1921 WB Record Almanac, Record of Local Events for 1920 Principal Happenings in Luzerne County for the Year Beginning December 1, 1919 and Ending November 30, 1920 The following information is posted for the sole purpose of family research within the Yahoo Group, The Court House Gang. It is not to be published to any other web side, mailing list, group, etc. Without prior written permission and guidelines from the group owner, to ensure that propped credit is given to the group an all of our volunteers that helped with this project. DECEMBER, 1919 1. Fuel Administrator Garfield suggests the likelihood of a radical curtailment in fuel for non – essential purposes due to strike in the bituminous region. -John A. Hourigan elected school director in place of H. W. Saums, deceased. 2. Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Zimmer of Wilkes-Barre observe their golden wedding anniversary. – Luzerne and Lackawanna County Dental society dissolves and a separate Luzerne County society is organized. –Several deer shot in White Haven and Pocono regions on first day of season. 3. More than two hundred exhibitors at the annual farm products show in the Y.M.C.A. 4. John Temple Graves, the well known orator, the principal speaker at the dinner of the Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce attended by nearly a thousand persons. –Democratic and Republican county campaign committees file accounts of about $21,000 each in the recent campaign. –Three men killed in the Franklin colliery of the Lehigh Valley by the breaking of a rope on the car in a slope. 5. Welcome Home arch at the corner of East Market Street and Public Square, erected at a cost of over $16,000 for homecoming service men, torn own by the firemen after bids for its removal and the use of the material had been advertised for in vain. 6. Inquiry shows that of the 137 pupils who reported at the North Main street school in Wilkes-Barre 102 were of foreign born parents, and of the 102 foreign born fathers only six had applied for citizenship paper; five fathers were aliens after having lived for twenty years or more in the United States. 8. The Wilkes-Barre Quota Club, of business and professional women, organized as a branch of a national organization. – Properties of the Pocono Pure Ice Co., and Crystal Lake Ice Co., purchased by Wyoming Valley Ice Co.- A French war orphan adopted by the Wilkes-Barre Institute arrives, a girl of 12 years. 9. Miss Eunice Berry and Miss Claire Matlack soloists at the fall concert of the Concordia Society. 10. Rev. Dr. Russell H Conwell delivers in Wilkes-Barre his lecture “Acres of Diamonds” for the 5,900th time.- Officers of the United Mine Workers agree to instruct striking miners to return to work based on offer transmitted by President Wilson, that the miners shall be paid an advance of 14 per cent, previously offered by Fuel Administrator Garfield, and that commission to be appointed by the President with a view to further changes if deemed necessary. –Dinner given at Hotel Sterling by the Italians of Luzerne County to the victorious Republican candidates in the recent election. –Mr. and Mrs. John Liewellyn of Wilkes-Barre celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. 11. In the case of Harry W. Pierce against the city of Wilkes-Barre, an appeal from condemnation proceedings for land on the West Side flats proposed for city park and recreation purposes, awarded $32,500 against fixed value of $30,700. 14. Alleged Bolshevik meeting in North Wilkes-Barre broken up by police, anarchistic literature confiscated, 19 persons all aliens but one, placed under arrest. 15. Supreme Court of the United States sustains war-time prohibition act, declaring it constitutional, many liquor people were anxiously awaiting for a brief spell before the constitutional prohibition amendment goes into effect on Jan 16th. – Owing to the many jurors who ask to be excused, Judge Garmon states that after the first of January no juror to be excused unless for the best of reasons. –Following the action of Doctors raising their rates the nurses decide to increase their rates from $25 to $30 a week for ordinary cases, and from $30 to $35 a week for obstetrical and contagious disease cases. – Superintendent Zeiser of the Wilkes-Barre schools protests ruling of the State Department of Health that when Diphtheria appears in a school room every child shall be given an immunization or be prohibited from entering the school for seven days; the superintendent contends that it would cause many school rooms to be empty for a good part of the time. 16. Cold wave strikes the county, 6 degrees in Wilkes-Barre, near zero in mountains. - Many saloonkeepers who had paid license fees from month to month in hope of Supreme Court nullification of the war-time prohibition greatly disappointed, contemplating going out of business rather than survive on near-beer. 17. Many people in a state of nervousness and fright over an obscure astronomer that the end of the world would come to pass on the 17th or that there would be hurricanes, tornadoes, electrical disturbances, tidal waves, and extreme cold upon the earth because of unusual position of 6 planets on one side of the sun exerting a straight line pull. – County commissioners set an example for the apprehension of automobile drivers who rush off after accident to escape detection; a reward of $500 offered for the arrest and conviction of the driver who struck a Kingston girl and left her seriously injured on the road. – Hugh Walpole, famous English novelist, lectures in Wilkes-Barre under the auspices of the Osterhout Library. 