Turning Back the Pages - February 5, 2026

125 years ago — February 1901

Hobson has been released from the hospital where he has been battling with typhoid fever. Neither the fever or the Spanish bullets seem able to vanquish this gallant young man.

The town of Salisbury is one of the few towns in the state that has not introduced a bill into the general assembly to provide for the building of a trolley road or two.

A new regulation issued from the general office of the Consolidated road prohibits employees from assigning their wages. The rule goes into effect at once. The officials say it is designed to prevent fraudulent assignments and is not intended to cause any unnecessary hardships to employees.

Great Barrington had another blaze on Monday and the Berkshire Block is a gutted ruin. Fire was discovered in the telephone office about 8 o’clock in the morning by one Albert Jerome, — very soon the flames were beyond control. The firemen fought bravely, hard and long and did well to confine the fire to that block. The loss is over $30,000, partly covered by insurance. The block was on the corner of Main and Bridge streets, owned by the Berkshire Syndicate; was an imposing structure. three story and basement, occupied by barber shops, plumber, post office, telegraph and telephone offices, law offices, dressmakers, milliner, dentist and other offices besides the Masonic Hall on third floor. Masons lost everything except charter and records, and had only $600 insurance.

If your head aches way down to your heels, you cough in a graveyard fashion and life doesn’t seem worth living you have probably got the grip, and you are right in fashion.

There is a tendency on the part of many of the state paper whenever any thing out the ordinary happens, to give Winsted and even Litchfield County a dig in the ribs and make odious comparisons. This is traceable back to the wild and woolly tales sent to the New York dailies under a Winsted date line. It is too bad to give a town like Winsted a black eye, and doubly hard that the county should have to stand the racket because of the vivid imagination of one man — the chap who sends in these unseemly tales. The truth of the matter is that Winsted is a flourishing little city with a very small percentage of crime and the county is one of the best on earth, and this reputation for flying steers, wild men and hobgoblins is totally unnecessary and undeserved. There is such a thing as legitimate news that can be handled in a legitimate way and not to the injury of a community.

CHAPINVILLE — James Baker met with a painful accident last Sunday. He was on his way to church, slipped and fell on the ice and broke his wrist.

Miss Elizabeth Wilson has accepted a position in the office of the Holley Manufacturing Co.

It is reported that MacNaughton, of Pittsfield, who owns the estate near the church on Mt. Washington, has formed a stock company for the purpose of erecting a large 100-people Inn and otherwise improving the property, which includes 1,000 acres of the desirable portion of The Mountain.

That a cat has several lives was demonstrated in Torrington Wednesday, where a Maltese jumped into a large driving wheel at the Excelsior Needle company and was carried swiftly around for half an hour, when it managed to jump out. The cat was picked up alive, but very dizzy. After a few minutes it ran off staggering. Machinists employed in the needle shop estimated that the animal traveled 50 miles.

The west bound freight on Tuesday afternoonwas composed of 63 cars drawn by two engines. By the time the train got to Campbell Hall it numbered over 100 cars.

The “oil-man,” Flagler, has purchased the Douglas property at Copake Iron Works. This includes the Bash Bish Falls territory, and ‘tis said extensive improvements will be made to the property.

James Martin informed our reporter that he saw several robins flying around his residence last Friday. The misguided songsters will probably regret their early appearance several times before warm weather gets here.

The snow storm of Wednesday afternoon and night will be welcomed by the farmers as some of the spring crops have already suffered considerably from lack of snow. The Connecticut Western News says that Canaan is in danger of a water famine unless rain comes soon as the water in the reservoir has never been so low as at present.

Early one evening recently D.D. Warner heard a commotion among a flock of chickens that roost in the barn just across the road from his house. He proceeded to investigate and found that a good sized yellow animal resembling a weasel had one of his roosters by the head. He dispatched the animal with a club and upon examination it proved to be a large ferret. The owner of the animal has not as yet made his appearance.

Mrs. Charles McNeil has a very fine foliage plant. The leaves are ten inches in diameter, six inches wide and from eighteen to twenty-seven inches in circumference. The ground work of each leaf is a rich dark in color, zoned with plum purple spots.

100 years ago — February 1926

SALISBURY — Frank D. Spurr is building a small cottage on his land across the railway tracks from the station. The frame work is already up.

Mrs. Jacob Fitting expects within a few days to go to Hartford and bring home her infant daughter from the Hartford hospital where it has been since birth.

The Oxy-Crystine Co. has a new business car.

William Conklin celebrated his ninety-first birthday yesterday.

Harry T. Miller while driving his Dodge truck just north of Canaan on Monday morning was run into by a milk truck driven by a young man named Brewer. The accident occurred where a side road intersects the main highway. Brewer came from the side road and as it was snowing he failed to see Mr. Miller’s car and struck it broad side. Both cars were badly damaged; Mr. Miller’s car is so badly battered that it will not pay to repair it. The load of milk was spilled about and Miller’s car was almost covered with cans. Strange to say neither driver was injured except for a small scratch or two. At the hearing Brewer admitted the blame. The damage will probably be adjusted by the insurance companies concerned.

LIME ROCK — Mr. Ritten of Torrington spent the week-end with his wife here.

