1916 W-B Record Almanac, Record of Events for 1915 

Record of Local Events 12/14-11/15
Typed by Irene Transue

December 1914
1. Records show that 122 divorces were granted in Luzerne County for the
twelve months ending with November 30, nearly twice as many as in 1900.
Luzerne County Farm Bureau established, with Herbert N. Coob in charge.
3668 marriage licenses issued in Luzerne County in twelve months.
2. No entry.
3. Cost of running the city of Wilkes-Barre for twelve months $816,959.
Records show that 1,203 persons died in Wilkes-Barre in twelve months,
an average of 16.5 for each thousand of population.
4. Cyclone relief committee reports the expenditure of $25,000 to the
families, mostly for building homes and for repairs.
5. No entry.
6. Laying of the cornerstone of Douglass Church in Lee Park. Rev. W. R.
Fitzgerard installed as pastor of Grace Lutheran Church.
7. Rain, sleet and snow cause serious trouble to telephone and telegraph
companies and interfere to some extent with the railroads. Wilkes-Barre
Institute Dramatic Club produces "The Amazons" at the Grand in aid of
the Red Cross fund.
8. no entry.
9. Citizens of Wapwallopen take steps to compel the county commissioners
to erect a bridge across the river at that place, in accordance with
grand jury recommendations and approval by the court.
10. Ewen breaker of the Pennsylvania Coal Company at Port Griffith
destroyed by fire, incurring a loss of $350,000 and throwing 2,000
employees out of work.
11. Wilkes-Barre Art Jury suggests to the county commissioners that the
proposed soldiers' and sailors' memorial be embodied in the form of a
bridge across the river at Market street. State Librarian Thomas L.
Montgomery reads a paper at Historical Society meeting.
12. Compilation shows that seventeen miles of paving have been laid in
Wilkes-Barre in seven years. Death of Dr. A. P. O'Malley, a prominent
Wilkes-Barre physician. Order of the Sisters of Mercy secures a large
plot of ground in Dallas for the erection of a mother house.
13. No entry.
14. No entry.
15. Hanover Township prepares to fight annexation of part of the
township to Nanticoke Borough.
16. United States Weather Bureau replies to an inquiry that the Wyoming
Valley is not in a cyclone belt, and that such disturbances are not more
likely to occur here than in other sections that have the same
topographical surroundings. Cold snap, mercury seven degrees in
Wilkes-Barre and below zero in the
mountain districts, the river freezes over in one night.
17. Report shows that the city of Wilkes-Barre owns $4,600,000 worth of
property. City Councilman Schuler recommends that Wilkes-Barre have a
full-paid fire department. Good skating on the river.
18. Cold wave continues, with a minimum of six degrees above zero in
Wilkes-Barre. Orthodox Greek Catholic Church at Swoyersville destroyed by
fire. Mr. and Mrs. Miner Naugle of Wyoming celebrate their sixtieth
wedding anniversary.
19. No entry.
20. Death of J. C. Haddock, one of the most prominent coal operators in
the anthracite region. Report received from Col. Beach, of the federal
government on the flood prevention problem in the Wyoming Valley, the
report recommending that embankments be erected, that bridges that have
not 1,500 feet of spam be rebuilt, that the Nanticoke dam be removed,
that the sharp projection near Ross street be removed and that culm
deposits be taken out; no estimate of the probable cost given.
Huntsville Church of Christ dedicated.
21. Luzerne County's bonded indebtedness amounts to $3,100,000.
Nanticoke Lodge 541, F. & A. M., holds its fortieth annual banquet.
22. Salvation Army prepares to send 250 Christmas dinner baskets to poor
people.
23. Elks' Club prepares to remember 800 poor children with clothing,
shoes, toys and fruit. May Turner Conyngham Christmas tree has something
for 600 children. Salvation Army will help 400 children and the Owls
about 25; the 
Wilkes-Barre charity organizations expect to extend Christmas help to
about 4,500 people.
24, Exercises at Wilkes-Barre's first community Christmas tree in Public
Square, several thousand people being in attendance, bands play, school
children sing carols and Mayor Kosek delivers an address. $10,000 worth
of postage stamps sold in Wilkes-Barre in four days. 
25. Unusually cold Christmas--the thermometer 15 above zero in
Wilkes-Barre, good sleighing and ice-bound streams.
26. Reduction of three-fourths of a mill in the Wilkes-Barre tax levy
for 1915, owing to increased valuations of taxable property, mostly on
coal.
27 Thermometer registers two degrees below zero in Wilkes-Barre.
28. Ice being harvested on the mountain lakes and ponds. New
Wilkes-Barre budget provides for a complete paid fire department and
dispensing with the services of all volunteers.
29. Wilkes-Barre Masonic lodges, 61, Landmark and Fidelity, banquet
together after an interval of fifteen years. Street car men by a vote of
240 to 37 declare in favor of a strike, but agree to leave the date of
the call in the hands of the executive committee and the national vice
president, the demand being for a wage increase of from twenty-four to
thirty-two cants an hour, with other adjustments, the compromise offered
by the company having been refused. Report shows that 3,265 arrests were
made by the Wilkes-Barre police during the year. Wilkes-Barre council
recommends a change in the Clark bill to place all of the departments
under the civil service. Big charity ball in Nanticoke for the benefit
of the State hospital.
 30. Michael H. Bowen named mercantile appraiser for the coming year. A
total of 610 criminal cases disposed of in criminal court during the
year and convictions were obtained in about 75 per cent of the cases.
31. Executive committee of street car employees and the company cannot
come to an agreement on the question of submitting to arbitration the
right of the company to discharge men without a statement of reasons and
a hearing, and a strike is about to be declared when the committee
agrees that the men shall continue at work until members of the federal
Board of Mediation have an opportunity to go over the whole ground; the
company agrees to submit the wage question to arbitration, all other
differences having been settled. Wilkes-Barre bank clearings for 1914
show a volume of $82,451,564, an increase over the previous year of
$1,623,857. Councilman Schuler makes a farewell address to the call men
of the Wilkes-Barre fire department, in preparation for a full paid
department.  Court awards road work in Hanover Township for 1915 to the
coal companies in lieu of payment of taxes, claiming that the act of
Assembly makes it obligatory, where the petitioners satisfy the court as
to good faith and competency. D. L. & W. appeals from the new coal
valuation in Wilkes-Barre, at the rate of $250 a foot acre. Noisy advent
of the new year.