18. Staff and officers of the Leigh Valley Coal Co. at series of social meetings discuss methods for combating Bolshevism, and industrial unrest. – St. Johns Polish Church and adjoining school at Larksville destroyed by fire. – Vice President and General Manager George M. Wall of the Sheldon Axle Works given a dinner by foremen and department heads on his thirty-third anniversary with the company. – Residents of Shickshinny employed in the colliery at Mocanaqua in a predicament due to destruction of the river bridge by fire and the tying up of the ferry by the ice. – 4 below zero in Wilkes-Barre. 19. New Wilkes-Barre budget calls for expenditures of $848,396 in 1920. 20. Record publishes largest issue in its history of 48 pages. – Daniel Maher of Plymouth ordained to the Catholic priesthood in the Scranton Cathedral. 22. Announcement of a great social centre project for the upper anthracite region, establishment of eighteen centres in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties for community recreation, study, pleasure and uplift. Each building with equipment to cost $100,000; the community to contribute about $5,000, Banks and industries $5,000, the rest by the coal operators; some of the most prominent people behind the project; a beginning to be made with building in Luzerne Borough. Golden wedding anniversary of Rev. Dr. and Mrs. L. L. Sprague made the occasion for many happy greetings by friends; Dr Sprague is president of the Wyoming Seminary and has been connected with that institution for nearly half a century; trustees present him with a purse containing $12,300. 23. About a thousand children attend a performance at the Poli Theatre, after which they receive toys, candy and oranges from the May Conyngham Turner fund. 24. Salvation Army distributes 253 baskets of food to poor families, the United Charities remembers many poor families and the Kiwanis Club entertains and presents toys to the children of the Home for Friendless- Cold and blizzardy Christmas Eve weather. - Merchants report a great holiday buying season despite the high prices.- Brisk demand for turkeys at 60 cents a pound; chickens at 42. – Owing to the extraordinary prices of $2 to $8 for Christmas trees many are left in the hands of dealers and prices are put down to almost nothing on Christmas Eve. – Skating on ponds. 25. More than 2,000 people attend midnight mass at St Mary’s. – Lack of sugar interferes with many a Christmas dinner in the absence of cranberry sauce, cake, and such things. – Mr. and Mrs. Wilson of Alderson celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. – Cold Christmas weather, partly cloudy and 22 degrees. Ground covered with snow. – Hudson Coal Company prepares to abandon its shafts in the Plymouth district mines and take coal to the surface by conveyor lines. – Wilkes-Barre Lodge of Elks makes some 800 children happy by giving them shoes and stockings, mittens, sweater, caps, candy and oranges, each outfit valued a t about $8.50 retail. 27. Mr. and Mrs. Patrick McGrane of Sugar Notch celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. – Council passed an ordinance making the salary of next chief of police $5,000 a year, $1,800 more than the 1920 budget, in order that Mayor- Elect Daniel L. Hart may appoint Capt. Leon Pitcher of the State Constabulary, who would not come under $5,000; the mayor-elect promises Wilkes-Barre the best police force in the state under Cap. Pitcher. – Negotiations completed for the purchase by the city without further litigation, of the plot of ground on the West Side for a park and great municipal playground; commences on Market street near the bridge and extends to a point near the residence of Henry Pierce and thence in a diagonal direction to a point south where the bridge of the connecting railroad ends; 100 acres and the price $108,000; it is intended to fill in the low ground to avoid flood damage and to transform the plot into an ideal park and recreation centre. – Survey conducted by the governing committee of the civic bureau of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce shows among other things that there are a comparatively small number of regular contributors to charity in Wilkes-Barre and vicinity, and only 928 out of practically 200,000; 663 out of the 928 give to only one charity; that 44 individuals given practically one-half of contributions and more than one-fourth of the total contribution, including those of corporation ad group contributors. 