1906 WB Record Almanac, Record of Local Events for 1905


Record of Events
Daily Record of Events in Luzerne County for twelve Months from 
December 1st, 1904, to November 30th, 1905.

December, 1904

1.  Plymouth Eagles have a banquet, the first time in the history 
of the order in the state that ladies were invited.
Hitchner bakery, a house and a barn destroyed by fire at West
 Pittston, total damage about $45,000.

2.  Garfield Lodge Sons of St. George anniversary banquet.
Sturdevant, Fogel & Co., for many years in business in Wilkes-Barre 
to retire.
Fire at DuPont, Luzerne County, destroys property to value of $25,000.

3. Two little girls burned to death in Wanamie in different parts of town 
at exactly the same time.

4.  Elks’ annual Lodge of Sorrow-Peter A. O’Boyle, Esq., the orator 
of the day.  
Rev. Father Gans, many years a missionary among the Indians speaks 
in St. Mary’s Catholic church.

5.  R. H. Thompson, a stranger, suicides in Luzerne House by cutting
 his throat.  Exhibit of paintings by Eugene C. Frank at Hotel Sterling.
Three inches of snow.

7.  William Leib of Hazleton appointed mercantile appraiser to succeed 
P. M. Gilligan.
Series of religious conferences preparatory to evangelistic campaign in 
Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys begun at Ashley by Rev. Dr. Arthur J. Smith.
Announcement of promotion of Thomas H. Pindell, superintendent of the 
Wyoming division of Lehigh Valley railroad to be general superintendent 
of transportation, and R. W. Baxter of the Pa. & N.Y. to be superintendent 
of Wyoming division.
Procession of seven hundred children at St. Mary’s Church in honor of the
 Blessed Virgin.

8.  Application by the Laurel Line company for charter to build a line on West
 Side to West Pittston and Nanticoke.  Big drop in the temperature—14 degrees 
above zero at night.

10.  Nanticoke, Plymouth and Kingston light companies sell out to a syndicate 
and are combined. 
Several inches of snow, a temperature of 18 degrees and first sleighing 
of the season.
Farmers of Pomona Grange adopt resolutions vigorously pretesting against
 repeal of tax on oleomargarine.

11. Stephen Grover, a farmer of Conyngham township, found frozen to death
 along a public road.

12. Court refuses to decree the incorporation of a borough for Dupont.
Robbins & Co., lumber firm withdraws from the Employers’ Association and its 
bond of $1,000 is declared forfeited.

13.  Primitive Methodist Sunday School convention at Plymouth.

14.  County Loyal Temperance Legion convention at Edwardsville.

15.  Carroll D. Wright hands down decision to the effect that coal companies 
shall base the sliding scale increase upon the gross and not upon the net earnings
 but that the difference shall date from the time of filing the grievance with the 
Conciliation Board and not from the time of the Strike.
Commission’s award; two coal companies in this region affected-the Lehigh 
Valley and the Temple Iron Co.
Zero weather in the mountain districts and seven degrees above at Wilkes-Barre.

16.  Rev. David Craft’s paper before the Historical Society on the Hartley Expedition of 1778.
The Record publishes facts and figures regarding a second-class city.  
Banquet of Independent Society of Wyoming Seminary.
River frozen over in many places.

18. Good sleighing in Wilkes-Barre and vicinity.

19.  Revival spirit takes hold of Welsh churches in Wyoming Valley.

20.  Kingston Masons banquet at Wyoming Valley Hotel. 
Pastors of churches of Lackawanna and Wyoming valleys meet in Scranton and 
make preliminary preparations for evangelistic campaign.

21.  Bonds amounting to $140,000of the $408,000 authorized by the voters of 
Wilkes-Barre sold to Kleybolte & Co. at a premium of $48 on each $1,000 bond, 
four per cent. 
Wyoming county has oil excitement.

22.  New England Society dinner at Scranton. Warmer and thawing weather.

25.  Snow and twenty degrees temperature for Christmas-sleighing and skating.

26.  Rain and thawing weather.
Dieule Veut commandery, Knights Templar holds annual Christmas services.
Welsh Congregational church eisteddfod at Plymouth.
Mr. and Mrs. Peter L. Smith of Ashley celebrate golden wedding anniversary.

27.  St. John’s Day banquets of the Masons.
Thomas Clark of Plains township stabbed to death.

28. Georgetown University Alumni banquet.

29.  Annual dinner for 318 news boys, messenger boys and boot blacks at 
Y. M. C. A. is given through the generosity
Of a Wilkes-Barrean.

30.  Annual Assembly Ball in armory.
Only one bid for the river common coal-from the Lehigh Valley Coal Co.-not as 
satisfactory as some previous bids.
Samuel V. Tench, formerly with the Lehigh Valley Coal Co, appointed general 
superintendent of the Red AS; in place of Edward Smith, deceased.
Chief of Police Jones resigns to take the sheriff’s deputyship and Sergeant of 
Police Briggs appointed in his place.

31. Yale Alumni banquet at Westmoreland club.  New year welcomed by a great 
din on the central streets and by the blowing of whistles, gongs and ringing of bells


January, 1905

1. Openhouse by knights of Columbus.  
Judges of the courts to get $6,000 a year.
Edward Irwin of Kingston made assistant superintendent of the traction system.
John Flanigan, of the Wilkes-Barre Gas and Electric Light Company’s retires, 
new interest having taken charge.

2.  Changes among court house officers.
Moriah eisteddfod at Nanticoke, Edwardsville choir takes principal prize. Annual 
inspection of Wilkes-Barre fire department.  Union reception at the Y.M. C.A. 
including the Y.W. C.A. over five thousand people in attendance.

3. Blizzard weather- snow and high wind all day, mercury from 22 to 14 degrees
 above zero; transportation companies have a hard time.  Second National bank 
interests conclude deal for the purchase of valuable real estate from Jonas Long’s 
Sons store to the corner of Franklin on West Market and on Franklin from the 
corner to the Carpenter residence.