January 1915
Typed by Irene Transue
1. Clear, snappy New Year weather. Over 3,000 people attend open house
at the Wilkes-Barre Y. M. C. A. Mr. and Mrs. Wickham Myers of Pittston
celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary.
2. Federal and State government mediators come to Wilkes-Barre to
attempt to settle the street car trouble. Owing to technical problems
involved in the case, Judge Strauss appoints George E. Stevenson of
Scranton, an engineer, to enlighten the court in the cave-in case
between the borough of Plymouth and the Plymouth Coal Co. 
3. Dr. James J. Walsh of New York begins another series of six lectures
in St. Mary's auditorium.
4. Central Poor District almshouse report for 1914 shows that of the 424
adult cases admitted there was not a single total
abstainer--seventy-five per cent of the cases were intemperate drinkers.
Wilkes-Barre's fire losses in 1914 amounted to $62,181.
5. Report shows that 2,460 cases of contagious disease occurred in
Wilkes-Barre in 1914, resulting in 65 deaths.
6. Tabernacle for the Crabill evangelistic services at Pittston
dedicated, has a seating capacity of 3,500.
7. Rain and warmer weather breaks the ice in the river and causes a
rapid rise. Attendance 66,000 at the Wilkes-Barre playgrounds during
1914. A table prepared by the city assessor shows 16,358 buildings in
Wilkes-Barre. Bounties paid for over 600 foxes, 2,000 weasels, 100 great
horned owls and a score of wildcats in Luzerne County in 1914. Heavy
increase in the cost of flour owing to the demand for export to
war-stricken Europe. Truesdale breaker of the D. L & W. at Nanticoke has
an output of 1,152,201 tons of coal in 1914, the largest of any breaker
in the anthracite region.
8. River reaches a height of 18.3 feet. Coal under Wilkes-Barre assessed
at $15,259,507.
9. Remaining difference between the traction employees and the company
adjusted by the company's agreement to give discharged employees a
hearing, a previous agreement having been reached to arbitrate the wage
question, the federal and State mediators having been largely
instrumental in harmonizing the contentions.
10. Death of Moses W. Wadhams, a well known member of the Luzerne County
Bar. Death of George H. Flanagan, for many years cashier of the Wyoming
National Bank and one of the most prominent financiers in this part of
the State. 
11. Rev. F. W. Sterrett, assistant at St. Stephen's chosen rector to
succeed Rev. Dr. Henry L. Jones, deceased. Liquor license applications
number 1,550 against 1,656 for the previous year.
12. Twelve persons injured in a collision between two motor busses on
South Franklin Street. Death of Paul Dasch, at one time Prothonotary of
Luzerne County. Elmer E. Buckman chosen cashier of the Wyoming National
Bank in place of George H. Flanagan, deceased. George Nicholson elected
president of the Wilkes-Barre Y. M. C. A.
13. Ball in the armory under the auspices of the local branch of the
American Red Cross Association, proceeds for the benefit of the foreign
war sufferers, attended by more than one thousand people. District
Attorney Bigelow has warrants issued for the arrest of five members of
the election board of the Preston district of Hanover Township on the
charge of fraud and irregularity in the township commissioner election
of 1913. Returns show that 658,936 barrels of beer were brewed in
Luzerne County in 1914, 21,847 barrels less than in 1913.
14. Two boys break through the ice on a reservoir at Parsons while
skating and are drowned. George Heller, who for thirty years was
connected with the Lehigh Valley as passenger agent in Wilkes-Barre
retires.
15. Cost of running Luzerne County in 1914  $2,151,352. Highland breaker
of the G. B. Markle Coal Co. at Freeland destroyed by fire, loss about
$200,000.
16. Death of Jerome N. Thompson, a well known banker. Petitions
circulated in Edwardsville and Kingston among saloonkeepers, supported
by the coal companies, to close at 11 o'clock at night and keep closed
until 7:30 in the morning in the interest of coal company employees.
17. No entry.
18. State Horticultural Association meets in Wilkes-Barre, Rain for
several days and more moderate weather.
19. Death of Dr. John A. Person, for twenty-seven years a practicing
physician in Wilkes-Barre.
20, No entry.
21. Luzerne County branch of the German-American Alliance protests
against the shipment of munitions of war from the United States.
22. Independents win over the Amphictyons in the annual debate at
Wyoming Seminary, on the tariff question.
23. No entry.
24. No entry.
25. Lehigh Valley's new steel and concrete breaker in the Hazleton
region, on the site of the old No. 5, opened.
26. Rev. Thomas L. Jones installed as pastor of the Second Welsh
Presbyterian Church, Wilkes-Barre. Capt. Franklin S. Leisenring of the
Fourth U. S. Infantry stationed in Wilkes-Barre as
inspection-instruction for the Ninth and Thirteenth regiments. Rev.
Lewis Franklin Brown installed as pastor of the White Haven Presbyterian
Church.
27. First division of the Flying Squadron of America, so-called, opens a
series of temperance meetings in Wilkes-Barre.
28. No entry.
29. No entry.
30. After many conferences the two arbitrators chosen in the street car
controversy are unable to agree upon the third man in the time limit
specified.

February, 1915.

1. Wyoming National Bank of Wilkes-Barre observes its fiftieth
anniversary as a national bank, although as a private institution and as
a State bank it had been in existence since 1830. Controller estimates
the financial needs of the county for the year to be $1,910,000.
2. Use of Roman candles to drive the sparrows out of the Public Square
trees also turns out a failure. Death of John M. Ward, a pioneer
business man of Wilkes-Barre. New two-manual pipe organ installed in St.
Clement's Church.
3. Kreissler, violinist, appears in Irem Temple.
4. Rev. Blanchard Allen Black installed as pastor of Zion Reformed
Church. Opening of the new Orpheum moving picture theatre in
Wilkes-Barre. Death of H. H. Harvey, one of the Wyoming Valley's best
known citizens. Principals' Club of the grammar schools of Wilkes-Barre
holds its first annual dinner.
5. No entry. 
6. Wilkes-Barre Press Club gives a reception in honor of Isaac E. Long,
dean of local journalism.
7. Sudden death of Charles A. Blumenthal
for many years a prominent merchant in Wilkes-Barre. Douglass
Presbyterian Church observes the twentieth anniversary of the founding
of the chapel.
8. No entry.
9. Veterans of the G. A. R. turn down the suggestion of the Art Jury
that the memorial to the soldiers and sailors be placed in connection
with a new bridge and demand that it be erected on the court house lawn.
Old court house bell sounds its last tap, having been broken while
sounding an alarm of fire, was cast in1860 and for many years did
service in connection with the old court house clock.
10. 187 remonstrances to liquor licenses filed.
11. No entry.
12. Fire in the cap factory of Max Pell in Wilkes-Barre does $7.000
damage, six persons rescued.
13. Seven men, some of whom were wanted on the charge of being notorious
safe crackers, arrested in a boarding house in Wilkes-Barre. After
further deliberation the two men chosen in the traction wage controversy
fail to agree on a third man, and the two agree to make an effort to
settle the dispute themselves.
14. Rev. George W. Anderson revival campaign begins in Plymouth in a
specially built tabernacle. Miss Kathleen Mathew of Ireland, a
descendant of Father Mathew, lectures in the Poli theatre on "Beautiful
Ireland."
15. County tax levy fixed at the same as last year--two and seventeenths
mills. Charles Zubelin lectures in Wilkes-Barre on woman suffrage. Death
of George B. Kulp, one of the oldest lawyers in the county, author of
"Families of the Wyoming Valley," and for years publisher of the Luzerne
Legal Register. Long spell of mild and gloomy weather.
16. More interest in liquor license court than ever before.
17. Thirteen men killed by an explosion of gas in the Prospect mine of
the Lehigh Valley Coal Co. in Wilkes-Barre. several injured. Mrs.
Richard P. Jones of Plymouth dies while attending services in the
Anderson revival tabernacle. Judge Charles E. Rice of Wilkes-Barre,
President Judge of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, announces that he
will not be a candidate for another term having served since the
organization of the court twenty-one and a half years from the time of
his retirement, having previously served on the bench of Luzerne County
for fifteen and a half years.
18. No entry.
19. City council purchases ground for a small park at the corner of
Carey Avenue and Old River Road. Judge Garman remarks in license court
in his opinion a man may get drunk in a saloon, the only responsibility
of the proprietor being that he must not sell liquor to the man while in
that condition.
20. Mountain Top Presbyterian Church observes its thirty-fifth
anniversary.
21. Wilkes-Barre Press Club gives its first affair for the ladies, in
the form of a musicale.
22. New school building at Hudson dedicated. Fourth Degree Assembly of
the Wilkes-Barre Knights of Columbus holds its first annual banquet.
23. No entry.
24. Three children of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Moran of Plains die within
three days of diphtheria. Crabill revival meeting at Pittston ends with
2,300 converts. Mrs. Edward MacDowell, widow of the noted composer,
gives a recital in the chapel of the First Presbyterian Church.
 25. Rain and warm weather causes the river to rise rapidly.
26. Largely signed petition of local lawyers appeals to Judge Rice to
reconsider his announcement that he will not be a candidate for
re-election to the Superior Court. River at Wilkes-Barre reaches a
maximum height of twenty-three and three-tenths feet.
27. No entry.
28. Westminster Sunday School successful in a campaign to secure an
attendance of 1,000 by March 1.