28 Forty-three automobile fatalities in Luzerne County during the year. – Ice harvesting begun, with ice about eight inches thick. 30. Luzerne County pays nearly $12,000 for the year to constables and police officers for the killing of unlicensed dogs at $1 each- at least that is the amount of the approved bills. – Publication of Wilkes-Barre’s oldest newspaper, the Semi-Weekly Record, is discontinued largely because of the scarcity of newsprint paper; under various name published continuously since 1832, beginning when Elijah Worthington established the Anti-Masonic Advocate. This in 1838 was purchased by Amos Sisty, who changed its name to The Wilkes-Barre Advocate. Mr. Sisty conducted the paper until 1843, when it passed into the control of Sharpe D. Lewis, and he, in 1853, sold it to William P. Miner, who changed name to The Record of the Times. These papers were all issued as weeklies and in 1873 the daily Record of the Times was established. Later succeeded by the present Wilkes-Barre Record. When Johnson & Powell acquired the Wilkes-Barre Record it was published semi-weekly. – Goeringer Construction Co. of Wilkes-Barre awarded the contract for the laying of 23,500 square yards of sheet asphalt and asphalt paving block on ten city streets at its bid of approximately $87,000.- George Ross of Luzerne Borough appointed Luzerne County mercantile appraiser for the year 1920. 31. Building permits to the value of $811,331 for 1919 in Wilkes-Barre vs. $640,510 for 1918; great s carcity of houses continues. – According to a report filed, the county, city of Wilkes-Barre and the Red Cross spent $27,000 fighting influenza epidemic.- Thirty-Ninth year of Assembly ball held in the Armory, close to 400 present. January, 1920 1. Cold New Years weather, 25 to 30 degrees in the afternoon, with a cold wave at night. – Hilarious times in the hotels as the new year was ushered in, many people taking bottles of liquor and wine with them, - 1,112 aliens made citizens in the courts of Luzerne in 1919, 419 of them honorably discharged soldiers. - A number of the large industries of Wilkes-Barre agree to render substantial financial support to the Y. M. C. A. for the development of recreational activities, health and hygiene among industrial workers; W. A. Rogers, former physical director of the Y. M. C. A., becomes recreational secretary. – Bank clearings of Wilkes-Barre Clearing House show a total of $133,507,748 for the year 1919, an increase of $23,064,547 over the previous year. – Thirty-First annual eisteddfod held by the Moriah Congregational Church at Nanticoke, a Scranton choir wins a $100 prizes and a gold medal. 2. Forty radical suspects caught in a raid in Wilkes-Barre and Nanticoke and held for a hearing, part of a nationwide raid conducted by the federal government in many cities in which hundreds of anarchists, Bolshevists and communists who were planning to overthrow the government by direct action were caught; it is planned to pursue a vigorous campaign against the aliens. – Enumerators for the 1920 census start out on their work. - Fifty-Three fewer birth in Wilkes-Barre in 1919 than the previous year, the 1919 total being 2,002; deaths numbered 1,188, being 729 less than 1918, owing to a decrease in the influenza epidemic. 3. About forty alleged Bolsheviks and adherents of anarchy, commonly called “reds,” arrested in Wilkes-Barre and Nanticoke as on of a series of simultaneous raids throughout the count by Federal Department of Justice; hundreds arrested and to be held for deportation; the department determined to rid the country of the most dangerous characters; the raids cause much interest; seventeen of the Luzerne suspects held under bail to await further action. – Shelby B. Dimmick of Scranton appointed general superintendent of the coal department of the D., L. & W. – Court refuses an injunction to R. M. Keiser, new treasurer of Wilkes-Barre, to restrain Council from appointing the clerks for his office, Mr. Keiser claiming that he is vested with that right. 4. Thermometer in Wilkes-Barre down to zero. 5. Changes of official and subordinates at the court house and in city administration, with reorganizations. – Daniel L. Hart succeeds John V. Kosek as mayor of Wilkes-Bare, and Capt. Leon S Pitcher, becomes chief of police at a salary of $5,000 a year. – Real estate agents decide to make another increase in rents in Wilkes-Barre owing to the marked increase in the cost of maintaining property; the advance to become effective the first of April and to be from 15 to 25 per cent. – Rev. T. A. Klonowski of St. Mary’s Polish Catholic Church, Wilkes-Barre, observes his thirty-fifth anniversary as a priest. 