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100 Years Ago This Month

January 1920

January 2

Falsely Accused Of Profiteering

For some time persons asking for a pound or two of sugar never knew just how much would be required to pay for the same. Reportedly it has been circulated here that Mr. Weybright, of this place, was recently arrested and placed under heavy bond for profiteering on sugar. No doubt some people believe that Mr. Weybright became immensely rich in a few days. According to the report he sold sugar for $.17, but his accusers failed to inquire what he had to pay for his sugar. The facts in the case are that Mr. Weybright bought 115 pounds of sugar in Baltimore at $.16 per pound, he then drove it to Thurmont where he sold it at $.17. Of course he got rich – he made at least $1.15! He then bought sugar that he could sell at $.11, but did not go over the profit allowance of one and a half cents per pound set by the Food Administration when he sold it. Needless to say, Mr. Weybright is looking for the weasel that started the rumor of him profiteering, saying he intends to have more than ‘words’ with the lowlife.

Old Landmark Gone

Another of the old landmarks in Thurmont has vanished; we refer to Loys’ Blacksmith Shop on East Main St. The ground on which this building stood for many years has been sold to Mrs. Florence Creeger. Workmen are now tearing away various buildings and preparing to erect a bungalow for Mrs. Creeger.

Elected But Cannot Hold Office

Although he was the only candidate for Justice of the Peace in Highland Township and was re-elected to that office with 69 votes, Larry Hill, who lives near Fairfield, has received no commission because of a mistake of the township’s election board.

Directions issued to each election board state that the Justice of the Peace’ returns must be sent to the office of the Prothonotary, but Highland Township filed the returns of Justice Hill’s election with the Clerk of Court. Consequently, the name of Larry Hill never appeared when the Computing Board made the official count and it was never sent for certificate of election.

January 9

Wants New High School

For the purpose of looking into the needs of the public schools and also to establish a high school course at Emmitsburg, the town’s taxpayers have appointed a committee to prepare a petition to be presented to the next General Assembly asking for an appropriation for a new high school. With Mount St. Mary’s College for young men and St. Joseph’s for young women, members of the community predict Emmitsburg will one day become the educational center of the county.

Donations For Pastor

That his congregation appreciates the efforts of Reverend Emery Stocklanger, of the St. Paul Lutheran Church, in Harney, is evidenced by the fact that they presented him with a purse of $22.25, 30 bushels of corn, oats, potatoes, apples, cabbage, canned and dried fruit, six sacks of flour, automobile oil, seven brooms, butter, sugar, soap and a lot of butchering. Martin Hess, of Harney, made the presentation speech on New Year’s Eve day for the congregation, wishing the pastor a happy New Year, assuring him of the best wishes of the congregation and of their interest in his work and the success of the church. On Christmas he received 28 bags of corn from members of his church.

Training At Mount St. Mary’s

Lieutenant Colonel Leavitt, United States Army, arrived in Emmitsburg on Monday, being assigned by the War Department to take charge of the ROTC at Mount St. Mary’s College. This is the Colonel’s 21st year in the Army, having seen service in the Spanish American War and during the Mexican trouble. He has just returned from France, where he was with the 92nd division. At present the unit at the college has 120 members, but with the Colonel stationed there it is expected that a much larger number will be taking advantage of the military training.

January 16

Death Of Martin Flohr

Mr. Martin Flohr, who at one time operated a general merchandise store in Detour, passed away following an operation to remove a goiter. Flohr was born near Fairfield in 1867 where he grew up on his family farm. He began his general mercantile business in Detour in 1883 but discontinued it in 1893. Mr. Flohr suffered for more than twenty years from a goiter, which extended from the side of the neck into the chest so that his heart was pressed down to the fifth rib. He died as a result of shock immediately following an operation to remove the goiter.

Wakes Mark End Of Liquor

Numberless wakes attending the death of John Barleycorn were held Friday night just about everywhere. Today is a day of sorrow for many and the dawn of the New Year was ushered in solemnly as a testimony to the end of gay parties. The price of whiskey and other forbidden beverages had much to do with the lack of hilarity at many parties. In many places whiskey was selling from $10-$12 a quart, and in many sections it was hard to get. In Emmitsburg, members of the Former-Former Boozers Association conducted a vigil outside the Hotel Slagle, where members openly wept at the sight of over 100 one-gallon jugs that Mrs. Becky Boyd had senselessly holed with buckshot in her feud with her upright husband, causing the liquor contained within them, which had been intended to be consumed that evening, to be drained away. Members compared this act of villainy to Eve offering Adam the apple and openly questioned why God had bothered to invent womenfolk.

New Veterans Post In Emmitsburg

The men in Emmitsburg who have returned from the service held a meeting for the purpose of forming a post of the American Legion, to be known as the Francis X Elder Post. It was voted to apply at once to headquarters for a charter, twenty members signing the application. Francis Elder, after whom the post is to be named, was one of the first young men from this district to enlist in the Army and was sent across with one of the early divisions, where he lost his life on the battlefield in France.

January 23

Real Winter Weather

Beginning about January 19, the sun for the most part of the week was hidden by clouds from which snow and rain came in frequent intervals. With the temperature below the freezing point, roads and streets are covered with solid ice, and fields, with snow on top, are frozen sufficiently for sleighing. Last Thursday night, Carolyn Rouzer had the misfortune to break her left leg near the hip. The accident occurred while she and other children were coasting on Church Street. The sled she was riding was slung against a telephone pole in the square.

Ice Yields

The cold snap has been favorable for ice harvesting and many farmers have taken advantage of the opportunity. It may be interesting to note that an acre of ice, eight inches thick, will yield 826 tons. At three dollars per ton, the acre yield would be worth more than $2,478. A pretty valuable crop for the farmer who has milk and cream to cool.

Two Boys Burned

Word was received at Thurmont, that Calvin Eicholtz and Marion Layman, both of near this place, were badly burned in a fire on Saturday night. Little is known of the fire other than a large officer’s barrack was burned and three men were burned to death.

January 30

Building New Poll Line

The C&P Telephone Company has had a force of men employed stringing a new pole line from Thurmont to Rocky Ridge. The worker planting the poles between the two places are about finished and the men will soon be returning to Thurmont where they will connect the new line into the C&P network.

Farmers Brave Icy Roads For Meeting

Notwithstanding the almost impossible conditions on the roads, about 60 farmers attended the opening of Farmers Institute meetings in Thurmont. The meeting was held in the school building and was marked by interesting and instructive addresses. At the conclusion of the regular program, Alice White, National Field Organizer for the Women’s Suffrage Party, delivered a short address, which was received with boos from the unsympathetic audience. Members objected to her illogical view that women were equal to men, with sound and well-reasoned arguments women were inferior to men in just about every way, with the exception of cooking and cleaning, and raising young’ins, and that they should stick to those roles and let men do the important thinking.

Deaths

Miss Mary Helman, age 83, died in Emmitsburg Friday evening after an illness of one week. She was the sister-in-law to Mr. James Helman, who died Friday morning in the same home, both having contracted pneumonia.

Joseph Felix, age 86, a prominent Adams County citizen died from dropsy at his residency in Freedom Township on Wednesday. No citizen of Southern Adams County was better known then Joe Felix who spent his life as a storekeeper, schoolteacher, and politician. In his early boyhood he took up residence in Freedom Township, along the Emmitsburg road and taught school in that locality for seventeen years. After completing his educational work, Mr. Felix became a storekeeper at Moritz’s Corner situated on the Emmitsburg Road, just across the state line.

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