MARCH 1915

1. St. Ann's Almanac Association of Mallinckrodt Convent plans to
establish chapters of the alumnae in some of the large cities in which
graduates reside.
2. Edward M. Rosser succeeds T. L. Newell (resigned) as president of the
Kingston Deposit and Savings Bank.
3. Petition with 2,500 signatures from Pittston, in favor of local
option, presented to Governor Brumbaugh. Figures show that in the year
1914 233 men and boys were killed in and about themines of Luzerne
County, leaving 129 widows and 354 children.
4. Representative Casey of Luzerne County presents a finely made ink
stand, wrought out of anthracite coal, to Speaker Champ Clark of the
House of Representatives.
5. No entry.
6. No entry.
7. Death of Capt. Cyrus Straw, a well known business man of
Wilkes-Barre.
Rev. B. L. Romberger preaches his first sermon as pastor of Grove Street
Evangelical Church. Five hundred new members added to the Holy Name
Society of St. Mary's Church in Wilkes-Barre. Rector of St. Aloysius
Church in Wilkes-Barre announces that the last of the debt had been
paid.
8. Court instructs constables to report cases where saloonkeepers refuse
to keep shutters open and curtains raised on Sunday. 
9` Wilkes-Barre Credit Reporting Association formally organized, made up
of business men for mutual protection against bad debts. Rippard string
quartet, with the assistance of clarinet and piano, gives a concert in
Irem Temple. Preparations being made to abandon Dodson No. 12 colliery
at Plymouth and permit the mine to be flooded.
10. No entry.
11, Chamber of Commerce committee and representatives of charity
organizations discuss the local situation and the Chamber of Commerce
offers $100 for relief station to provide food for the poor. Coroner's
jury investigating the Prospect colliery disaster in which thirteen men
and boys were killed censures the company for not compelling the use of
safety lamps. 
12,Grand jury ignores bills against Hanover Township election officers on
the charge of conspiracy, although Judge Fuller had declared that they
were responsible for illegal conditions. Court denies liquor licenses to
100 new applicants and refuses renewal to 45 old places after
remonstrance.
13. No entry.
14. Cost of the Anderson tabernacle in Plymouth defrayed in four weeks,
over $7,000 having been raised in the collections.
15. Officers of the traffic and passenger departments of the Lehigh
Valley Railroad hold a meeting in Wilkes-Barre. James Henry Campbell of
Wilkes-Barre gives a novel birthday party to which several hundred of
his friends are invited, an annual custon.
16. No entry.
17. A special train brings about 250 Shriners from Williamsport on a
pilgrimage to IremTemple. Representatives of trainmen's lodges in ten
counties meet in Wilkes-Barre to protest against repeal of the full crew
bill. Fiftieth anniversary of the highest flood in the Susquehanna of
which there is a record. Apollo Glee Club wins the chief prize at the
twenty-third annual eisteddfod of the Cynonfardd Literary Society at
Edwardsville. St. Patrick's Day parade in Pittston calls out about 3,000
men and boys.
18. No entry.
19. City Teachers' League holds a reception in honor of the State
president, Miss Margaret Sullivan.
20. About eight thousand people participate in the Sunday School parade
at Plymouth in connection with the Anderson revival. Contracts for
paving seven miles of Wilkes-Barre streets, aggregating $240,000
awarded.
 21. Zion Reformed Church in Wilkes-Barre changes its name to First
Reformed Church.
22. Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton Brick company organized with a capital of
$150,000. Many business organizations and councils protest against the
bill to turn all of the proceeds of the coal tax into the State treasury
for use in the highway department, depriving the anthracite communities
of a share.
23. Dickinson College graduates form an alumni association.
24.Women interested in the Nesbitt Hospital conduct a large bazaar in
Irem Temple. A Plymouth saloonkeeper converted in the Anderson revival
leads a party from the tabernacle to his place of business and smashes
the stock and fixtures.
25. Rev. Dr. Guthrie of the First M. E. Church declines a call to a
larger church in an Eastern city. Death of Thomas Smith of Wilkes-Barre,
who served three terms as county commissioner.
26. Wilkes-Barre council receives notice from the State Department of
Health that the city must have plans for sewage disposal by January,
1917.
27. No entry.
28. Anderson revival in Plymouth closes, with a record of 3,073
conversions for the six weeks, more than seventeen per cent, of the
population, the free-will offering for the evangelist being $3,537,
besides $6,600 collected for the expenses of the campaign. Gen.
Ballington Booth, president of the Volunteers of America, speaks in
Wilkes-Barre. Rev. John Mullin, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Mullin of
Pittston, celebrates his first mass in St. John's Church at Pittston.
29. First regular trains run on the Wilkes-Barre Connecting Railway,
running from Buttonwood, south of Wilkes-Barre, across the river over the
West Side flats, again across the river at North Wilkes-Barre, connecting
the Pennsylvania with the Delaware & Hudson for the interchange of
traffic. Street car controversy again reaches an acute stage owing to
the failure of the two arbitrators to agree upon the third man and
failure of private negotiations.
30.City council adds fifteen regulars and eight reserves to the number
of full-paid firemen and dismisses all volunteers, giving Wilkes-Barre
its first full-paid fire department, with a total of sixty-four
regulars, including the chief, and the eight reserves. Wilkes-Barre
council by resolution protests against a repeal of the non-partisan
election law for third-class cities.
31.A federal mediator and a State mediator come to Wilkes-Barre to
endeavor to avert a street car strike. Announcement that Miss Ellen
Constance Palmer of Wilkes-Barre, daughter of Mrs. Henry W. Palmer, has
married Count Vantini Desilva of Italy.

