The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, August 11, 2021 B-3 HISTORY Submit history photos: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: news@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg Source: www.history.com • Photo source: www.perurail.com Wednesday, August 11 • Federal prisoners land on Alca- traz (1934) • Last U.S. ground combat unit departs South Vietnam (1972) Thursday, August 12 • Skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex discovered (1990) • East Germany begins construc- tion of the Berlin Wall (1961) Friday, August 13 • Berlin is divided (1961) • A ztec capital falls to Cortez (1521) Saturday, August 14 • Blackout hits Northeast United States (2003) • Russians settle Alaska (1784) Sunday, August 15 • The Woodstock festival opens in Bethel, N.Y. (1969) • Henry Ford leaves Edison to start automobile company (1899) Monday, August 16 • Gold discovered in the Yukon (1896) • Babe Ruth dies (1948) Tuesday, August 17 • Woodstock Music Festival con- cludes (1969) • Hitler's last living henchman dies (1987) net edition pressdispatch.net/edition Web, Smartphone, Tablet Streamline the Headline! 812-354-8500 • 820 Poplar St., Petersburg, IN • ads@pressdispatch.net SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO The Petersburg Press Friday and Tuesday, Aug. 9 and Aug. 13, 1946 WHEREAS, the President of the United States has by proc- lamation designated Wednes- day, August 14, 1946, as "Vic- tory Day" of World War II; and WHEREAS, This day is the an- niversary of one of the greatest dates in the history of this nation and of all mankind, marking as it does world triumph of right over might and of freedom over slavery; NOW, THEREFORE, I Norman H. von der Lehr, as acting mayor of the City of Pe- tersburg, do hereby call upon all patriotic citizens and orga- nizations of this community to join in observing "Victory Day" of World War II on Wednesday, August 14, 1946, to honor the memory of all those who gave their lives on far-flung battle- fields that we might remain free, and to pay tribute to the hero- ism and devotion of our fighting men and women. I further urge all citizens and business estab- lishments to display the Ameri- can flag and those of our allies, to signify our re-dedication to the unfinished task of establish- ing a lasting peace. Berl White, 8 -year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Ivan White, was the object of an intensive police search on the White River Sun- day afternoon after he was seen to have stepped off a sand bar into deep water. He had been swimming with a group of small companions near the Rock Cliff bridge on the Vincennes High- way. State police dragging the river encountered difficulty be- cause of the amount of debris scattered on the river bottom. The body was recovered late in the afternoon not far from the water plant intake. Births: To Mr. and Mrs. Rus- sell Roberts, a daughter, at the Oakland City Hospital, Sunday, August 4; To Mr. and Mrs. Hil- bert Mattison, of Petersburg, on July 30, a girl; To Mr. and Mrs. Donald Bryant, of Winslow, Fri- day, a girl, Connie Marlene. Marriages: Delphia Jean Hager became the bride of Ar- thur Edward Huffman recently by the justice of the peace. Deaths: Alonzo Loveless, 62, of Oakland City, died at his home on Sunday night. SIXTY YEARS AGO The Pike County Dispatch Thursday, August 10, 1961 Fire of unknown origin de- stroyed the two story house of Thelman Harmon at 318 WHS sophomore Class of 1938 Members of the Winslow High School Class of 1938 included, first row: Newton Carr, Claudia Taylor, June France, Lorraine Littell, Helen Poehlein, Jean Pouder, Byers Smith and Clement Pirkle; second row: Lane Land, Edna Mullins, Agnes Young, Tia Weeks, Loveada Bolin, Helen Wood, Pauline Howard, Arbutus Willi, and Newton Thompson (principal); third row: Vernon Houchin, Kathleen Amos, Joyce Davis, Louise Littell, Georgia Brust, Lela Brenton and William Henry; fourth row: Irene Roy- alty (sponsor), Charles Hardin, Eugene