4.  Lehigh Valley train men get an advance of from ten to fifteen cents a day- to 2.

5.  Strike averted among the brewery workers of Wilkes-Barre, Pittston and Nanticoke 
by a settlement, granting shorter hours and more wages to most of the men.  Harry 
Lenahan of Wilkes-Barre dies of hydrophobia on a New York Ferry boat while on his 
way to the Pasteur Institute.  Christening of Lehigh Valley’s new café car in Wilkes-Barre

6.  Mrs. Susan Hurlburt of Wilkes-Barre 97 years old.  Ran and thawing all day ice
 breaks in the river after being blocked for a few days.

7. Fear of a flood allayed by cold spell.  Republican primaries.

8.  Anthony Schnicky, a Wilkes-Barre bartender, suicides in Scranton.

9.  Thomas Cassedy of Ashley appointed poor director to succeed J. H. Oplinger.
Republican city convention.
Bucknell University Freshmen class banquet.

10.  Mayor Price’s final message to councils.

11.  Luzerne County Medical Society annual banquet.

13.  Christopher Wren reads paper before Historical Society on aboriginal pottery.

14.  Appointment of Col. J. D. Laciar as postmaster at Wilkes-Barre confirmed.
Democratic primaries in Wilkes-Barre.  
Mr. Nicholls resigns as secretary of the Conciliation Board.

15.  District C. T. A. U. convention at Avoca.  Rev. O. R. Miller, field secretary of the
 National Reform Bureau, speaks in Central M. E. Church. 
River closes with ice for the third time during the winter.

16.  Miss Elizabeth Rockwell reads paper before the Daughters of the Revolution on
 “Oliver Ellsworth.”  Wilkes-Barre Democratic city convention.  President Mahon of the 
National Street Car Men’s Union comes to Wilkes-Barre to try and effect a settlement 
of local difficulty.

17.  Harmony dinner of officers of Ninth regiment at the Westmoreland club.  Annual
 banquet of Luzerne and Lackawanna Dental Society.  Winter session of archdeaconry
 of the Episcopal church.

18.  Traction company men decide to go on strike, date to be fixed by the national officers.

19.  News received from New York city of the death by bullet wound of J. Ridgeway
 Wright of Wilkes-Barre.  
Daniel L. Hart’s new play, “In Old Point Comfort,” produced in Wilkes-Barre.

21.  Fire damages Simon Long’s Sons store to the extent of about $70,000.
Evangelist H.L. Gale begins services at Memorial Presbyterian.
Rededication of the Church of Christ at Plymouth after extensive improvements.
Miss Eleanor Williams, evangelist from London, begins a series of services on the Heights.

24.  Engineers’ Club banquets at Scranton.

25.  Severe blizzard-over a foot of snow, mercury down to near zero high wind; street
 cars stalled and trains late. 
Caledonian Club banquet in honor of Burn’s anniversary.  Electric light and gas 
company firemen of Wilkes-Barre get an increase from $1.90 to $2 a day.

26.  Ex-Prisoners of War Association holds annual reunion in Wilkes-Barre Traction
 traffic in good shape but railroad trains several hours behind time owing to blizzard.

27.  Good sleighing again.   Street car employees accept compromise offered by
 the company an increase of ten cents a day; contract to be binding for two years.

30.  Annual banquet of Y.M. D. O.

31. Sixtieth anniversary banquet of Wilkes-Barre Elks.


February

2. Sudden death of Father Kiernan at Hazleton. Annual convention of county school 
directors.  State officers after oleomargarine dealers in Wilkes-Barre region.

4.  Controller James M. Norris issues statement in which he says that the court house 
question will be cleared up and work will be begun in the spring.

5.  Sunday School Institute in Central M. E. Church.

8.  Jr. O. U. A. M. regiment being organized.  Wilkes-Barre and Lutheran pastoral
 association meets in Wilkes-Barre.

10.  Historical Society annual meeting.

12. Shonk Memorial Sunday School at Plymouth dedicated.

13.  Payment of mortgage on Y. W. C. A. provided for.  Plans begun for organization
 in Wilkes-Barre of a society of the National Council of Jewish Women.

14.  Dr. William Elliot Griffis of Cornell lectures in First Presbyterian church 
on Russia and Japan.

15.  Timberman-Randolph concert.  
John Rafferty of Norristown found dead in Ashley.
Mortgage burning at the Y. W. C. A.

16.  Mr. and Mrs. James H. Hook of Kirksville, No., celebrate their sixtieth wedding 
anniversary at the home of their son in Wilkes-Barre.

17.  Princeton Alumni banquet at Scranton.

21.  Bight election day and unusually heavy vote polled.  
Architect Osterling and contractor Smith make statements with reference to the 
new court house work.

22.  Seventh anniversary banquet of Sons of Liberty lodge of Odd Fellows. 
Eisteddfod at Plymouth Welsh Presbyterian church.  
Death of one of Luzerne county’s oldest residents, Mrs. Matilda Sigler of 
Wilkes-Barre, 98 years.

23. Owen D. Jones contests election of James Mack for city treasurer on the ground 
of fraud. Women’s Home Missionary Society of Wyoming district in session at Plymouth.

24.  Many bidders for Wilkes-Barre sewer work.  Drifton miners of Coxe Bros. have 
a conference with the officials and settle their strike over pay of overtime for drivers.

25.  Gradual thawing causes the ice in the river to melt.  Benjamin F. Dilley’s 
will leave large sums of Wilkes-Barre charities.

27.  Anniversary banquet of Hoffnung lodge of Odd Fellows.  
Rose tree festival at Germania hall. 
Contest in the will of Thomas Lawall of Wilkes-Barre leaving an estate of about
 $50,000 to the decendent’s housekeeper.
Twenty-three proposals for street paving in Wilkes-Barre received.  
Vecsey, violinist, at the Nesbitt.