April 1915
1. Street car men on the entire Wilkes-Barre Street Railway Company
system go on strike and not a car is moved all day; federal and State
mediators come again to try to induce the parties to come to some
agreement; company offers the men twenty-six cents an hour but they
refuse; the whole trouble precipitated by failure on the part of the two
arbitrators chosen by the company and the employees to agree on a third
arbitrator; many buses and automobiles carry passengers to all sections
and some of the railroads put on extra trains, there being no serious
inconvenience on the part of the public. All of the liquor licenses
disposed of and taken out, there being 1,390, forty-seven less than for
1914.
2. Township supervisors of Luzerne County hold a meeting and request the
Governor to set May 26 as good roads day, when volunteers shall help
improve the highways. Mr. and Mrs. George Davis of Parsons celebrate
their fiftieth wedding anniversary.
3. Snow, with indications of a blizzard.
4. Pleasant, though cool, Easter weather, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Thomas
of Edwardsville observe their golden wedding anniversary.
5. Chorus of seven hundred voices sings at the annual music festival of
Welsh Presbyterian Churches of the valley, held in the First Welsh
Presbyterian Church of Wilkes-Barre. Blackmailers dynamite and damage
the home of Rev. J. V. Kurdirks, pastor of the Lithuanian Church in
Kingston after his refusal to pay over money. Medical inspector of the
Wilkes-Barre public schools reports that among 2,336 children examined
353 were found to be defective.
6. Dr. Charles P. Neill agreed to by the street car employees and by the
company as the third arbitrator, but later Dr. Neill declined to serve,
giving a press of other engagements as the reason.
Death of Warren F. Goff, on of the oldest business men of Wilkes-Barre.
7. John Price Jackson, State Commissioner of Labor and Industry,
suggested by the traction employees' committee as the third arbitrator
and officials take it under consideration. Linonia Society of Hillman
Academy produces "Mrs. Temple's Telegram" at the Grand Opera House.
8. Wyoming Conference of the Methodist Church decides to inaugurate a
campaign to raise $400.000 to be added to the general fund for the
retirement of aged and infirm ministers.
9. After a long conference the traction company agrees to John Price
Jackson as third arbitrator and the men decide to go to work pending
arbitration. Adelphian Society of Wyoming Seminary celebrated fiftieth
anniversary with a banquet at the Sterling. Union Veteran Legion,
Conyngham Post and auxiliaries observe the fiftieth anniversary of the
surrender of Lee to Grant and the close of the Civil War.
10. Death of Rev. G. H. Grannis, pastor of Elm Congregational Church of
Plymouth. John B, Dodson and Edward R. Raife purchase the good will and
business of the Sturdevant Lumber Company, which had been in business
for sixty-eight years. 
11. No entry.
12. Rev. Ernest Colwell transferred to Bennet Memorial Church. Rev. C.
H. Newing to Derr Memorial, Rev. J. R. Pennell to St. Andrew's and Rev.
J. R. Austin placed in charge of the church at Firwood by the Methodist
Conference.
13. State convention of Woodmen of the World, and auxiliary, opens in
Wilkes-Barre.
14. No entry.
15. Wilkes-Barre relief station, conducted by the United Charities,
closes after being open for four weeks, during which time 2,100 meals
were served in the rooms and 228 pails of soup were given out, the
largest number of applicants in one day being 138; the approach of warm
weather and some increase in the need for laborers the cause for
closing.
16. S. E. Van Horn of Wilkes-Barre appointed chief engineer of the D. &
H. coal department. P. J. Murphy elected general manager of the Laurel
Line.
17. No entry.
18. No entry.
19. Lackawanna Presbytery opens in the First Church, Wilkes-Barre.
20. Former members of the Wilkes-Barre volunteer fire department form an
association. Price war on among Wilkes-Barre ice dealers to oust a
price-cutting company.
21. Five of the eight members of the House of Representatives from
Luzerne County vote against the local option bill and three for it.
Lackawanna Presbytery reports 22,240 members on its rolls.
22. Death of Frederick J. Stegmaier, president of the Stegmaier Brewing
Co.
23, 24 and 25 No entries.
26. Death of Rev. August Rohrig, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church of
Hazleton.
 27. Hottest April since 1896, the mercury on the 25th and the 26th
going to ninety-one degrees. Annual conference of Primitive Methodist
Churches of Pennsylvania opens in Plymouth.
28. Central Poor District report for 1914 shows that $66,561 was spent
for outdoor relief, $18,486 more than for the previous year, and that
the relief was distributed to 7,342 people, with an average family of
three.
29. No entry.
30. Senior class of the Wilkes-Barre high school plays "Midsummer
Night's Dream."
Judge Kunkel of the Dauphin County court declares constitutional the
Roney coal tax law of 1913.

May 1915
1. Marked change in the weather, much cooler.
2. Press Club gives it first musicale in Irem Temple.
3. Clean-up Week in Wilkes-Barre under the auspices of the Civic Club
and Bureau of Health makes a good start.
4. Aloysius Kane of Wilkes-Barre, Gertrude Hinchcliff of Pittston and
Harry Drew of Nanticoke take honors at East Stroudsburg State Normal
School. Samuel L. French issues a book on reminiscences of Plymouth.
5. Twelve hundred men of the Wilkes-Barre District Mining Institute
banquet at Irem Temple.
6. Arbitrators begin taking testimony in public in the court house in
the controversy between the traction company and its employees.
7. Automobile club names many committees for Good Roads Day, on May 26.
Veterans proceed to take legal steps to prevent the erection of a
soldiers' and sailors' monument in connection with a memorial bridge. By
act of Assembly the court is relieved from paying bounty for the killing
of noxious animals, all claims to be made to State officials.
8. Mrs. Forbes-Robertson Hale speaks to the Wyoming Valley on the
suffrage question. Fifteenth Ward suffrage association plants a tree on
Mothers' Day in Firwood Park, opposite the Old Ladies' Home, dedicated
to the old ladies.
9. No entry.
10. Death of Charles J. Long a member of the firm of Jonas Long's Sons.
11. Barnum and Bailey circus shows to crowded "houses."
12. Ahlbrandt hay and feed mill and the Weis shoe house on Baltimore
street considerably damaged by fire. Young women of St. Dominic's Church
of Parsons give a minstrel show in the Grand Opera House.
13.Ex-President William H. Taft the principal speaker at the
Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce banquet, the attendance being about
900. Ninety babies entered in the better baby welfare contest at the
Dana Hill kindergarten. Mercy Hospital Society for Visiting the Sick
organized by business and professional men, the principal object being
to attend to the needs of patients beyond those attended to in the
regular work of the hospital.
14. Ice dealers of Wilkes-Barre end price war by coming to an agreement.
Hazleton wins in a debate with the Wilkes-Barre high school. Reduction
of about $5,000,000 in the value of coal property in Luzerne County for
1914.
15. Sunday School parade in Wilkes-Barre participated in by about nine
thousand men, women and children, with some elaborate floats and
marching effects.
16. No entry.
17. Four conventions convene in Wilkes-Barre--State Association of
Master Plumbers, Susquehanna Dental Association, the Nine County Funeral
Directors' Association and the Women's Home and Foreign Missionary
Societies of the Eastern Conference Branches of the Evangelical
Churches. Diplomas recommended for 218 graduates of the Wilkes-Barre high
school. Sum of $524,135 estimated by the Wilkes-Barre school board as
the amount needed for the year. U. S. Kerr, basso, gives a song recital
in Irem Temple. Light frosts for a few nights in country districts but
not much damage to fruit.
18. indignant over the act of the Legislature increasing the
compensation of court interpreters to $100 a month, the court notifies
the five regular interpreters that their names will be stricken from the
pay roll, though the further intentions of the judges are not made
known. Court breaks Pittston school board deadlock by naming Myer
Schlosser as a director to fill a vacancy.
19. No entry
20. Eleven young women take the first vows and eleven the final vows at
Mallinckrodt convent. Rev. J. V. Moylan of Nanticoke elected president
of the Scranton Diocesan Union, C. T. A. U. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Reynolds
of Plymouth celebrate golden wedding anniversary.
21. Sixteen nurses graduate from the City Hospital training school.
22. Long spell of rainy and cool weather.
23. Benjamin F. Paukstis of Edwardsville ordained to the priesthood.
24. A number of local Italians leave for the home land to take part in
the war declared by Italy against Austria-Hungary.
25. Management of the Homeopathic Hospital in Wilkes-Barre opens a
whirlwind campaign to raise $50,000. Miss Helen Todd of California and
Congressman A. Mitchell Palmer open suffrage campaign in Wilkes-Barre.
Court re-employs discharged interpreters who were given a salary
increase by the Legislature, on condition that they would work on the
old terms at the coming session of criminal court, pending further
consideration of plans with respect to interpreters and tipstaves.
26. Donald E. Campbell of Wilkes-Barre, son of Mrs. P. H. Campbell,
ordained as a priest. Wyoming Valley Homeopathic Hospital graduates
three nurses.
27. Osterhout Free Library report says that in 1914  152,811 persons
borrowed books and that forty per cent of the books were not fiction.
28. Death of Dr. B. J. Wetherby, a well known Wilkes-Barre physician.
29. No entry. 
30. Conyngham Post, G. A. R., attends services at Zion Reformed Church.
Congregation of the First Welsh Presbyterian Church, Wilkes-Barre.
observes its fiftieth anniversary. Methodist Church at Firwood, made
over from a store room, dedicated.
31. One of the largest and most interesting Memorial Day parades ever
held in Wilkes-Barre. Dedication of a public drinking fountain in
Dorranceton, given by the W. C. T. U. Grand United Order of Odd Fellows
holds convention in Wilkes-Barre. Polish Falcons' National Day
observance at Valley View Park.