Norrington, Walter Briggs, Mabel Evans and Herbert Russ; fifth row: Horace Whitman, Jr., Baxter Weeks, Robert Wiggs, Blythe Willis, James Burlingame, Richard Gray and Lloyd Morton. E. Harrison St. in Oakland City about 4:30 Sunday morn- ing. Mrs. Aline Hill, who lives across the street from the Har- mon home, discovered the fire, which she reported to Tom Pierce, another neighbor. Tom turned in the fire alarm. The Oakland City and Francisco fire departments fought the fire, but it had such a start that they were unable to save the house and contents. It was de- cided that the fire started in the back part of the house. The firemen worked hard and are to be commended for saving the house of Mr. and Mrs. Vernie Williams, who live on the east side of the Harmons. The roof and windows on the west side of the Williams' house were bad- ly damaged. Mr. and Mrs. Har- mon were enroute home from a tour of he western states and had stopped in St. Louis, Mo., to visit relatives. They were no- tified there of the fire. The Har- mons returned to Oakland City Sunday evening. A runaway truck belonging to the Wilkinson Lumber Com- pany in Winslow crashed into a car sitting across the street from the lumber company and did extensive damage to the car. No one was injured in the mis- hap. Freeman Batch had parked his 1956 Ford across the street form the main entrance of the Wilkinson Lumber Compa- ny Monday morning and had gone to the lumber company to pay a bill. Just before Mr. Batch parked his car, the lum- ber truck had been parked int he lumber shed where lumber was being unloaded. When Mr. Batch entered the office, the truck was left unattended. A crash was heard in the office and when Mr. Batch looked out of the window, he saw the truck had smashed into his car. The truck had rolled down the in- cline, across the street and hit the car near the front odor cowl post. The truck had pushed the car against the curb, nearly up- set it and then rolled back to let the car back down in a parked position. The two front wheels of the car were bent, the wind- shield was shattered and the side caved in. Damage to the car was estimated at $ 301.90. There was no damage to the truck. It was lucky that no one was in the car or that no car was traveling on the highway when the truck crossed it. Births: To Mr. and Mrs. Bret Abell, a son, Gary Wayne, born July 39 at St. Mary's Hospital; To Mr. and Mrs. Elijah McCord, of Winslow, a son, Walter Fred, born Saturday, August 5 in Da- viess County Hospital; To Mr. and Mrs. Clenneth Bruce, a son, Clenneth DeWayne Bruce, Jr., July 29 at Jasper Hospital. Deaths: Joseph E. Clem, 77, of Oakland City, died at 3:30 p.m. Friday at his home. FIFTY YEARS AGO The Press-Dispatch Thursday, August 12, 1971 Mrs. Frona Thomas this week sold her News and Gift Store on South Main St. in Pe- tersburg to Mr. and Mrs. Ken- neth Hobson, of Petersburg. The Hobsons took possession of their newly acquired busi- ness Wednesday. Mrs. Thomas and her late husband, Lonnie, purchased the store 23 years ago from John Carter. Through their close attention to business and service to their customers, it has grown into a lucrative un- dertaking. Following the death of Mr. Thomas four years ago, Mrs. Thomas continued op- erating the business with the aid of her daughter, Mrs. Lee Harris and with Mrs. Berne- ice Carson, Mrs. Jewell Miller and Mrs. Ehtel Brand, who have been clerks in the store for sev- eral years, along with other ef- ficient clerks at various times. Mr. and Mrs. Hobson are well known and find Petersburg cit- izens who no doubt will enjoy the same loyal support and vol- ume of business the Thomases have had. A Pike County man is set- ting up a plant to manufacture rock drill bits locally. Bill Coom- er, of Petersburg, is planning to manufacture the drill bit used by coal mines in this area for drilling blast holes in rock. Mr. Coomer is setting his plant up in the former Herschel Long butcher plant in Campbelltown. He now has enough machinery to turn out a test