7. New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Stransky, in the Temple concert course. – Policeman’s Relief Association of Wilkes-Barre goes out of existence because of the adoption of a pension system; the new system provides for payment by policemen of 2 per cent of their salaries; this with contributions from the city not to exceed 1 per cent of taxation and such private contributions as may be received will form a fund by which policemen shall be eligible to retirement on half pay after twenty-five years of service. 8. Some local relief from the sugar scarcity but the prices charged are from 22 to 25 cents a pound, as against 11 cents previously and 5 and 6 cents before the war. – Some local druggist refuse to handle liquor and wine for prescription purposes to avoid the disagreeable duty of resisting pleas to evade the prohibition law. – For the first time since the war with Germany, the local court admits eight German aliens to citizenship, together with forty-four natives of Austria, also the first to be admitted. – Chamber of Commerce reports that within a year seventeen new industries, employing about 2,000 persons, mostly silk mills, have settled in the Wyoming Valley – Mrs. Joseph Korson of Wilkes-Barre receives a message that her mother, father, brother, uncle and cousins were slain in a massacre against Jews in southern Russia last May. – Wilkes-Barre chapter of the Red Cross continues to help many widows and orphans of the influenza epidemic of 1918-19. – Members of Lodge No. 61, F. and A. M., have a banquet in celebration of the 125th anniversary of the lodge, the celebration having been postponed from the previous year. 9. Death of J. R. Perry of Wilkes-Barre at the age of 92 years, a pioneer manufacturer of musical instruments in Wilkes-Barre and well know for his writing of spiritualism and other subjects. 10. Good ice harvesting weather, from twelve to fifteen inches in thickness. – D. M. Rosser of Kingston appointed county engineer of roads and bridges by the new board of commissioners. 12. Over 1,000 saloonkeepers in the county apply for liquor licenses for the year, although constitutional prohibition goes into effect of the 16th of January, hoping for some ruling or sentiment that will overturn the law or make enforcement non-effective; by decree of some of the State courts, dealers are required to take out a license under the Brooks law for the sale of beer containing less alcohol than the federal enforcement act permits, even the slightest trace; the number of applications is only about 100 less than last year. 13. Judge Garman orders spittoons removed from his court room, on the ground they are unsanitary and tobacco chewing should not be permitted in a court. – Because Judge Garman of the local court released on bail two of the Reds arrested in the recent raid a federal agent removes them to Philadelphia, to be imprisoned until their cases cam be passed upon by immigration officials. – 1,645 repots and hearings in the Luzerne County Juvenile Court in 1919, compared with 2,188 the previous year; 206 boys and girls committed to various institutions in 1919. 14. Hanover Bank directors decide to give the institution the functions of a trust company. – Estimated that from the Susquehanna River and its tributaries 1,580,000 tons of coal were reclaimed by dredging in 1919, but the deposits are diminishing to such an extent that the industry will have to be abandoned before many years; very little coal is now being washed in the streams owing to commercial use for the small sizes. – Wyoming Valley is the third largest silk manufacturing centre in the United States with the total of 44 mills. 15. Another cold spell, Wilkes-Barre 3 degrees above zero. 16. Luzerne County School for Boys at Kis Lyb had an average population of 183 during 1919; net expenditures of $74,596, including buildings and permanent improvements of the farm. 17. Prohibition by constitutional amendment went into effect at 12:01 a. m.; farewell celebrations in many hotels and saloons, although war-time prohibition had been in effect for a number of months but not universally obeyed; federal authorities send out agents into every district to secure a rigid enforcement of the law from the beginning. – Rev. R. V. Lancaster, who on his own initiative undertook the sale of government army food and merchandise in Wilkes-Barre, reports that the sales have amounted to $250,000. 19. Kreisler, violinist, in the Temple concert course. – Four inches of snow in Wilkes-Barre and continued cold; thermometer not above the freezing point for several days, river frozen over for the first time. 20. Reports of a recurrence of influenza epidemic in Chicago and other parts of the West, though milder than last year, creates a good deal of anxiety. – J. L. Duplan, owner of extensive silk mills in the county, announces extension involving the expenditure of about $1, 000,000 will be made to mills in Dorranceton and Wilkes-Barre. – United Charities report shows that 5,416 individuals and families were assisted during the year 1919; 431 children were placed on parole and 393 others were placed either in institutions or homes. The Humane Association reported the 4,126 cases of cruelty animals were acted upon and 3,117 offenders were warned. – Protest entered with City Council by members of John Pershing Post, Veterans of Foreign Wars, against the proposed leasing of B.I.A. building exclusively to the American Legion; the building should be open to all was veterans of all wars. 21. Sergt. Ralph M. Smith of the local marine recruiting station decorated with the French Croix de Guerre, for exceptional bravery, during a performance at the Poli Theatre. – Many of the country roads blocked by snow drifts. 