June 1915
1. Death of Dr. George W. Guthrie of Wilkes-Barre, one of the most
prominent physicians and surgeons in Northeastern Pennsylvania and for
forty years a school director in Wilkes-Barre.
2. No entry.
3. Five nurses graduated from Riverside Hospital. One hundred
sub-assessors named by the board of three county assessors. John A.
Redington, Jr., becomes proprietor of Hotel Terminal Property on East
Market Street.
4. Four graduates from the Wilkes-Barre Institute, commencement address
delivered by Vachel Lindsey, the "vagabond" poet of the West.
5 & 6. No entries.
7. Governor Brumbaugh signs the anthracite coal tax bill and the bill
removing the disabilities against miners coming within the scope of the
workmen's compensation act. Percy A. Brown appointed a member of the
Wilkes-Barre school board to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Dr.
George W. Guthrie.
8. According to the official report fire losses in Wilkes-Barre for 1914
amounted to 85 cents per capita, a record lower than that of most cities
of about the same population. Record contains an interview with Ira
Ransom of Jackson Township, 93 years old, whose father fought through
seven years of the Revolutionary War.
9, Hillman Academy graduates six boys. Margaret Carey and Mildred
Gwilliam win the high school gold medal contests in oratory and
recitation respectively.
10. Excursion from the Wyoming Valley to see the agricultural department
of State College patronized by 330 people.
11. 243 pupils graduate from all departments of the Wilkes-Barre high
school--152 girls and 91 boys. Miss Margaret Scureman and Egbert
VanHorne win the prize speaking contest at Wyoming Seminary.
12. Death of George Smith of Wilkes-Barre, who served as a councilman
and also two terms as county commissioner, during the construction and
completion of the new court house and during a general readjustment of
the coal valuation, in which he took a prominent part. Fire insurance
agents in Wilkes-Barre and vicinity organize an association.
13. Rev. Dr. Guthrie of Wilkes-Barre preaches the annual sermon to the
graduates of Wyoming Seminary.
14. Three murders in upper Luzerne County in forty-eight hours.
Wilkes-Barre cyclone relief committee makes its final report,
recommending that a balance of $600 be given the Hillside Street
Congregational Church for repairs to the janitor's house. Wilkes-Barre
City Planning Commission, with representatives from outlying
municipalities, takes up the question of remedying the duplication of
street names.
15. Seventy-eight students graduate from the academic and business
departments of St. Mary's school.
16. Wyoming Valley Homeopathic Hospital raises $54,000--$4,000 more than
the workers set out to raise. Bishop Berry delivers an address at
Wyoming Seminary commencement. Fifty-one babies registered at the
opening of the baby welfare station at Brookside, under the auspices of
the Visiting Nurse Association and the municipal authorities.
Representatives of municipalities affected by Susquehanna River floods
form a permanent organization to take charge of flood elimination plans.
17. No entry.
18. County assessors appoint four mining engineers to assist in making
the triennial assessment for coal. Councilman Loveland reports an
analysis of gas furnished in Wilkes-Barre and states that it is of
poorer quality than that in the city of Washington, whose standard he
states should be adopted; also suggests that a bureau be created to test
meters and investigate rates and quality of public utilities service.
Three nurses graduated from Nesbitt West Side Hospital.
19. No entry.
20. Congregation of Douglass Chapel at Lee Park takes possession of
Douglass Presbyterian Church in same vicinity.
21. State Loyal Temperance Legion convention meets in Wilkes-Barre.
22. Eleven young women graduate from Mallinckrodt Convent.
23. Ground broken for a new edifice for the East End Primitive Methodist
Church. Local court decides that a Mayor of a third class city is
eligible as a candidate to succeed himself, holding hat the third class
city act of 1913 repeals the law of 1839. Chilly day, with overcoats and
wraps worn by many people.
24. Grand jury endorses resolution of the county commissioners for the
erection of a new bridge across the river at Market street, the cost not
to exceed $500,000.
25. James M. Poland renews his request for permission to lay a pipe line
under South Main street to secure electricity from the Wilkes-Barre
light company.
26. No entry.
27. Seven serious automobile accidents in Wilkes-Barre and vicinity,
three of them fatal. Eighty children confirmed in Holy Rosary Catholic
Church in Wilkes-Barre.
28.New Y. M. I. building in Pittston thrown open for public inspection.
Owing to dullness in the coal trade, collieries go on part time. 
29. Wilkes-Barre Light Company applies to council for a modification of
its franchise.
30. Bond issue of the city of Wilkes-Barre for $150,000, four and a half
per cent, maturing between 1930 and 1940, sold at a premium of
$3,507.27.

July 1915
1. Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton Railway Co. announces its refusal to carry
mails to points between Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton because of
unsatisfactory pay. Property owners in the central part of the city meet
to discuss large increase in assessments, and the assessment and tax
problem generally, and decide to form an organization for further work.
2. No entry.
3. Elaborate exercises at a flag raising by employees at the Exeter
colliery of the Lehigh Valley. Court approves grand jury recommendation
for a new Market street bridge. Samuel Hart, D. D., LL. D., dean of
Berkeley Divinity College. Middletown, Conn., delivers the address at
Wyoming Monument, on "The Contribution of Colonial Connecticut."
4. First open air religious services by the Wilkes-Barre Y. M. C. A. in
Riverside Park attended by about fifteen hundred people.
5. Elaborate water sports at Harvey's Lake. Pleasant weather most of the
day for the Fourth of July celebration and amusements, with rain in the
morning, agreeable temperature, Flag dedication, military speeches and
parade at the State armory at Pittston. Big Fourth of July parade at
Nanticoke.
6. Court decides the long standing appeal of the Lehigh Valley Coal
Company from the assessment of 1907 of Franklin colliery coal land.
Judges Garman and O'Boyle concurring in the majority opinion which
sustains the action of the old board of county commissioners which
raised the valuation to approximately #2,000 an acre for a virgin
tract 61 feet in thickness, while Judge Fuller files a minority opinion
in which he stands by his former decision in a Lehigh & Wilkes-Barre
case, affirmed by the Supreme Court, reducing the value below that fixed
by the county commissioners.
7. Spell of rainy weather, farmers complaining.
8. International President White of the United Mine Workers comes into
the anthracite region to boost the membership in anticipation of the
expiration of the three-year agreement in the Spring of 1916.
9. Wyoming Electric Co. again makes application for a lighting franchise
in Wilkes-Barre. Susquehanna River reaches flood stage owing to heavy
rains. Luzerne County Bible Society holds its ninety-sixth annual
session.
10. Arbitrators in the dispute between the traction company and
employees reach a decision--first year men to receive twenty-four cents
an hour, the same as before, a one cent increase above that figure to be
given men of two years service, twenty-six cents for three year men,
twenty-six and one-half cents for four year men, and twenty-six and
three-fourths cents for five years and longer, all of the men to share
in a distribution of profits, including ten per cent, of the increased
revenue per car hour, taking the 1904 revenue of $2,786 as a basis;
arbitrator Thomas Shea reuses to sign the award on the ground that the
wage advance is not large enough and because of the sliding scale, the
other arbitrators being Samuel D. Warriner and Dr. John Price Jackson of
the State Department of Labor and Industry. River reaches a stage of
22.57 feet at Wilkes-Barre, truck farmers on the lowlands suffer much
damage.
11. Four days' observance of the golden jubilee of Rev. William J. Day
of Luzerne Borough as a minister in the Wyoming Valley begun.
12. Joseph F. Gillis reappointed collector of county taxes in
Wilkes-Barre. About three hundred members of the Lehigh Valley Railroad
Club, Wyoming division, have an outing at Bear Creek.
13. Michael Yurkanin elected cashier of the Heights bank. Initial steps
taken to form the Taxpayers' League of Luzerne County, to be made up of
taxpayers who shall interest themselves in methods for the assessment of
property and look into the manner in which public money is expended.
First vehicle passes over the bridge at Nanticoke.
14. No Entry.
15. County Superintendent of Schools Frank P. Hooper names four
assistants--
P. J. Manley of Jenkins Township, J. A. Alden of Foster Township, A. E.
Lewis of Wyoming, and W. G. Jenkins of Edwardsville, and his action is
approved by the officers of the directors association, the assistants to
receive $1,200 a year each, being the first to be appointed under the
new school code. 
16. Spell of severe hot weather. About five thousand people participate
in annual Sunday School parade at Nanticoke.
17. and 18. No Entry.
19. Medical inspector of Wilkes-Barre public schools reports that of
2,437 children examined during the last school year 409 were found to be
defective, 140 of them suffering with enlarged tonsils.
20. Lithuanian Day at Valley View Park. Judge Garman hands down an
opinion in which he refuses to indorse the project for a new bridge
across the river at Market Street, believing it to be unnecessary.
21. No entry.
22. Letter received by the county commissioners informing them that an
act of Congress will be necessary before a bridge may be built across
the river at Market street, the Susquehanna having been declared a
navigable stream.
23. Mine Workers of District No. 1 formulate a number of demands for
presentation in the Spring. Wilkes-Barre Light Company informs council
that it will be willing to give a bond in the sum of $25,000, provided
that it shall be a guarantee only against selling out.
24. No entry.
25. Death of Dr. Olin F. Harvey of Wilkes-Barre, a member of one of the
oldest Wyoming Valley families and one of the oldest practicing
physicians. Cornerstone of St. John's Lutheran Church in Wilkes-Barre
laid.
26. Seventh annual convention of the United Sportsmen of Pennsylvania
meets in Wilkes-Barre.
27. No entry.
28. George Middleton of Edwardsville ordained to the ministry in
Immanuel Baptist Church.
29. State convention of colored Knights of Pythias meets in
Wilkes-Barre.
30. Viewers recommend a deduction of $1,700 from contract price for the
Plymouth bridge for defects, though it has been accepted by the county
commissioners. Unusually heavy thunder storm passes over Wilkes-Barre.