March

1. Prof. Beardslee of Hartford Theological Seminary opens a four days’ course 
of bible lectures in the Y. M. C. A.
Cambro-American Society St. David’s Day banquet.
City pavement bids rejected on account of excessive prices. 
Mine inspectors make report of the examination of the Wilkes-Barre & Scranton
 Coal Co. colliery in Wilkes-Barre on the charge that the breaker is too near the 
mouth of the shaft; they recommend that the charge be dismissed owing to the 
company agreeing to carry into effect certain precautions.


2.  Court refuses over 300 liquor license applications.  Elks conduct services 
over the ashes of Benjamin F. Dilley.  
Lehigh Valley gains control of the property of the Wyoming Coal and Land Co.
 at Wyoming.
Mrs. Willard Smith of Wilkes-Barre taken ill in a cemetery while attending a 
funeral and dies in a few minutes.

4. Another cold turn in the weather mercury two degrees above zero.

6.  Lackawanna County courts decide that the mine examiners’ law is constitutional.

7. Wilkes-Barre St. Aloysius Society twenty-five years old.  John B. Welles 
concert in Y.M.C.A. auditorium.

8.  W.C. T. U. institute in Welsh Presbyterian church.  Methodist church laymen’s
 association organized.

9.  Reports from the Luzerne county anthracite inspectors show that in 1904 accidents
 increased in greater proportion than the output of coal.

10.  Boiler house at Prospect colliery of the Lehigh Valley damaged by fire; loss about 
$2,500.  Expected freshet owing to rain and thawing does not materialize.

11.  Differences between the Kingston Coal Co. and the men finally adjusted.  No meeting 
of the Conciliation Board for some time on account of lack of grievances.

13.  Death warrant read to Martin Razmus, convicted of the murder of Henry Ortwine.  
Highland Inn at Dallas destroyed by fire; valued at about $33,000.

16.  Legislative committees make a tour of hospitals in this section.

17.  A. O. H. celebrates St. Patrick’s Day.  Cynonfardd eisteddfod at Edwardsville.  
Ninety-ninth anniversary of the incorporation of Wilkes-Barre.
Boiler explosion at Union street lace curtain mill-building wrecked but no one hurt.

18. Hungarians hold mass meeting in celebration of Hungary’s declaration for
 independence.

19.  Bishop Berry preaches in Central M. E. Church. River reaches 17 foot mark and fears 
of a flood entertained.
Cracksmen blow open two safes in the Ryman store at Dallas.

20.  River reaches a height of nineteen and four-tenths feet – portions of the low lands flooded 
but no inconvenience to residents; continued rain.

21.  River failing slowly.  Wilkes-Barre Employers’ Association starts a bureau for benefit of the
 unemployed and for keeping records of workmen.

22.  Engine and four cars wrecked on the Harvey’s Lake branch of the Lehigh Valley.  

25. Closing of the Industrial schools of St. Stephen’s and First Presbyterian churches

26.  Portions of the lowlands inundated –water reaches a maximum height of twenty-three and 
four-tenths feet.  Missionary Sunday in the First M. E. Sunday school.  Bishop Thoburn of India 
preaches in First M. E. Church.  Father Dennis J. Cox of Wilkes-Barre celebrates his first mass 
in St. Mary’s Church.

27. Republican district conventions for the election of delegates to state convention.

28.  No. 9 breaker of the Lehigh & Wilkes-Barre at Sugar Notch destroyed by fire:  loss about
 $60,000. Two rafts strike at Plymouth bridge and shatter, the men on them being saved with boats.
  Rev. Father Stafford lectures in Y.M. C.A. course on “Richard III”

29.  Fred E. Smith of Sayre appointed Lehigh Valley freight agent in Wilkes-Barre to 
succeed R. A. P. Meade.

30.  Hugh McGroarty, Sr., dies at Plains at the age of 99 years.  Fire broke out in the 
big vein of No. 14 colliery of the Erie at Port Blanchard.


APRIL

1. Many of the miners observe eight hour movement by remining from work.

3.  At reorganization of Wilkes-Barre councils Mayor Frederick C. Kirkendall takes his
 seat.  W. S. McLean reads a paper on “Old Time Masons and Old Time Masonry”  
before Lodge No. 61.  Chief Roderick of the Bureau of Mines denies that he has ordered 
a re-examination of all miners in order to determine the extent to which fraudulent c
ertificates are held.

4.  Annual session of Wyoming Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church in 
West Pittston.  William Griffiths of West Pittston, civil engineer sends to the Record 
a communication disagreeing with the report of engineers to the effect that the
 Nanticoke dam has no effect in causing flood damage.

5.  Local branch of the Stationary Firemen reorganized.

6.  One case and death from cerebrospinal meningitis in Wilkes-Barre.

8.  Closing exercises of first year of Central M. E. Industrial school.

9.  Local pulpits occupied by members of Wyoming Conference in session at 
West Pittston. 

10.  Wilkes-Barre capitalists form a company to engage in industrial enterprises 
in Nova Scotia.  
Several deaths in Wilkes-Barre and vicinity from cerebro- spinal meningitis.

11.   Appointments made by Wyoming Conference.

13.  Exhibit by Wilkes-Barre Camera Club.  
Wilkes-Barre Gas and Electric Light Company takes control of plants in other towns.

15.  Death in Plymouth of Isaac M. Mask, 80, years old, who brought to the Wyoming 
Valley the first locomotive ever seen here.  
Revengeful foreigner at Luzerne Borough blows up a house in which a family are sleeping.

16.  Palm Sunday confirmations in Lutheran and Reformed churches.  Third district
 C.T. A.U. convention in Wilkes-Barre. 
Flurries of snow and a minimum temperature of 28 degrees.

18.  Conciliation Board meets at Hazleton.  Recital and concert at First Baptist church
 as a part of dedication week.  
Appointment of Jacob Held as building inspector confirmed by councils.

19.  Cantata “Belshazzar” in Y.M.C.A. auditorium under auspices of the Second Welsh
 Presbyterian church.  Session of Lackawanna Presbytery at Carbondale.  Annual banquet
 of Brodrick Conclave of Heptasophs.