22. Seven lodges of Odd Fellows give a dinner in Irem Temple in honor of members who saw service in the war. 23. State Armory Board holds a meeting in Wilkes-Barre to talk over the proposed project for the erection of an armory in Wilkes-Barre for the new local artillery regiment of the National Guard. 24. John H. Uhl elected president of the Wilkes-Barre chamber of Commerce, the youngest man to hold that position. – John Drinkwater, the celebrated British writer and poet, lectures on the secret of greatness of certain public men. – Wilkes-Barre Police Pension Organization formed to take the place of the Protective and Beneficia l Association. 26. Jerome Meyer & Sons purchase the People’s Bank building of Public Square for $165,000. 27. Former Lieutenant Governor Frank McClain, federal fair price director for Pennsylvania, appoints W. O. Washburn of Wilkes-Barre a chairman of a new Luzerne County committee to check profiteering in food and wearing apparel, Mr. Washburn having served as food director during the war. – County Controller Hendershot reports that the expenditures for Luzerne County for 1919 were$2,063,898, an increase of $471,308 over previous year. The year began with a balance of $414,901 and receipts for the year were $1,197,535. The increases over 1918 were as follows; Court costs, $8,000; discharged cases, $1,000; court expenses, $10,000; election expenses, $8,000; bridge repairs, $54,000; dockets, etc., $5,000; temporary loans $182,000; charities, etc., $13,000; building and grounds, $14,000; audits, etc. $1,500; road repairs $207,000; miscellaneous, $3,000; prison, $2,000; offices, $20,000. 28. New Woodward breaker of the D., L. & W. Coal Co., the most modern in the anthracite region, ready for operation; under construction for three years with the exception of the war period; cost upwards of a million dollars; electrically driven and operated, each unit separate; capacity of 6,000 tons of coal in an 8 hour day; 32,000 tons of steel uses in the construction. – Luzerne the second county in the State in the number of motor trucks owned by farmer; in the county the farmers own 1,769 automobiles, 684 motor trucks and 55 tractors. – Mountain Ash Choir from Wales appears in Irem Temple 29. Several cases of influenza reported in Wilkes-Barre; considerable alarm because of the prevalence of the disease in epidemic form in many other cities. – County commissioners decide to appropriate $200,000 for the new armory to be erected for the Third Artillery Regiment of the National Guard on the new park acquired by the city on the West Side south of the Market Street bridge; the State Armory Board to provide the rest of the money. 30. Shepherd & Rust, electrical dealers and contractors, secure the building a 11-13 West Market street from C. Morgan’s Sons. – City health authorities call in the theatre and moving picture managers and instruct them to avoid overcrowding as a safeguard against influenza. 31. Another cold wave, six below zero in Wiles-Barre in the morning; and fourteen below in mountain remote regions. February, 1920 1. Count Illya Tolstoi, son of the famous Russian author, lectures in the Poli Theatre on Russian Bolshevism . – Continued cold, two degrees below zero in Wilkes-Barre. – Six of the oldest members of the Wilkes-Barre police force go on the retired list, with a pension of half pay. – Death of Maj. Oliver A. Parsons of Wilkes-Barre, highest rank officer of the Civil War in this vicinity. – Death of city building inspector Jacob Held of influenza. – Surprise caused by County Controller Hendershot’s estimate that budget requirements for the year will necessitate a tax levy of eight or nine mills, compared with three and sis-tenths mills for 1919. – Death of Dr. John F. Shaw, a well known Wilkes=Barre physician. 2. Local bureau of nursing activities of the Red Cross issue a call for trained nurses, former corps medical men, first aid teams an volunteers to register for duty in case of an influenza epidemic. – Reports submitted to the Wilkes-Barre school board of overcrowding because of lack of building facilities, with 13,602 children enrolled. – Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J. Weber of Wilkes-Barre celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. 4. Seventeen local boys, disabled during the war, admitted to the Wilkes-Barre Business College for special training, at the instance of the federal government. 