August 1915
1.No entry.
2. In reply to criticism of the cost of running the school system in
Wilkes-Barre by the Taxpayers' League of Luzerne County, the school
board by resolution invites an investigation and the League accepts the
challenge. Bells and cemetery of St. Michael's Church of Glen Lyon
blessed. Mr. and Mrs. Josiah M. Wolfe of Pike's Creek observe their
fiftieth wedding anniversary.
3. City council passes Wilkes-Barre Light Company franchise ordinance on
final reading. County commissioners appoint Edward Burke as collector of
county taxes in Pittston.
4. No entry.
5. Over four hundred entries in the baby show at Sans Souci Park.
6. Death of Dr. John A. Kenny of Wilkes-Barre, a young physician of
brilliant promise.
7. River again goes up owing to frequent and heavy rains and reaches a
maximum of fifteen feet at Wilkes-Barre.
8. No entry.
9. Petition sent to the county commissioners to remove the Port
Blanchard viaduct because of its dangerous curves.
10.  Military branch of the Jr. O. U. A. M. encamped at Lake Lodore.
Rain almost every day for a month and only two or three clear days. C.
T. A. U. regiment in encampment at Owosco Lake, N. Y.
11, 12, 13 and 14. No entries.
15. Typhoid fever scare in Pittston owing to the appearance of a number
of cases.
16. About twelve hundred children take part in the municipal playground
field day of Wilkes-Barre. Fine new building for the First National Bank
of Plymouth completed.
17. No entry.
18. Eight thousand persons present at Welsh Day outing at Sans Souci
Park.
19 and 20. No entries.
21. Big barn of Senator Catlin at Riverside, with its contents of the
season's crops, destroyed by fire due to lightning; the barn was erected
105 years ago and was first used as a stable at South Main and South
streets. Unusually heavy rain and wind storm.
22. Young Men's Hebrew Association and Ladies' Auxiliaries of
Pennsylvania meet in convention in Wilkes-Barre.
23. Wilkes-Barre school board increases the force of medical inspectors
from one to five, one of the doctors being a woman. River again
abnormally high for the season.
24. Mrs. Mary Pison of Maltby observed the one hundredth anniversary of
her birth. Death of Mrs. Elizabeth W. Hillman of Wilkes-Barre, aged one
hundred and three years and five months, widow of Herman B. Hillman.
25. Three days' celebration old home week and the forty-fifth
anniversary of the organization of the borough begins in Ashley, with
elaborate programs arranged. 
26. No entry.
27. Mr. and Mrs. Milo Gay of Orange celebrate their sixtieth wedding
anniversary. 
28. Fire in the headquarters of the David Film company on South
Washington street causes $20,000 damage. Banner awarded to Mineral
Spring colliery of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, with elaborate
exercises, for maintaining the neatest grounds and for efficiency in
fire fighting.
29. No entry.
30. Judge Woodward upholds the borough act of 1915.
31. Local weather gauge figures show that the rainfall for August was
6.24 inches and the average temperature 71.2 degrees.

September 1915
1 and 2. No entries.
3. East end bridge exposition conducted by Holy Savior Church.
4 and 5. No entries.
6. New schools dedicated in Plymouth Township and in Edwardsville. Labor
Day quietly observed.
7. Mine workers representing the three anthracite districts meet in
Wilkes-Barre to frame demands to be made at the expiration of the
agreement in the Spring.
8. Proposed loan for $45.000 for Dorranceton, for the completion of the
Church street dyke, paving and grading streets, erecting a municipal
building and funding part of the indebtedness, is defeated by a vote of
436 to 129. Arbitrators in the case of William J. Cullen of Hazleton
against Evangelist Stough award the former $2,700 for alleged slander in
a sermon.
9. No entry.
10. Convention of union delegates from the anthracite region adopts the
demands to be presented to the operators; a list of the demands will be
found elsewhere in this almanac. Women's Liberty Bell, a factor in the
suffrage campaign, arrives in Luzerne County. Death at Glen Lyon of Mrs.
Antonette Vostry, aged 105 years.
11. Parade in Wilkes-Barre in the interest of the woman suffrage
amendment, headed by the Woman's Liberty Bell, followed by speeches.
Heavy increase in registration in the cities of the county, about thirty
per cent, in Wilkes-Barre, forty per cent, in Hazleton and fifty per
cent in Pittston.
12. No Entry.
13. One of the most important coal suits ever tried in Luzerne County
begun--the litigants being the D. L. & W. Railroad against the Kingston
Coal Co., concerning the construction and execution of coal leases and
mining contracts dating as far back as 1878 and involving over two
million dollars.
14. Summary of the 1910 census shows that in the census year there were
98,607 foreign-born whites in Luzerne County in a total population of
343,186.
15. Long spell of extraordinary heat for this time of year reaches a
climax in a temperature of ninety-four degrees in Wilkes-Barre. Masked
men hold up W. L. Schlaeger of Scranton, who owns a coal stripping near
Hudson, and rob him of a pay roll of over $1,400. Many of the schools
closed on account of the excessive heat.
16. No entry.
17. Some relief after the long spell of severe heat.
18 and 19. No entries.
20. Last day of one of the most strenuous primary campaigns since the
enactment of the law in 1906, the fight being intensified by the
Record's opposition to two gang candidates for county commissioner.
21. Unusually heavy vote polled in the primaries, great interest taken
in county and municipal contests.
22. First session of The Forum, an organization composed of people of
literary and artistic attainments, and tastes in Wilkes-Barre and
vicinity. Four of the candidates for city commissioner in Hazleton
receive more than half of the vote in the primaries and will be relieved
of the necessity of going through the general election campaign.
23. Death of James McGinty, clerk to the Mayors of Wilkes-Barre for
thirty years. Rev. Dr. C. E. Guthrie. for nearly five years pastor of
the first M. E. Church in Wilkes-Barre accepts a call to the Richmond
Ave. Church in Buffalo, N. Y.
24. No entry.
25. About fifteen hundred people turn out in the West Side Sunday School
parade.
26. No entry.
27. Many Veterans from Wilkes-Barre and vicinity go to Washington to
attend the forty-ninth anniversary of the organization of the Grand Army
of the Republic and to participate in the Grand Review along
Pennsylvania Avenue as a reminder of the notable review in May, 1865.
Stir in Pittston municipal circles by council's action in dismissing the
Chief of Police and seven patrolmen for refusing to obey orders to keep
away from the polling places on primary election day.
28. Twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Polish Union of
America celebrated in Wilkes-Barre, with a pontificial high mass in St.
Mary's Polish Church, a mass meeting in the armory, a parade and a
banquet in the evening at the Sterling, the guest of honor being Ignatz
Paderewski, the eminent pianist, who pleaded the cause of distracted
Poland in this war.
29. Clarence D. Coughlin elected chairman of the Republican county
committee. Wilkes-Barre's first fire engine house built only for motor
apparatus-No. 3 on Stanton street--dedicated. New river bridge from
Wyoming to Port Blanchard ready for traffic, erected at a cost of
$182,000.
30. Jitney owners of Wilkes-Barre appeal to the court to restrain the
authorities from enforcing their ordinance requiring a bond or other
security. C. Bow Dougherty of Wilkes-Barre retires as Major-General of
the National Guard of Pennsylvania owing to act of the Legislature
establishing new regulations, after thirty-four years of service in the
National Guard.

