Turning Back the Pages

100 years ago —
 December 1923

A young man named Breuy of Lime Rock while driving a Paige runabout from Sharon to Lakeville on Saturday evening, came to grief near the residence of John Hall. His car hit the cement curb of a culvert while going at high speed. Both front wheels, axle and transmission were ripped off and the car buried its nose in the ditch. Breuy was somewhat cut about the mouth but not seriously. He was arrested later and taken before the court in Sharon where he was charged with reckless driving, driving while intoxicated and driving with wrong number plates and breach of the peace. He received a fine of $60 and costs amounting to about $120. 

Little Mary Phillip had the misfortune to fall from the cellar door and fracture her left arm last Thursday.

A new boarder, Robert Henry Garrison, arrived at the home of Mr. and Mrs. R.A. Garrison on Tuesday Dec. 11.

Mr. William Kane is having a wireless installed in his house.

A number of the men friends of C.H. Barnum gave him a pleasant surprise party on the occasion of his birthday last Saturday evening. Barney doesn’t say how old he is, but he does say that the first hundred years are the hardest.

50 years ago —
December 1973

Male suffrage may generally be assumed elsewhere, but it was dealt a sharp blow recently in Kent. At a meeting of the Provisional League of Women Voters last Friday, the members voted two to one to deny men admission to the organization. The vote followed a spirited debate on the subject.

Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Armentano Wednesday afternoon denied a motion by State’s Attorney John F. Bianchi of Canaan to bar the press and public from court during arguments on a motion to suppress evidence in the case of Peter Reilly. Mr. Reilly, 18, is charged with the Sept. 28 murder of his mother, Barbara Gibbons, in their Falls Village home. Mr. Bianchi warned that press coverage of material to be presented in evidence might “create an inflammatory situation in the area.” He singled out The Lakeville Journal as having “headlines every week” on the Reilly case.

Fuel consultants James Husted and Walter Ullram appealed to business proprietors in Lakeville and Salisbury this week to restrict the lighting of store windows and signs during the energy shortage. In conformance with the policy outlined by Gov. Thomas J. Meskill, businesses are asked to illuminate only one sign describing the kind of business. The Governor has requested that other advertising signs and window display lighting be curtailed.

Welders were at work early this week on the reconstruction of the bridge over Salmon Kill on the Lime Rock Road. Town officials expect the bridge to be completed before Christmas, ready to carry two lanes of traffic where only one could pass before.

Canaan’s night life will get a big lift next week with the opening of the Golden Spike, a new pub complete with peanut shells on the floor and buckets of beer. The new pub will open in the newly-renovated Union Depot on or before Dec. 20, according to Chet Stover and Don Walker, sponsors of the new business.

Edmund Dean, who operates a farm in South Canaan, continued this week to sight a small dog-like animal which may well be an Eastern coyote. The animal has been seen around the farm on a number of occasions. Unusually bold for a member of such an elusive species, this animal has appeared in daylight and stayed in view for several minutes at a time.

25 years ago —
December 1998

State Police continue to investigate an armed robbery which took place Saturday, Dec. 5, at Fife’s Convenience Store at routes 7 and 63 in Falls Village. According to Patricia Fife, who owns the business with her husband Paul, her daughter-in-law was alone in the store when a masked and gloved gunman entered around 8:30 p.m. and demanded money from the register. Her daughter-in-law complied. Reached at work Wednesday Mrs. Fife said she couldn’t remember how much money was taken from the register. When caught, the gunman will be charged with first-degree robbery and third-degree larceny.

The Northwest Connecticut Chapter of the United Nations Association of the United States holds its first membership business meeting at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 10, at the Holley House Museum in Lakeville. The meeting date is the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the General Assembly.

These items were taken from The Lakeville Journal archives at Salisbury’s Scoville Memorial Library, keeping the original wording intact as possible.