5. Heaviest snow storm of the season, about nine inches in Wilkes-Barre; street car service demoralized an railroad trains far behind time; the Wilkes-Barre & Hazelton line unable to move a car through..- W. O. Washburn, chairman of the new fair price committee for Luzerne County, appoints eight men and women as members. – County commissioners rescind contracts for the proposed bridges for Wilkes-Barre, Pittston and Wapwallopen to avoid a large increase in the tax rate, though there are legal questions whether they have authority to do so, contracts with architects and engineers having been entered into by the old board of commissioners for the construction of the bridges. – Nanticoke Masons of Lodge 541 hold their forty-fifth annual banquet. 7. Vulcan Iron Works buys a large tract of land between Dana and Hazel streets for the enlargement of its locomotive works. – Wilkes-Barre Typographical Union honors twenty-seven former service men with a banquet - Mr. and Mrs. George Pickering of Plymouth observe their golden wedding anniversary. 8. Douglass Presbyterian congregation, Lee Park, observes the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Sunday school and the subsequent organization of the church. 10. Death of Alexander Farnham, dean of the local bar, for sixty-five years a practicing attorney in the county, aged 86 years. – Patrick Larkin, 98 years old, dies at his home at East End. 11. Death of Reese H. Lloyd, twice elected clerk of the courts and for twenty years identified with the politics of Luzerne County. – Attorney Gilbert S. McClintock shows at the courthouse a paper written by his grandfather while county treasurer in 1820 a hundred years ago, outlining the duties of the treasurer at that time. – Report for the county jail shows that the total number of prisoners in 1919 was 959, with an average of thirty-one days of imprisonment; the net cost of maintenance was $39,364, and the cost of feeding each prisoner was 24 2/5 cents a day. 12. Residents of Avoca give a dinner and dance at the Redington Hotel in honor of 301 service men whom returned home. – Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce begins a movement to have the State mercantile tax law repealed. 15. Nationwide campaign begun to secure funds for the distressed and starving people of Asia Minor, Syria, Armenia, Persia and adjacent lands; stories of fearful suffering following the war told in local churches – Five inches more of snow, following a warm spell; street car and railroad traffic again stalled; country roads so blocked by deep snow and drifts that many farmers are practically shut in. – Mayor Hart appeals to citizens to help clear the streets an gutters of snow and ice. – Judge Strauss announces that the Judges of the county court hold that under the Pennsylvania license law it is necessary to have a liquor license to sell a vinous, spirituous, brewed, or malted beverage of less than one-half of one per cent, alcoholic content, and that a hotelkeeper who fails to pay his license fee installment can be ejected from the premises by the owner of the building. 16. Albert Spalding, violinist, in the Temple course. – Travelers’ Aid Society of Wilkes-Barre reports having given aid to 253 per sons during the year 1919, minor service to 574. – Mercy Hospital Charity Ball held in the armory a big success. – A demand for one-third of the Lawrence Myers estate, which is valued at about $3,000,000, filed in the Orphans’ Court by Donald Myers, a grandson of the late wealthy banker and real estate owner or Wilkes-Barre. 17. Several hundred farmers brave the snow drifts to attend the annual business men’s conference at Wilkes-Barre; the farmers go on record as opposed to the daylight saving ordinances, and complain about working long hours when industrial workers demand a seven-hour and a six-hour day, whereby production is curtailed and the cost of material for the farmers is made high. – Reports of the breweries of the county show a reduction in output for 1919 of 95,682 barrels compared with 1918, owing to absolute prohibition part of the year, the one-half of one per cent, near beer not having a ready sale. 19. Unusual amount of sickness in the Wyoming Valley, due to grip, influenza and pneumonia; not enough nurses to meet demand and doctors very busy; physicians are not reporting all cases of influenza; most cases milder type than last year’s epidemic; health authorities warn people to keep away from crowds and to take care of colds and grip. 21. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel R. Lapley of Forty Fort celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. – French memorial certificates of honor and esteem being distributed to about 400 residents of Luzerne County who are next of kin of dead heroes of the world war who died in France. 