Week of July 31-Aug. 4, 2023
1923 – 100 Years Ago
Warren G. Harding
Born 1865 – Died 1923
Warren G. Harding, President of the United States, died instantly and without warning at the presidential headquarters in the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, on August 2, 1923, a victim of a stroke of apoplexy which struck him in his weakened condition after an illness of exactly a week.
Wholesale Fish Killing
On Monday morning, something broke loose at the tannery, causing the destruction of fish life by the thousands between Marlinton and Buckeye and perhaps points further down the river. Even mud turtles, snakes, and water dogs were not immune. Whatever it was that killed the fish made them blind and crazy, and they fell easy victims to anyone who cared to pick them up. Literally wagon loads are now lying rotting in the stream.
Noted Bandit Killed
Francisco “Pancho” Villa, the great bandit leader of Mexico, was assassinated together with his secretary, Miguel Trillo, two other members of his party, and a civilian bystander, by a band of seven assassins who had hidden themselves in a vacant house near Parral, Mexico. Five “widows” have put in their claims for a share of the Villa estate. There is also the dead leader’s admitted wife, Senora Lu Corzral de Villa, who was living in the United States when the former bandit was shot.
1948 – 75 Years Ago
Big Excitement At Charleston Started By Women Tourists
Two excited women tourists started something Friday morning that kept the entire Charleston area in a dither all forenoon. The two women were cruising along the highway when they saw a plane, heard an explosion, and amidst a lot of what they thought was smoke, saw it disappear behind a hill. The ladies stopped approaching motorists and said there had been an accident. At a filling station, they found a telephone and put in a call that sent four ambulances, a police detail and hundreds of people from Charleston to the scene.
What they had seen was a plane making a normal approach to the new Charleston airport which is hidden in the hills. The pilot had cut the throttles, the plane had backfired, then disappeared behind a hill to one of the airport runways. The smoke was fog spiraling upward from a ravine.
1973 – 50 Years Ago
Halderman Has Heard Nixon’s Secret Tapes
Private citizen H. R. Halderman sat alone at home one summer night listening to President Nixon’s secret tapes – tapes that Nixon has denied to the Senate Watergate Committee. The knowledge that Nixon has taped all his conversation was gained by a committee investigator and later confirmed in testimony before the committee by a reluctant witness, former White House Deputy Assistant Alexander P. Butterfield.
1,000 Attend Opening Of New Alderson Bank
Approximately 1,000 persons attended the Open House held by the First National Bank of Alderson. Refreshments were served, and bank officials and members of the bank staff conducted tours of the new Colonial-style building located on State Route 12 just north of Alderson.
Sprouse Wins Law Suit
State Supreme Court Justice James M. Sprouse has been awarded a $750,000 judgment in his $3 million libel suit against the Charleston Daily Mail. Sprouse has sued the newspaper on the basis of two articles concerning his business dealings. At the time the stories appeared, Sprouse was the Democratic nominee for governor in 1968.
1998 – 25 Years Ago
Inmates Help Build Habitat Home In Alderson
Greenbrier Habitat for Humanity recently received some much needed help with its home construction project in Alderson. Since May, eight women from the Federal Prison Camp in Alderson have been involved in the construction of a home being built for the Burns family. The women work Tuesday and Thursday evenings and all day Saturdays. They have been involved in all phases of the process, from framing walls to the final trim work.
Gerl Receives Service Award From Governor
Governor Cecil H. Underwood recognized ten individuals and groups who have exemplified volunteer service by giving their time, talents and energy over the last year to make West Virginia a better place. Among the recipients was Jim Gerl of Lewisburg, who was recognized for his efforts to help the poor, including the implementation of a Civilian Conservation Corps to address welfare-to-work issues and his service of the West Virginia Legal Service Plan, Inc.
Acoustic Duo To Perform At Carnegie
The August Ivy Terrace Concert features local acoustic duo Windfall on August 4 on the Ivy Terrace at Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg. Windfall is an acoustic collaboration of two longtime friends, Kim Parker and Phil Rolleston. They began performing together with an original rock group in 1970 in Atlanta, Georgia.
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