October 1915
1. Eight thousand dollars collected in Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties
by the Polish Union for war sufferers in Poland.
2. William S. McLean, Jr., elected chairman of the Democratic county
committee.
3. No entry.
4. Debate in Wilkes-Barre school board meeting over whether girls shall
be admitted to the manual training course.
5. No entry.
6. Local manufacturers hear addresses from officers of the State
Manufacturers' Association in relation to the workmen's compensation law
and the best means of securing insurance protection.
7.  Death of David Culver, 83 years, who for sixty years ran the
Susquehanna River ferry at Forty Fort.
8. Typhoid epidemic at Shavertown.
9. No entry.
10. Capt. and Mrs. S. L. French of Plymouth celebrate their golden
wedding anniversary. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph McBride of Parsons celebrate
their fifty-first wedding anniversary.
11. Messrs. Jackson and Shea, two of the arbitrators in the street car
case, decide that there is some ground for the contention of the
employees that the arbitrators were not justified in including a sliding
scale in their award, but since the traction officials object to
reopening the case the two withdrew and leave the affair as it was at the
beginning, nearly ten months ago. Case being tried in the local court of
a man who gave $800 to another person on the promise that he would place
the money in an incubator box and hatch out double the amount, only to
find a wad of paper in the box when he opened it. Members of the Luzerne
County bar meet and take steps to launch a boom for Hon. Frank W. Wheaton
for the vacancy on the bench of the Supreme Court caused by the death of
Justice Elkin.
12. Formal action taken to compel the county commissioners to place
Lewis P. Kniffen's name on the ballot as a candidate for mayor. Mr. and
Mrs. B. S. Werkeiser of West Pittston celebrate their golden wedding
anniversary. Wilkes-Barre local of bricklayers and masons celebrates
fiftieth anniversary of the international association with a banquet.
13. Rev. Dr. Helms of Central M. E. Church declines a call to a Chicago
church.
23. Street car men meet and declare a strike, with the result that not a
car moves when the regular time comes for  beginning the day's service;
the public not warned that a strike was imminent; the men take this
action because the company would not agree with Dr. John Price Jackson,
the umpire, that the arbitration case should be reopened. A blind man
applies for and receives a hunter's license at the court house, though
what use he expected to make of it was not stated. Several hundred
Wilkes-Barre citizens petition the court to advise them as to how they
shall vote under the variously construed non-partisan law and whether
the law is constitutional in giving preferred place to candidates who
received a majority of votes cast at the primaries. Nine nurses graduate
from the Pittston Hospital training school.
15. Board of Commerce organized in Wyoming. Irem Temple has a series of
interesting ceremonies and fetes in celebration of its twentieth
anniversary. Several hundred jitney automobiles invade the street car
field owing to the strike.
16. D. L. & W. officials promise to aid local and State authorities to
overcome the unsanitary housing conditions reported by the State
Department of Health and which, it is claimed, were responsible for the
alarming prevalence of incipient tuberculosis among school children.
17. Father Charles J. Goeckel, rector of St. Nicholas German Catholic
Church, and Father P. J. Golden of Mercy Hospital observe the
twenty-fifth anniversary of their ordination.
18.
19. Traction company issues a formal statement that it will not consent
to the reopening of the arbitration case, but offers to submit to the
Court of Common Pleas the question whether the arbitration award is or
is not binding upon both parties.
20. Nearly eight hundred women attend a banquet in Irem Temple in
connection with the convention of the State Federation of Women's Clubs.
Dinner tendered to Malcolm Burnside, retiring president of the Chamber
of Commerce. Traction company gives the employees ten days to return to
work, on the understanding that if they do not return it will be taken
for granted that they do not wish to remain in the employ of the
company.
21. Court decides that Mayor Kosek's name is the only one that shall be
placed upon the ballot for that office.
22. No entry.
23. Dedication of Firwood Park, corner Carey avenue and Old River road.
Second annual municipal day parade in Wilkes-Barre brings out the fire
and police departments in splendid form.
24 and 25. No entries.
26. Court decides against Mayor Donnelly of Pittston, who refused to
sanction the action of council in dismissing the chief of police and six
patrolmen who refused to obey the order of council to remain away from
the polling places on election day, the court deciding that council has
control over changes in the police force.
27. No entry.
28. United States District Court decides that the Lehigh & Wilkes-Barre
Coal Co. must be separated from the Central R. R. of New Jersey. Supreme
Court decides that the coal tax law of 1913, by which a tax was placed
on anthracite coal for division between the State and the anthracite
municipalities is unconstitutional.
29. Laurel Line files application for increase in passenger rates. First
suffrage parade ever held in Luzerne County takes place in Wilkes-Barre,
composed of about 600 women and girls, in the interest of the suffrage
amendment to be voted on Nov. 2. East Market Street Business Man's
Association has a parade and banquet to celebrate the completion of
numerous improvements made on the street. George W. Guthrie school
building, one of the most modern in the State, dedicated in
Wilkes-Barre.
30. 133 names less in the new registration of voters in the First
district of Plains Township. a re-registration having been ordered by
Judge Garman because the original list had been stolen from the court
house or lost; the original list contained 371 names. Strike breakers
reach town  ostensibly to attempt to run traction cars. Death of Ira M.
Kirkendall, Wilkes-Barre's last Burgess and first Mayor, and a well
known business man.