23. Wyoming Valley men who served in the United States Marine Corps have a banquet at the Redington and form an organization. – Record publishes a paper by Rev. W. J. Day of Luzerne Borough, 80 years of age, giving reminiscences of fifty-four years as a minister in the Wyoming Valley. – Results of a local census show that about one-fourth of the public school children of Wilkes-Barre have foreign born parents, both father and mother. 24. District Attorney James causes the arrest of officers of four election boards, Second district of the Eighth Ward a Fourth district of the Thirteenth Ward in Wilkes-Barre, the Third Ward of Larksville and the Third South district of Pittston Township, on charges of fraud committed at the last November election, - the officers held over for court. – Dime Deposit Bank of Wilkes-Barre has changed its name to Dime Bank Title & Trust Co. and will engage in a trust and title guarantee business. – Liquor License Court in a brief session grants 1,100 licenses; no remonstrance’s filed; Judges Garman, Strauss, O’Boyle and Woodward sitting as a court en bane are unanimous in the decision that a license is necessary in this State for the sale of malt or brewed beverages regardless of the alcoholic content or the effect of the national prohibition law, which permits the sale as non-intoxicating of a beverage containing less than one-half of one per cent, of alcohol. – Show shoes sold in local stores for the first time in many years, for use in county districts where farmers are snowed in. 26. Rev. R. B. Webster, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church for forty-six years resigns, owing to advanced years and the growing responsibilities of the church. – Irish-Americans hold an enthusiastic meeting at Hotel Redington and plan for a drive for the sale of bonds of the Irish “republic.” 27. Damrosch’s Orchestra in Temple course. – County commissioners displace Democratic county tax collectors in Typed by David W Letteer SR. January 2009 MARCH 1920 1. Death of JOSEPH H. GLENNON of PITTSTON, one of the most prominent citizens of the upper end of the county. 1. By order of the President the railroads of the country are turned back to private operation after government operation as a war emergency measure; drastic changes in federal supervision made in the terms of a new law. 2. The Croix de Guerre with the star of the French Republic awarded to Lieut. ANDREW P. PERASH of COURTDALE in the presence of many of his former comrades and friends. 3. Lawyers of the county decide to boost heir fees. 4. A prominent resident suggests that the proposed new bridge be built from Union street, with viaducts on the West Side leading to Market street and North street, and that the present Market street bridge be left standing; this would solve the problem of traffic congestion on Market street. 5. Thawing weather for several days and rain for twenty-four hours causes a rapid rise in mountain streams and in Solomon's Creek; a large part of South Wilkes-Barre under water with the overflow from Solomon's Creek and from inadequate sewers; the river shows a rise of only a few feet and the ice remains intact; rain turns into snow, accompanied by a blizzard and about four inches of snow fall; danger of a river flood averted for the time but great anxiety felt owing to the additional snow and the lateness of the season without much thawing; street car and railroad traffic again crippled by drifting snow. 5. Fire in the third floor of the old Galland building at the corner of South and South Washington streets causes damages estimated at $90,000; the building occupied by shirt and underwear manufacturers and as grocery warehouse. 5. Surprising action of grand jury in ignoring election cases of the Thirteenth Ward, Fifth district and Eighth Ward, Second district, Wilkes-Barre, in which serious charges of fraud have been made. 6. Railroad trains again have a hard experience with storm conditions, those on the main line of the Lehigh Valley and Central many hours late because of snow drifts on the mountains. 6. Three boys drowned at Nescopeck by breaking through ice on a pond on which they were sliding. 6. Death of Dr. PARKE C. SICKLER of WILKES-BARRE, a well known physician. 7. (Almanac skipped day 7) 8. GEORGE R. BEDFORD, dean of the Luzerne County Bar since the death of ALEXANDER FARNHAM, is elected president of the Law and Library Association. 9. Death of E. T. LONG, for many years one of Wilkes-Barre's most prominent contractors. 9. Conferences between representatives of operators and miners begins in New York City for a new contract beginning with April 1. 10. Officers of the Second Infantry, Pennsylvania Reserve Militia, meet for the last time at a farewell dinner given at the Westmoreland Club, with Col. STERLING E. W. EYER as toastmaster; the officers form a permanent association; the militia was organized during the war after the departure of the National Guard for service. 11. Bituminous commission appointed by the President recommends and increase of 25 per cent. in wages--an advance of 11 per cent. over the 14 per cent. on which the miners returned to work; the recommendation not concurred in by the representative of the miners on the commission, who holds out for 35 per cent. 11. Death of LESLIE S. RYMAN of WILKES-BARRE, prominent lumber dealer and member of a pioneer family of this section. 