20. Party of Cornell students come to Wilkes-Barre to spend Easter vacation.  Governor 
Pennypacker signs the bill repealing the 29th section of the Old Wilkes-Barre charter.

23.  Bright Easter churches all filled and the central streets filled with people.

24.  William J. Bryan lectures in Y. M. C. A. auditorium on “The Value of an Ideal.”  Military 
reception and ball in armory under auspices of Ninth regiment; a company of the Eighth 
regulars give a drill.  Ten young women take the first vows and two the final vows of the 
sisterhood at St. Mary’s convent.

25.  Contract for furnishing vitrified fire clay brick for paving a number of the Wilkes-Barre 
streets awarded to the Mack company at $25.50 per thousand; contract for repaving 
awarded to F. M. Kemp & Sons of Middletown for 59 cents a square yard and for 
curbing at 67 cents per lineal foot.

26.  Ten men killed at Conyngham D. & H. Mine by shaft cable braking, the men 
falling four hundred feet down shaft.
Competitive meeting in First Welsh Presbyterian church.  Child dies at Breslau of 
cerebro-spinal meningitis-other children of the family ill with same disease.

27.  Board of Trade banquet at Hotel Sterling attended by 250 representative citizens
 of Wilkes-Barre and vicinity.  Evan Jones, Esq., appointed assistant district attorney 
under new act giving Luzerne County three assistants.  Spotted fever breaks out at 
Plains also-one death and several cases.

28.  First wireless telegraph test of Father Murgas’s system between Wilkes-Barre 
and Scranton.  Spotted fever at Breslau and several deaths.

29. D. & H. R. R. Co. planning to extend its lines so as to connect with the Pennsylvania 
Nanticoke branch.  William G. Frane appointed superintendent of the Kingston postoffice.

May
1. State convention of the Knights of Columbus.

2.  Frank P. Hopper re-elected county superintendent of public schools at salary of $4,000.
James M. Coughlin reelected superintendent of the Wilkes-Barre public schools at an 
increase of $500 a year in salary-3,000 to $3,500.
Mine inspector examinations for the first and third districts being conducted in Wilkes-Barre.  
Reception for Rev. Dr. Piper, new pastor of the First M. E. church.

3.  Dr. Mason Glee Society concert in Y.M. C. A. auditorium.  Knights of Columbus state 
convention banquet.

4.  Thirty-third annual conference of Primitive Methodist church of Pennsylvania in session
 in Wilkes-Barre.  Martin Razmus hanged at the Luzerne County jail for murder of Henry 
Ortwine at Glen Lyon in June, 1904.

5.  Anglo-American Club Banquet.

6.  Rev. T. C. Edwards’s church at Edwardsville dynamited and damaged to the extent 
of about $2,500 by unknown miscreants.

7.  Rev. Dr. Fullerton of First Presbyterian church observes first anniversary of his 
Wilkes-Barre pastorate.

8.  New Odd Fellows’ temple on South Franklin street, Wilkes-Barre dedicated.  
Opening of state convention of Foresters in Wilkes-Barre.
Court decides that automobiles may be barred from the Bear Creek Boulevard.

9.  Examination of candidates for mine foremen’s certificates.  Primitive Methodists
 in state convention in Wilkes-Barre decide not to restore the time limit.

10.  Banquet and reunion of the high school alumni association.

11.  New Catholic parish established at Forty Fort.  Firemen’s fair at Luzerne Borough.
  Coroner’s jury in the case of the Conyngham mine disaster, by which ten men lost their
 lives owing to the breaking of a rope, finds that the rope was inspected by incompetent
 men and recommends that Mine Inspector Martin’s recommendations with reference to
 employment of additional engineers be carried out.

12.  Y. M. C. A. gymnasium banquet.

15.  Rev. J.H. Judson of Hangchow, China, one of the missionaries supported by Memorial
 Presbyterian church, makes a visit to the people at Memorial.  Funeral of Rev. Dr. Hodge 
conducted with most impressive services-many clergymen in attendance.  Trolley wheel 
patented by James A. Norton of Wilkes-Barre given a satisfactory test.

16. Biennial convention of the Wyoming League of Boys’ clubs in B. I. A. hall.

17.  Annual banquet of Cliosophic and Sorosis societies of the high school.  First district 
Democratic convention for the election of delegates.   Annual diocesan C. T. A. U. 
convention at Carbondale.

18.  Wilkes-Barre Eagles’ second annual banquet at Harveys Lake.  Memorial service in
 First Presbyterian church for the late Rev. Dr. Hodge.  John Ball Osborne, formerly of 
Wilkes-Barre, appointed chief of the bureau of trade relations in the state department.

19.  Sub-district convention of Epworth League at Luzerne Borough.  Mine inspectors testing 
“safety dogs” on the cages at all of the mines –most of them work satisfactorily.

20.  Veteran Employers’ Association of the Pennsylvania railroad banquet at Harvey’s Lake.

21.  Fire destroys part of the Welles building in Wilkes-Barre.  
Supreme Court decision to the effect that coal companies are not liable for damage to 
surface as the result of mining where the company is released by deed or other agreement 
from such damage.

22.  Taxpayers’ Association begins crusade against justices of the peace and constables 
who rob the county by returning bills for costs in fictitious discharged cases.  Supreme 
Court renders a decision that coal companies must pay royalties on the smaller sizes. 
James Dailey, formerly of Wilkes-Barre, killed in Ohio by train.

23.  Barnum &Bailey circus at West Side Park. 
Frost in some parts of the county does serious damage to crops.
Twenty-fifth anniversary of the ordination of Bishop Hoban to the priesthood celebrated.

24.  Twenty-one young women take the first vows and twelve the final vows at Mallinckrodt Convent.

25.  Record prints decisions in Supreme Court cases affecting coal royalties. 
 “Lady of Shalott” and “Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast” by the Schubert Club and 
Wilkes-Barre Oratoria Society in Y. M. C.A. auditorium.