model. Mr. Coomer said that the tool was first made by Hugh's Tool Co. and was developed in the early part of this century. Presently, he said he knew of no manufac- turer any closer than a plant in Texas. He said his plans are to test the first bit this week and to get into production within 40 days. His plans are to hire at least 20 men and possibly more depending on sales of the tool. Births: To Mr. and Mrs. Donald McNeeley, of Peters- burg, in Daviess County Hos- pital, a son; To Mr. and Mrs. Larry Whitman, of Petersburg, in Good Samaritan Hospital, Wednesday, August 4, a daugh- ter, Barbara Lorraine; To Mr. and Mrs. David Kinman, of Pe- tersburg, in St. Mary's Hospital; Sunday, August 1, a son, Grand David; To Mr. and Mrs. James Osgatharp, of Otwell, a son, Jer- emy Sanford, July 22 at Deacon- ess Hospital; To Mr. and Mrs. Myreon Krohn, of Oakland City, in Gibson General Hospi- tal, Tuesday, August 3, a daugh- ter, Amy Renae. Deaths: Kenneth S. Freder- ick, 50, of Winslow, died Thurs- day, August 5 at Blackfoot No. 5 mine; Bertha M. Chance, 73, of Arthur, died at her home at 2:30 p.m. Friday, August 6; Ros- coe Tate, 71, of Cato, died at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, August 5 in St. Joseph's Hospital; Oren S. Wil- liams, 88, of Oakland City, died Sunday at Deaconess Hospital; Cleve Hendricks, 81, of Somer- ville, died at 3 a.m. Saturday, August 7 in Gibson General Hospital; Josephine Blaize, 56, of Petersburg, died Wednesday, August 4 at 6 p.m. TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO The Press-Dispatch Thursday, August 8, 1996 Two suspicious fires de- stroyed a vacant house and a house trailer over the last four days in Patoka Township. Sun- day, a fire that has official- ly been declared an arson de- stroyed a vacant house owned by Bernard McCandless. Mon- day afternoon, a fire at a vacant house trailer in Glezen, whose owner was deceased, went up in flames. In both fires, all the utilities had been disconnect- ed. South Patoka Fire Chief Ed Schuessler said the Indi- ana State Fire Marshal had declared the cause of Sunday morning's house fire to be ar- son. "He said the cause was van- dalism." Schuessler said it was probably started with some clothes or paper in the house, because they could not find an accelerant. Clues were hard to come by because it was so bad- ly burned. Schuessler said Dep- uty Sheriff Brad Jenkins found the fire as he was on patrol at about 4:30 a.m. Sunday. "The back of the house was fully in- volved," said Schuessler. "It was a total loss." He said it started in the back part of the house that was located on Highway 61, near Old State Road 64, about a quarter of a mile north of High- way 64. For many years, ti was the home of Lee and Etta Am- brose, both deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Michael Wells were the last to live in the home, selling it recently to Bernard Mccand- less, of Oakland City. Wells ver- ified that there were no utilities on in the house and no way it could have accidentally caught fire. A second suspicious fire destroyed a house trailer in Glezen on Center Rd. at about 3:30 p.m. Monday. North Pa- toka Fire Capt. Chris Loveless said the trailer had been owned by Johnny Zehner, who recently died. Loveless said there was no insurance on the structure and electricity and gas had been dis- connected. "There was nothing that could have started a fire," said Loveless. Marriages: Emilee Corn and Matthew Corn were united in marriage on July 13 at Brenton Chapel in Petersburg. Deaths: Opal Bottoms, 87, of Winslow, died Thursday, Aug. 1 at 11 a.m. at St. Mary's Med- ical Center; Mattie E. Barrett, 81, of Otwell, died at 7:15 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 4 at I.U. Medical Center in Indianapolis; Nita B. Garrison, 67, of Winslow, died at 11:50 a.m. Sunday, August 4 at Wirth Regional Hospital; Har- old Troy Schrolucke, 90, of Ot- well, died at 7:20 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6 at Amber Manor Care Center in Petersburg.