Turning Back the Pages - December 11, 2025

125 years ago — December 1900

Miss Emma Ayres came nearly being burned to death on Tuesday. She was putting some wood in the stove and her apron caught fire and an instant later her dress was ablaze. She had presence of mind to remove her clothing, but it was a narrow escape.

Mr. and Mrs. William Conklinwere presented with a beautiful silver set this week, it being their 25th anniversary. The members of the K. of P. Lodge and other friends were the donors of the gift which was an evidence of the high esteem in which this worthy couple is held.

Chester Barnes, about whom reports have been brought to the authorities to the effect that he was discharging firearms at passersby from his house on Canaan mountain was Thursday taken into custody and was examined by Dr. Hamant of Norfolk and Dr. Cobb of Falls Village as to his sanity. The decision reached was that Barnes was not actually insane, but was the victim of constant hallucination which caused him to think that some one was going to kill him and rob him of his pension of $12 a month. Barnes, it appears, is a veteran of the civil war, belonging to the Nineteenth Connecticut regiment, and has lived a solitary life on Canaan mountain ever since the death of his wife twelve years ago.

100 years ago — December 1925

The Lakeville Fire District Committee have just ordered from the Connecticut Power Company the installation of six new street lights on the Hotchkiss School road. This will make a well lighted street the entire distance from the village to the cement road near Hotchkiss. The expense of installing and caring for the lights will be paid by the Hotchkiss School.

Donald M. Thrall, while motoring to Lakeville last Thursday night, ran into a good sized doe near Norfolk and quite badly injured the animal. The doe sustained a broken shoulder and other injuries. Don did not want to leave the doe to suffer and for a time was puzzled as to what course of action to follow. He decided to get the doe off the highway, and he had quite an exciting time in so doing, owing to the struggles of the animal. He finally accomplished the task, but was still averse to leaving the animal by the roadside. He finally got out a heavy Stilson wrench from his car, and using that as a club, he struck the doe on the forehead, killing it instantly. With the help of a couple of passing autoists he loaded the animal into his car and brought it to Norfolk, where he hunted up the game warden and made a report of the affair. Don’s worst grievance is the fact that the game warden confiscated the doe and wouldn’t even give him any portion of it, and Don is wondering just what the warden did with the venison.

The remains of Bryant S. Keefer, who died at Shelby, Ohio, were brought to Millerton and the funeral took place on Monday, according to Masonic rites. Mr. Keefer for many years was connected with the Millerton National Bank, and later was one of the firm of the Morse-Keefer Co., which a number of years ago was engaged in the manufacture of bicycle spokes at Salisbury.

50 years ago — December 1975

A petition filed last week in Litchfield Superior Court by Peter Reilly’s defense attorneys claims that a person with “possibly two motives” for harming Reilly’s slain mother has no alibi for the night of the murder.

Canaan’s newest store, a small independent grocery, opened this week on Railroad Street on the site of the former Helbling’s Delicatessen. The new little store, known as Casey’s Market, will be operated by Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Casey of Church Street.

A memorial park will be dedicated to the memory of Michael Dunn on Sunday at 3 p.m. at the North Canaan Elementary School. Michael, the five-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Dunn of Housatonic Avenue in Canaan, drowned early last summer. The park, located on a knoll overlooking the school’s kindergarten wing, has been made possible through funds donated by friends and neighbors of the family.

A CBS television crew will be on hand this Sunday afternoon to film a dance at North Canaan Elementary School for the Peter Reilly Legal Defense Fund. The dance, from 2 to 6 p.m., will feature “The Departure,” the band in which Peter Reilly plays. Admission price is $1.50.

25 years ago — December 2000

Members of the Salisbury Band serenaded Jimmy DuBois at his home before playing holiday tunes at the town’s tree lighting festivities Saturday on the Green near the White Hart Inn.

CORNWALL — Norman Dorsen of Cornwall and New York City is one of five people who recently received the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award from President Bill Clinton in celebration of Human Rights Day.

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