28.  Suicide of Mrs. James C. Hill at Lee Park.  
Sherman Street M. E. Church name  changed to St. Andrew’s M. E. Church.

29.  Public meeting in Calvary Club House to agitate question of public parks and baths. 
 Three hundred new citizens turned out in one day naturalization court.

30.  St. Mary’s Polish Catholic Church of Plymouth dedicated.  Mason Glee Club wins male
 chorus prize a national elsteddfod in Scranton.  
First observance in Wilkes-Barre of the naval portion of Memorial Day by floating down the 
river a floral boat after exercises on river common.
First annual banquet of Wilkes-Barre postoffice employees. 
Opening of Sans Souci Park, formerly Hanover Park.

31.  Fifty-seventh annual session of Susquehanna Dental Association at Harvey’s Lake.  
William Connell & Co. Coal properties in South Scranton and Minooka sold to the D. L. & W.

JUNE
1.  Archbishop Symon of the Polish Catholic Church in town.

4. Rev. Dr. M. C. B. Mason, well known colored preacher, in Central M. E. Church.

5. Fan house of the main shaft at Mt. Lookout destroyed by fire.  Presbytery of Lackawanna
 in the Kingston church.

7.  City Hospital nurses’ commencement at the Nesbitt Theatre.

8.  Body of unknown man who was murdered or committed suicide found at Plymouth.  
Edwardsville high school alumni banquet.

9.  Hillman Academy commencement.
Head found in a Pittston shaft identified as that of Frank Cullarore, a former merchant of 
Pittston, who was murdered.  
Pittston carpenters strike which had been on for over a year, settled.  Grand jury, which
 investigated the new court house affair for nearly a week, makes a sweeping report,
 placing blame upon a number of officials and recommending the dismissal of the architect.

11. Bishop Cranston preaches baccalaureate sermon at Wyoming Seminary. Children’s
 Day in the Sunday schools.

12. Wilkes-Barre Institute commencement.  Poor board follows the act of the school board 
in naming John E. Perkins as the collector of taxes, giving Wilkes-Barre only two tax receivers
 instead of three, as for a few years past.  Commencement exercises in the public schools.

13. Three deaths in the family of Patrick Philbin of Avoca in a week.  City purchases new fire 
engine for $5,000 President Mitchell making addresses throughout the valley.

14.  Wyoming Seminary commencement.  Mercy Hospital nurses’ commencement.  Death of 
Lawrence Myers, one of Wilkes-Barre’s wealthiest men. Insurance underwriters hold 
convention in Wilkes-Barre.

15.  Eleventh annual convention of state Association of Bankers in Wilkes-Barre.

16.  Wilkes-Barre high school commencement 105 students receive certificates.

17.  Monster mass meeting in court house to discuss court house question; resolutions 
passed demanding that the county commissioners discharge architect Osterling and
 that they stop the quarreling.

19.  Hiram Bossert of Ashley, a Jersey Central engineer, dies in his engine cab.

20.  Councils award contract for resurfacing  Ross Street with asphalt to the Warner-Quinlan 
Co. Exhibition of art and needlework at Mallinckrodt Convent. 
Record prints new rules to be submitted to Republican county convention for 
conducting primaries.

21. Mallinckrodt Convent Academy commencement.

23. St. Mary’s Academy commencement.

24.  New rules submitted for the Republican primaries postponed by the executive 
committee because of a resolution demanding that they be submitted thirty days 
before the meeting of the convention, which was not done.


26.  St. Mary’s alumni banquet.  Republican primaries held on Monday a departure
 from the old custom of holding them on Saturday.

27. Republican county convention.  New York Central Schutzen Corps has a three
 days outing at Harvey’s Lake.

28.  Andrew Zublekie of Duryea died of injuries inflicted by burglars.

29. Christening of the new boat Acoma at Harvey’s Lake.

30.  Man placed in charge at the river bank to watch and protect boys who go in bathing. 
 Hon. H. W. Palmer appointed delegate to the congress of the Interparliamentary Union 
at Brussels, Belgium.  Brookside kindergarten closing.

JULY
2.  Death of Liddon Flick, publisher of the Wilkes-Barre Times.

3. Prof. Enoch Perrine of Bucknell University the speaker at the Wyoming 
monument observance.

4.  No celebration in Wilkes-Barre and comparatively quiet day; eight alarms of fire;
 no fatalities, but about a dozen accidents, the most serious being the loss by one 
boy of a hand and another of several fingers.  
Wilkes-Barre Liedertafel wins first prize in the second class at the Allentown saengerfest.

5.  Methodist Protestant Church at Harvey’s Lake destroyed by fire.
President Raeder of the Board of Trade appoints committee of one hundred authorized 
at a mass meeting to look into the new court house muddle.

7.  Ninth Regt. Off for camp.

9.  Murder and suicide in Jackson Township.  James Farrell of Plymouth stabbed and 
clubbed to death by a cousin, John Lee, who commits suicide.

10.  Fire in Nottingham mine at Plymouth.

12. Hot wave continues, with thermometer at 90 and above.

14.  Pure food agents investigating Wilkes-Barre’s milk and butter supply.

15. Ninth Regt. Returns from Mt. Gretna.

16.  Automobile struck by a train in South Wilkes-Barre and J. S. Sanders 
seriously injured.

17.  Intense heat continues mercury still above 90 degrees.  
Board of School Government refuses to allow the North street school yard to be
 thrown open as a playground for boys.  
Miners convention of the first district in session at Dunmore.

18.  Pennsylvania R. R. Co. buys the Hunt estate block on South Pennsylvania 
avenue for the purpose of extending its freight house and yards.  Hottest day of 
the season mercury 94 degrees.

19.  Miners of District No. 1, in session at Dunmore, formulate demands for the 
expiration of agreement.

20. Collision at Mocanaqua on the Pennsylvania R. R. results in the death of 
fireman E. K. Price.  Y. M. C. A. boys in camp along the river near Falls.