November 1915
1. A New York war munitions concern takes an option on the idle Matheson
automobile works at Forty Fort. Central streets jammed on Hallowe'en.
2. County and city elections hotly contested and a very large vote is
polled. Mrs. Blanche L. Davenport of Wilkes-Barre the first woman to be
named by the court to assist in counting the election vote. Woman
suffrage enthusiasts present at the polling places to persuade men to
vote for the constitutional amendment. Republican county chairman
Coughlin secures hurry orders from the court to impound and bring into
the court house the ballot boxes from a dozen or more districts on
suspicion of fraud.
3. Fire destroys Holy Trinity Slavish Catholic Church at Maltby, causing
a loss of about $20,000. First attempt to run street cars with non-union
men causes scenes of riot in Wilkes-Barre, mobs surrounding cars on
Public Square and vicinity and in other parts of the city, breaking
windows, cutting trolley ropes and causing other damage; non-union
crews dragged from the cars; several persons injured; the police
powerless to restore order; all further attempt to run cars abandoned
until police arrangements can be perfected. Ground broken for the new
Masonic Temple on North Franklin Street. District Deputy Grand Master
Harold N. Rust leading. After one of the most exciting political
contests in the history of Pittston, the Mayor Donnelly faction wins
out.
4. Sheriff Kniffen refuses to deputize the strike breakers, on the
ground that he can secure a sufficient number of citizens to contend
with the mob spirit; Mayor Kosek organizing a force of special officers
to go on duty.
5. Abram Nesbitt gives $8,000 to the Wyoming Historical and Geological
Society, the second largest contribution ever given to that institution.
Mayor Kosek given permission by council to employ as many extra
policeman as he needs to quell disorder due to the strike.
6. No entry.
7. Disorder in a number of places when mobs attack street cars and
strike breakers, State police on duty in the outskirts and many extra
policemen in Wilkes-Barre.
8. West Side Settlement Association makes a hit with an amateur
production, "The Merry Follies." in the Grand Opera House. Much
testimony of election fraud given in the official count of the vote but
most of it is serve aside by the court.
9. Park on the Heights, adjoining Park Avenue, officially named
"Mayflower," Wealth of chrysanthemums displayed on "show day" at the
city green house. One street car partly demolished by a crowd at Lee
Park, some shots fired, and the crew of strike breakers placed under
arrest on the charge of carrying concealed weapons but released under
bail by the court. Meeting of people of Wilkes-Barre and vicinity held
to take action relative to the atrocities perpetrated upon Armenian
subjects of Turkey; a committee organized to cooperate with the general
national committee; Richard Sharpe elected president.
10. Board of managers of the county school for boys at Kis-Lyn ask for
an appropriation of $63,000 for 1916, -- $15,000 less than for the
current year, and state that expenses will be gradually reduced as the
farm becomes more productive. Linemen of the traction company declare a
sympathy strike. Parents' League of the Wyoming Valley organized at a
meeting held at the Wilkes-Barre Institute, to include parents
of children in the private schools and also in the public schools. Mr.
and Mrs. William Mason of Pittston celebrate their golden wedding
anniversary. Dr. Thomas A. James, well known physician and surgeon, dies
in Ashley.
11. Pittston Civic Club produces "The Wishing Ring" by local talent.
Newspaper men of the larger cities make a tour of the coal field as
guests of the coal companies to become acquainted with mining
conditions.
12 and 13. No entries.
14. Between twenty thousand and twenty-five thousand men of the Catholic
Church participate in a parade in Wilkes-Barre under the auspices of the
Holy Name societies, one of the biggest demonstrations the city has ever
seen; the parade followed by benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at
Diamond Park, which could contain less than half of the paraders and
crowds; a short address given by Bishop Hoban. New Douglass Presbyterian
church at Lee Park dedicated.
15. Boy discovered in Westmoor street car barn with some inflammable
acid, a wad of cotton and some matches in his possession.
16. Death in Scranton of Miss Susan E. Dickinson, who for upwards of
forty years was an occasional and regular contributor to the Record and
who was a noted newspaper and magazine writer; lived for a number of
years in West Pittston. Death in New Jersey of Garrett Smith, formerly
of Wilkes-Barre and one time secretary of the Board of Trade. Two
Nanticoke cars come together and are smashed and several of the strike
breakers hurt. A deer from the mountain strays into Wilkes-Barre, runs
over a number of streets near the central part of the city, jumps
fences, and swims the river to the West Side near Jackson street.
17. Death if Mrs. Lavina Derr of Hudson, aged one hundred and one years.
18. Chamber of Commerce adopts a resolution for the appointment of a
committee of seven of its members to present to the contending parties
in the street car strike the rights of the public and its interests;
State mediators again in the city; two strike breakers placed in jail on
the charge of carrying concealed weapons. About sixty former employees
of the Lehigh Valley Railroad who lost their positions during the strike
of 1893 meet at dinner at Hotel Hart.
19. Death of Andrew F. Derr, one of Wilkes-Barre's most prominent
citizens. Thirty mile an hour gale hits Wilkes-Barre and vicinity and
does a great deal of damage. Morton Sanders of Wyoming appointed an
additional deputy factory inspector for Luzerne.
20. About 350 newsboys, messenger boys and bootblacks partake of the
annual turkey dinner given by a friend in the      Y. M. C. A.
21. Dedication of the remodeled St. Stephen's Church organ, now
representing a value of about $30,000, probably the best in the state
outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Memorial services for the dead
of the war held in Kripplein Christi Lutheran Church in Wilkes-Barre. W.
D. Mahon, international president of the street car men's union, sends
word that he will not come to Wilkes-Barre to interfere in the strike;
car at Plymouth attacked and State troopers called to quell incipient
riot; slight disturbances at a number of other places. 
22. No Entry.
23. St. Conrad's Young Men's Society celebrates its twenty-fifth
anniversary with a banquet. Mrs. Bertels, matron of the United
Charities, states that there is evidence of less poverty from
drunkenness than formerly.
24. Committee of Wilkes-Barre business men sees Governor Brumbaugh and
explains the strike situation to him, in the hope that he will suggest
some way of bringing the trouble to an end. Two girls, aged 5 and 7
years, burned to death in their home in Pittston. Cornerstone laying at
the new Primitive Methodist Church at Hudson.
25. A crowd of about a thousand persons assembles on Public Square in
the vicinity of street cars run by strike breakers, but no serious
disorder occurs; the police powerless to disburse it; the crowd
assembled by degrees with no particular purpose in mind. School
buildings at Dundee and Concrete City in Hanover Township dedicated.
Ideal Fall weather for Thanksgiving. Cornerstone of new Methodist Church
at Nanticoke laid.
26. No Entry.
27. Death of Patrick T. Norton, formerly a County Commissioner.
28. Big crowds gather on the streets of Wilkes-Barre in the evening and
chase strike breakers; one of the later shoots towards a crowd and
another attempts to stab a person whom he took to be a pursuer; the
police powerless to disperse the jeering, yelling crowds; a policeman
followed to city hall and insulted and threatened as  he dismounts; a
couple of strike breakers escape into Hotel Sterling and take refuge in
the basement and policemen prevent crowds from entering the doors; Mayor
Kosek issues another proclamation to the people to assist in preserving
order; several strike breakers hurt and one of them taken to the
hospital.
The Luzerne County Federation of Catholic Societies organized. Twelve
automobile and motorcycle accidents in Wilkes-Barre and vicinity in two
days. An association called the United Hebrew Citizens of Luzerne
organized.
29. Death of George Cotton Smith of Wilkes-Barre. Traction company and
the men both submit proposals as a basis on which to reach an agreement
but each side rejects the other's terms. Strike breakers fire at a crowd
that attacked them and a bullet enters the bedroom of a private house.
Wilkes-Barre has 345 automobiles licensed to carry passengers. Poultry
show and fair, containing a large display of agricultural exhibits,
opens at the armory.
30. Announcement made that after January l, R. M. Tubbs will turn over
the Shickshinny Echo, with which he has been connected since 1874, to M.
H. and Byron Adkins of Wilkes-Barre.


December 1915 will be in 1917 W. B. Record.