob Hodges, Bernard Gideon, Bernard Benjamin, "Cotton" Norrick, Bill Tislow, Denver Gladish, and Bill Harvey (manager/owner). Source: www.history.com • Photo source: www.billboard.com Wednesday, August 12 • Skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex dis- covered (1990) • East Germany begins construction of the Berlin Wall (1961) Thursday, August 13 • Berlin is divided (1961) • New York Yankees star Mickey Man- tle dies (1995) Friday, August 14 • FDR signs Social Security Act (1935) • Michael Jackson takes control of the Beatles' publishing rights (1985) Saturday, August 15 • The Woodstock festival opens in Bethel, N.Y. (1969) • Henry Ford leaves Edison to start au- tomobile company (1899) Sunday, August 16 • The Ramones play their first public gig at CBGB in downtown Manhat- tan (1974) • Babe Ruth dies (1812) Monday, August 17 • Woodstock Music Festival concludes (1969) • Hitler's last living henchman dies (1987) Tuesday, August 18 • Women's suffrage amendment rati- fied (1920) • Genghis Khan dies (1227) net edition pressdispatch.net/edition Web, Smartphone, Tablet Streamline the Headline! 812-354-8500 • 820 Poplar St., Petersburg, IN • ads@pressdispatch.net