21.  Last blast fired for the Laurel Line tunnel at Scranton.

22. Twelve horses burned to death in Pursel’s livery stable fire.  Charles E. Oliver, 
a Scranton attorney drops dead on a Harvey’s Lake steamboat.

25.City decides to sell cobblestones on Streets that are to be paved to the 
contractors for $5,000, to be used for the paving foundation.
William D. Gerlach appointed pastmaster of Hazleton after a long and spirited contest. 
Pennsylvania Telephone Co. making many improvements in and about Wilkes-Barre.

28.  Large number of buildings being erected in Wilkes-Barre.

30.  Several people shot at  Georgetown, some seriously wounded, by an enraged 
foreigner who appeared on the street with a gun.  Rev. W. D. Johnson preaches at 
services in Massachusetts attended by his grandmother, 100 years of age.

31.  Extensive preparations being made for the reception of President on Aug. 10.

AUGUST
1.  Death of Dr. S. W. Trimmer of White Haven one of the oldest physicians 
of the county.  
Opening of the playground for children on Union Street attended by about a 
hundred youngsters.

2.  Decorators complete work at St. Nicholas German Catholic Church, after being 
engaged for four months.

5.  Terrence Lynch, for many years manager of the Wilkes-Barre Western Union
 telegraph office resigns on account of ill health.  
Ninth Regt. Rifle team leaves for Mt. Gretna to take part in the rifle matches.

7.  Three additional teachers elected for the Wilkes-Barre schools.
Ten new attorneys admitted to the Luzerne bar.

8.  A number of pickpockets arrested-the advance guard for President Roosevelt’s day.
Big parade and mass meeting at Luzerne Borough in honor of John Mitchell.

9.Opening of national convention of Catholic Total Abstinence Union in Wilkes-Barre; 
Cardinal Gibbons and many other prelates present.

10.  Greatest day in Wilkes-Barre’s history; parade of National Catholic Total Abstinence
 Union, witnessed by Cardinal Gibbons and prominent prelates and clergy of the Catholic
 Church; arrival of the President of the United States at 3 p.m. noted in detail 
elsewhere in this issue.

12.  Four residences destroyed and others damaged by fire in Plymouth Township.

12.  Wyoming M. E. Church rededicated.

14.  President Mitchell given a “Night in Bohemia” by the Press Club. Children of the 
Home for Friendless given an outing at Harvey’s Lake, Construction of macadam road 
around Harvey’s Lake begun.

15.Receptionby St. Aloysius Society in honor of Thomas F. Toohey of Joplin, Mo, 
the first president of the society.  
Heaviest wind and rain storm of the season-almost a cloudburst-and a few 
buildings unroofed.

16. Local C. T. A. U. Regiment in camp at Harvey’s Lake.  Seven-county 
Veteran reunion at Tunkahannock.

19.  Coroner Dodson brings suit against county controller to compel him to pay 
bills incurred by the holding of inquests.

22.  Arthur Potter foreman at Lake Ganoga lumber works found in Mud Pond, 
near that place, after rowing a couple of Wilkes-Barreans across the pond; 
suspected that he was killed during a quarrel.

23. Democratic calculations upset by the entrance of John Gulney into the race 
for the county commissionership.

24.  Prince of Peace Commandery Knights of Malta of Wilkes-Barre celebrates
 its fifteenth anniversary.

25.  President Roosevelt returns his thanks to the people of Wilkes-Barre for the
 rousing demonstration given in his honor.  Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Mitchell of 
Wilkes-Barre celebrate fiftieth anniversary of their marriage.

26.  Caledonian picnic and games at Harvey’s Lake.

27.  Five houses destroyed by fire at Swoyerville.

28.  Rev. Edward A. Loux resigns as pastor of Plymouth Presbyterian Church to 
accept call to Berwick.
Booksellers’ Stationers and News dealers’ national convention in Wilkes-Barre.  
Numerous petty robberies in Wilkes-Barre and vicinity.

29. Democratic county convention.

30.  Removal of the bodies from the old Catholic cemetery on South Canal street
 to Hanover Cemetery.

31.  The Lambs’ Club delegation of Philadelphia arrives in Wilkes-Barre to 
spend a part of its outing.

SEPTEMBER
2.  Convention of Master Horse-shoers’ Association of Pennsylvania in Wilkes-Barre.  
Taxpayers’ Association causes the arrest of a justice of the peace on the charge of 
securing from the county fees in fictitious discharged cases.

3.  Rev. Dr. A. H. Tuttle preaches in his old pulpit in the First M. E. Church.  Severe 
wind and rain storm wrecking a portion of Father Murgas’s wireless telegraph station.

4.  Outbreak of typhoid fever at Nanticoke.  Shooting fracas at a Polish picnic at Hudson
 between Poles and Italians.  Opening of Wilkes-Barre public school teachers institute.

5. One man killed  and five seriously injured by the collapsing of part of the new brewery 
building in North Wilkes-Barre.  Luzerne County jail has 160 prisoners with 72 cells.

7.  New pipe organ being installed in the South Washington street Jewish temple.  New Holy
 name Catholic Church at Swoyerville destroyed by incendiary fire wit a lose of about $7,000 
and $4,000 insurance.  Wilkes-Barreans interested in a sanitarium to be erected in Butler 
Township.  
Rev. Dr. T. B. Thomas, a former Wilkes-Barre Welsh pastor, dies in Pittsburg.

8.  Epidemic of typhoid fever at Nanticoke causing increasing alarm.  Cyrus F. Henwood found 
near Parsons with a gunshot wound in his head and dies soon afterwards.  Richard Davis of St. 
Clair, a former Wilkes-Barre resident killed.

9. Four directors of Wilkes-Barre Township school board indicted on charge of bribery. Nottingham 
mine partially resumes after a long suspension.

10.  Wilkes-Barre base ball club ends the season third in the race, with only a few points separated 
from the pennant winning team.