A.S. Martin and his force of men harvesting ice on the lake had an exciting experience last Saturday forenoon. Mr. Martin’s two auto trucks were standing at the edge of the ice field waiting to be loaded, when the ice gave way under the weight of men, trucks and machinery. One truck driven by a young man named Winokur went into the lake carrying Winokur with it. He jumped out, came to the surface of the water and swam to solid ice, where he was pulled out by George Lovett. The truck went to the bottom, just the top of the cab being visible. The other truck driven by John Phillips slipped backward into the water, the front section remaining on the edge of the ice. Phillips made a hurried escape and escaped a wetting. The gasoline engine running the hoisting apparatus also went into the water, Mr. Martin making his escape by way of the chute. It was a busy time for a few minutes, but fortunately no one was harmed. The machines were taken from the lake the following day. They suffered some minor damage but nothing serious.

Raymond (Ducky) Pond, who has been critically ill at his home in Torrington for several days, has typhoid fever. Pond, who graduated last June from Yale after a brilliant athletic career, is an athletic director at Hotchkiss school.

The Cunard Liner, Scythia, which sailed Jan. 26 from New York for a sixty-seven day cruise of the Mediterranean, carried as passengers Mrs. Charles E. Milmine and Miss Charlotte Parsons Milmine of Lakeville.

The miners and operators have busted up another conference. This must make the oil companies and the oil heater manufacturers chuckle with unholy glee.

FOR SALE — A few puppies, 4 months old, sable and white in color. Will make good cow dogs and are cheaper than collies. Louis Brighenty.

A good quality of eleven inch ice is being taken from the lake.

LAKEVILLE — A son was born to Mr. and Mrs. George Fowlkes recently.

Some one driving a car struck and killed a pet dog belonging to John Rowe at Ore Hill on Tuesday morning, and did not have the decency to stop and inform Mr. Rowe of the fact. The family were fond of the dog and greatly regret its untimely demise.

50 years ago — February 1976

Norwegian jumpers swept top honors at this past weekend’s 50th Anniversary Salisbury Jump weekend. Young Roger Holden, 20, of Norway, flew to victory in Sunday’s U.S. Eastern Ski Jumping Championships on Satre Hill. Despite light rain and wet slippery conditions, Holden, a freshman student at the University of Vermont, soared 205 and 203 feet to capture the Senior A Championship with a combined point score of 225.1.

Fifty- and 60-mile-an-hour winds driving snow horizontally in a surprise blizzard knocked down trees and limbs through the Tri-State area Monday morning, disrupting electrical service to several thousand homes. Southwestern Massachusetts was the hardest hit. The Massachusetts Electric Co. reported that more than 2,000 customers were without power at one time or another in the nine-town area from Lenox south to Sheffield. In Sheffield itself, between 600 and 700 homes were affected by outages. In Connecticut, Lakeville and Salisbury were the most severely affected with power disrupted to some 450 homes.

If your copy of The Lakeville Journal this week contains typographical errors, badly edited copy or crooked lines, please accept our apologies. What with the blizzard and the flu, we’ve had the miseries this week. More than half our staff has been affected, and we’ve been limping along. Maybe you have too. Better luck next week!

SALISBURY — The selectmen voted Tuesday night to accept the recommendation of the Sewer Commission to abolish the position of executive director, now filled by Joseph Pinkham, because of reduced activity. The change will be effective July 1. At the same time the selectmen also voted to recommend to the Board of Finance that Pinkham be offered a half-time job as town sanitarian at $7000 a year including mileage. Pinkham will retain his other benefits. The job is to be reviewed after one year.

Attorney Catherine Roraback, with offices in Canaan and New Haven, was honored in Hartford last week as one of six outstanding women in the state who have made contributions toward International Women’s Year. Miss Roraback received a plaque for her work toward equality.

Co-educational gym classes got underway at Housatonic Valley Regional High School this past week with boys and girls punching and slapping volleyballs across the net to each other and more co-ed physical education lies ahead, both at HVRHS and other Northwest Corner public schools. Title IX of Federal 1972 education amendments guaranteed women a fair and equal share of any opportunity in a federally assisted institution. Title IX became effective this school year.

FALLS VILLAGE — The termites are gone and the damage they wrought has been repaired, but they have left D.M. Hunt Library with yet another problem. Money. A library spokesman said this week that it cost the library about $2000 to eradicate the beasts and to repair the windows and beams damaged before the termites were discovered. Coupled with the rising costs of utilities and books, the invasion has left the library with a serious financial problem.

25 years ago — February 2001

After months of work, Sharon Hospital’s certificate of need application has been resubmitted to the state’s attorney general and the Office of Health Care Access. The document, nearly 60 pages long without all the financial material (which, according to Ben Heller, a member of the Ombudsmen for Sharon Hospital, is itself five inches thick), was delivered Wednesday. It proposes the sale of the hospital to Essent Healthcare of Nashville, Tenn.

A powerful, pulsing radio signal is blamed for interfering with emergency dispatch across Litchfield County. The problem is not happening very often, but can strike without warning. And when it does, it threatens to shut down the entire dispatch system. It has prompted Litchfield County Dispatch officials to step up efforts to move all of the county’s fire and ambulance services out of the affected low-band frequency.

A Mack truck owned by the Central Connecticut Cooperative Farms Association took the side off a Volvo station wagon in an accident Friday at 4 p.m. on Route 22 in Sharon near Sharon Valley Road. Both drivers were taken to Sharon Hospital where the driver of the Volvo was treated for injuries to her shoulder and leg. The driver of the Mack truck was not injured and was released.

Actor Sam Waterston, a Cornwall resident and a friend of the Cornwall Library, will interpret Abraham Lincoln’s later years in “Lincoln Seen and Heard,” a special presentation to benefit the library’s capital campaign to build a new library.

Connecticut Light & Power has budgeted $550,000 to upgrade the electrical distribution system and improve service reliability in the Norfolk area.

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