11.  Wilkes-Barre public schools reopen.

12.  Board of Conciliation holds meeting in Wilkes-Barre.  Congregational Association of Eastern 
Pennsylvania hold session at Miner’s Mills.
Dr. F. C. Johnson of the State Board of Health takes charge of the typhoid situation at Nanticoke 
and a number of nurses arrive to help.

13.  Samuel Hood a prisoner at the Luzerne County jail, escapes by climbing the war; had been 
employed in the boiler room.  Sans Souci Park closed for the season.  Matheson Motor Car Co. 
secured for Wilkes-Barre.

14.  Total number of typhoid fever cases in Nanticoke and vicinity 212 to date, as officially reported,
 with seven deaths; some of the rooms of the City Hall turned into a temporary hospital while a number
 of other cases have been sent to the Wilkes-Barre hospitals.  Lutheran congregations of Wilkes-Barre 
start a movement for a Lutheran cemetery.

15.  Linemen of the Pennsylvania Telephone Co. offered an increase of$5 a month, part of what they
 asked.  Coroner’s jury finds that Cyrus F. Henwood of Parsons, whose body was found lying along
 the road Sept. 8 was murdered.  

16. James McGinty has been mayor’s clerk for thirty years.

18. Judge Ferris hands down decision in case of J. E. Patterson & Co. against the Building Trades
 Council and others holding defendants in contempt of court for refusing to observe the injunction to
 refrain from pushing the boycott against the firm.

19.  Dr. Dixon State health commissioner visits Nanticoke investigates the epidemic and reports that 
a case of typhoid fever had been found along a creek that empties into the reservoir.  Presbytery of
 Lackawanna meets at Canton, Bradford County.  John Vercavage, a Slav, commits suicide by 
hanging in the Wilkes-Barre lockup having been committed on the charge of drunkenness.

22.  Fall shoot of the Dallas Gun Club.  Judge Ferris sentences John Casey $250 and Building 
Trades Council$500 for contempt of court.

23.  A woman who signed herself at Hotel Hart as “Mrs. Green, Achen Street Brooklyn,” suicides 
by taking carbolic acid.  Capt. Kenny resigns as principal of North street school to study medicine.

24.  Rally day at Memorial Presbyterian Church.  Sacred Heart German Catholic Church at Luzerne 
Borough dedicated.  Rally day and harvest home at Westminster Presbyterian Church.

25.  Census bulletin estimates Wilkes-Barre’s population in 1903 as55,921.

26.  John Oberrender, who was elected sheriff of Luzerne County in 1883, dies at his home in 
Butler Valley.

27.  Sunday school conference of Wilkes-Barre branch of Lutheran Ministerium in session at 
Weatherly.  Twenty-first annual convention of the W. C. T. U. in session at Ashley.  Some 
Wilkes-Barre meat dealers arrested on charge of selling doctored meat.

28. Employers of union labor in the building trades form organization for promotion of 
their interests.

29.  Twenty-third annual convention of Luzerne County Sunday School Association.  
Hagenbeck’s wild animal show at West Side Park.

30.  Funeral of Mrs. Mary Stine of Plymouth, 90 years of age.

OCTOBER
1.  Nanticoke typhoid fever situation; 320 cases and 27 deaths.

2.  Building Trades Council anniversary banquet.

3.  Opening of Dallas fair.  
Five dwelling houses at Mocanaqua destroyed by fire.

8.  Convention of the Wilkes-Barre sub-district of the Epworth League in the M. E. Church.

9. Congressman Palmer returns from sessions of Interparliamentary Union in Brussels. 
 Mrs. Perry Wheeler, living on farm near Wyalusing, murdered by her husband, who commits 
suicide.  Body of John Kempher of Scranton found in the river near Nanticoke.  Carlucci Bros. 
of Scranton take charge of the court housework pending an option for an assignment of the 
contract to them. Dr. J.D. Woodring of Albright College lectures in Dana Street Evangelical
 Church.  John Donahue, a former resident of Glen Lyon, killed in a mine accident in Butte, Mont.

10.  B. I. A. anniversary observed with an address by the founder, Mrs. H. W. Palmer. 
 Improvements and general overhauling of the 9th Regt. Armory in Wilkes-Barre.

11.  Anti-Saloon League brings prosecutions against more than a hundred saloonkeepers 
on charge of violating law.  
Tenth anniversary of the Forty Fort Presbyterian Church observed.

12. Miner’s Mills celebrates in honor of the opening of the new Asher Miner Hose Co. building.  
Ten per cent  Mortality in the Nanticoke typhoid fever epidemic.

13. Judge Wheaton declares unconstitutional part of the mine employment act of 1905.

15. Consecration of St. Nicholas German Catholic Church in Wilkes-Barre, the papal delegate,
 Mgr. Falconi, being present.  Rev. A. J. Kerr of Memorial Presbyterian Church preaches on the
 public dance evil, basing his remarks on a Record editorial.
Third district C. T. A. U. convention at Wyoming.

16.  Phillip L. Drum appointed oil inspector for Luzerne County, in place of Dr. S. W. Trimmer,
 deceased.  
Reopening of the Isaac Long store in the Welles building, after having been without a home for
 some months on account of fire in the building.

17. Laurel Line tunnel at Scranton formally opened after more than a year’s work, the tunnel 
being 4,750 feet long.  Court refuses to quash indictments in bribery cases brought against 
Wilkes-Barre Township school directors.  Opening of the annual Y.M. C. A. entertainment course.

18.  Preliminary injunction granted to restrain Kingston Coal Co. From mining under St.Vincent’s 
Cemetery at Plymouth. Late registration shows the names of 70,600 voters in Luzerne County.

19.  Field staff and line officers of 9th Regt. Together with members of the noncommissioned 
staff entertained at dinner at Westmoreland Club.

20.  Taxpayers Association after the Hanover Township auditors, asking for an order to compel 
them to file an itemized account of receipts and expenditures.

21. Bricklayers and masons refuse to work on buildings where nonunion men of other trades
 are employed.

22.  BishopTikhon visits the Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in Wilkes-Barre
First snowflakes of the season on the mountains.  
Total number of typhoid fever cases in Nanticoke and vicinity to date 358 and deaths 36.

23.  Annual county teachers’ institute in Y. M. C. A. auditorium.

24.  Concordia smoker.  Wyoming district Methodist Ministerial Association’s 172d 
session in Pittston.

25.  Liberal response to annual Home For Friendless Children donation day.  
Typhoid fever epidemic at Berwick, following that at Nanticoke.

26.  Coalville Masonic Lodge of Ashley observes its twenty-fifth anniversary with banquet
 at Concordia Hall.
Postoffice Departemnt orders the establishment of free delivery to the most populous parts
 of Wilkes-Barre Township and Laurel Run Borough.  
Wilkes-Barre Lodge of Machinists observes fourteenth anniversary.  
Lehigh Valley orders most of its machinists employed at the North Wilkes-Barre shops to the
 new shops at Sayre.

27.  First recital on the large new organ in St. Stephen’s Church by Dr. Starnes of Albany, N.Y. 
Flags presented to the 1st Jr. O. U. A. M. Regt.

28.  Mitchell Day observed in Scranton with parade and speechmaking.

29.  Farewell sermon by Rev. E. A. Loux of Plymouth Presbyterian Church who goes to Berwick. 
 Cornerstone of the Nanticoke Polish Independent Church laid. 
More than a dozen fires and false alarms in Wilkes-Barre within a few days.
Serious mine squeeze and settling of the surface in vicinity of Luzerne Borough.

31.  Some disgraceful Halloween scenes in Wilkes-Barre, including numerous fights and 
rowdyism on the central streets. 
William H. Berry, Democratic candidate for State treasurer and others speak at a mass 
meeting in the courthouse.  
Twenty-sixth semi-annual convention of the North eastern Centeral Luther League in 
Christ Church Wilkes-Barre.

NOVEMEBER
1.  Reception for the new pastor of Zion A. M. E. Church, Rev. Dr. Cooper song recital
 at Concordia Hall by Carrie Jacobs Bond.

2.  Recital on St. Stephen’s new organ by Will C. Macfarlane of St. Thomas’s New York
 City assisted by the boy soprano, Willie Craven.

4.  Bottlers of Wilkes-Barre get an increase amounting to about a dollar a week and a 
nine-hour day a reduction of half an hour.

5.  Fifteenth annual convention of the East Pennsylvania Conference of the Young 
People’s Alliance of the Evangelical Church.  Nanticoke typhoid fever epidemic over.

6.  Cemetery of St. Hedywig’s congregation of Edwardsville consecrated by Bishop Hoban.  
Michael Boylan of Old Forge dies on a train at Glen Summit while being taken home 
from a Philadelphia hospital.

7.  Quiet election and small vote polled.

8.  Five men killed and a number injured in a collision between a passenger and a freight
 train on the D. L. & W. R. R. near Shickshinny.  Final recital of the series on St. Stephen’s 
new organ given by John Shepherd assisted by Mrs. Shepherd, Miss Stites and others.

9.  Mrs. Ann Soley of Wilkes-Barre dies at the age of 93 years.  
Formal trial of new No. 2 engine for Wilkes-Barre, throwing a small stream 180 feet high. 
 Large new Truesdale breaker of the D. L & W. put in operation.

10.  Annual carnival of Plymouth firemen Co.A. of 9th Regt. Banquet sat Becker’s B.I. A.
 eisteddfod at the armory.

12.  W. E. Woodruff speaks at St. Stephen’s Church on the history and development of the 
church organ  A handsome double memorial window dedicated in First Presbyterian Church
 to the memory of Col and Mr. G. Murray Reynolds.

13.  Rev. Dr. Thomas C. Iliff lectures in Central M. E. Church on  “The Boys of “61” 
Semiannual conference of the Wilkes-Barre Branch of the Lutheran Ministerium session in
 St. John’s Church, Wilkes-Barre.  Mass meeting in Nanticoke to consider reforms in the 
municipal administration.

14.  Annual Christian Endeaver Union convention in Memorial Church, Wilkes-Barre.

16.  Coroner’s jury in the D. L. & W. wreck near Shickshinny, in which six men were killed, 
returns a verdict censuring the conductor and engineer of the freight train, but exonerating 
the company.  St. Mary’s Alumni euchre and reception in Columbus Hall.

17.  Membership race in the Y.M. C.A. begun.  Five men injured in the South Wilkes-Barre 
shaft by the cage striking the bottom too hard.  Judge Lynch censures jury which returned a 
verdict of not guility in a criminal assault case and ordered that the names be taken
 from the jury wheel.

20.  Typhoid fever emergency hospital at Nanticoke closed.

21.  Dr. S. Parkes Cadman lectures in the Y. M. C. A. course on “The Puritans of two 
worlds.”  Conciliation Board meets in Wilkes-Barre.

23. Successful public test of Father Murgas’s wireless telegraph system.  Firemen banquet 
and christen the nine new engine  the “Joseph G. Schuler.” Irish-American Club celebrates
 the anniversary of the Manchester martyrs.

24.  District Sunday school convention at Shickshinny.  Baptist Young People’s Union
 rally at the First Welsh Baptist Church.

25.  Six patrolmen dismissed from the Wilkes-Barre police force on the charge of 
dereliction in the performance of duty.

27.  Quarterly Board of Trade meeting attended by many prominent citizens, including 
a revival of the right sort of civic spirit.  Concordia fall concert.  Disclosures in the 
Pittston region that mine certificates have been fraudulently sold.

28.  Banquet of Luzerne County Retail Druggists.  Movement on foot to build a new
 theatre on South Main street, Wilkes-Barre.

29.Charity ball at the armory. Stamp station at Luzerne Borough to be made a 
carrier station.

30.  Union Thanksgiving service in First Presbyterian Church.  Central R. R. Flyer 
plunges down an embankment near Mauch Chunk-two railroad men killed and 
several passengers badly hurt. 

Tina Pastusic  February 2009