11. Forty Fort Presbyterian congregation, Rev. JOSEPH L. WAISLEY, pastor, celebrate the liquidation of a mortgage of $5,000, freeing the church of debt. 11. Mr. and Mrs. JOHN WILSON of DALLAS observe their golden wedding anniversary. 12. After a couple of days of warm weather the ice in the river breaks and the river rises rapidly, a general flow of ice all the way from Sayre and beyond; river goes from 8 feet in the morning to 19 at midnight; extensive preparations on the lowlands for a severe flood owing to the great accumulation of snow on the watershed. 12. Death of WILLIAM D. OWENS of PITTSTON, one of the most prominent mining men in the upper anthracite region, a superintendent for the Lehigh Valley Coal Co. 13. Record prints the largest regular issue in its history-sixty-four pages, including a thirty-two page section of automobile advertisements heralding the opening of the annual automobile show. 13. River at Wilkes-Barre reaches its highest stage at 26.75 feet; ice flows out without a jam; lowlands partly under water but no great damage results aside from the flooding of a number of cellars at Westmoor and Firwood and other low places; street car traffic over the West Market street flats stopped in the afternoon; much colder weather stops the thawing and quiets alarm. 14. River recedes and street car traffic resumed over the West Market street road; river at 22.01 feet on Sunday midnight; much snow remains on the Susquehanna watershed. 14. Deposits in twelve banks of Wilkes-Barre in January, 1920, show $41,800,997, an increase of 41 per cent. over 1916. 15. Wilkes-Barre's biggest automobile show opens in the armory; thirty-five different makes of automobiles on exhibition. 15. River falls rapidly. 16. (Almanac skipped day 16) 17. County tax levy fixed at five and one-half mills for 1920, an increase of one and nine-tenth mills. 17. Rev. and Mrs. J. R. WAGNER of LEHMAN celebrate their sixtieth anniversary of their marriage. 17. Edwardsville choir, led by DAVID C. THOMAS, wins first prize at the twenty-eighth eisteddfod of the Cynonfardd Literary Society of the Welsh Congregational Church at Edwardsville. 18. Mr. and Mrs. FRANKLIN A. BERKHEISER of PLYMOUTH observe their golden wedding anniversary. 18. Reports from mountain districts near Wilkes-Barre are that a number of main roads are yet practically impassible because of snow, which in some places is three feet deep and, where it has drifted, much deeper. 18. Owing to thawing and rain the river reaches at 19.25 foot stage at Wilkes-Barre, but colder weather prevents it from going up to the 21 foot stage indicated by the Harrisburg authorities. 18. Mr. and Mrs. JAMES CALDERWOOD of AVOCA observe their golden wedding anniversary. 19. United States Senate for the second time fails to ratify the peace treaty, which includes the League of Nations covenant. 19. Court decides that City Treasurer R. M. KEISER is not entitled to appoint his own clerks, according to the Clark act, the appointing power resting in Council, thus ending a controversy that began when the city treasurer took office. 20. (Almanac skipped day 20) 21. Fire almost completely destroys St. Mary's Convent in Wilkes-Barre, mother house of the Order of Mercy; one of the nuns, MOTHER THERESA, formally mother superior of the Order of Mercy, so badly burned that she died a few hours later; seven other Sisters either burned or injured in jumping from windows, one of them from the third floor; many Sisters have narrow escapes; terrifying scenes; loss about $175,000. 22. Exhibition of commercial cars begins at the armory, the first exhibition of the kind to be given in Wilkes-Barre. 22. JOHN N. and WILLIAM H. CONYNGHAM offer their mother's spacious at the corner of West River and South streets to the Sisters of mercy until their convent can be rebuilt, and the offer is accepted. 22. A branch of the Private Soldiers' and Sailors' Legion organized at Edwardsville. 22. The most brilliant display of the aurora borealis in many years, visible most of the night, the whole sky agitated with wavering clouds of light. 23. An unusual proceeding in court. Owing to a decision by the Supreme Court that a mistake was made in the form of the death sentence imposed on TONY PALMO of PLAINS, convicted of murdering BENNY MISKOWSKI, who was with PALMO's wife, Judge STRAUSS imposes sentence of death for the second time. 24. Mass meeting held in the Y. M. C. A. auditorium to organize a drive for $500,000 for the Sisters of Mercy, whose convent was destroyed; former District Attorney FRANK P. SLATTERY chosen as general chairman; people of various creeds present and offer assistance. 25. Another organization of ex-servicemen formed in Wilkes-Barre, known as the Private Soldiers' and Sailors' Legion. 25. Spring like weather for a few days. 25. The city of Wilkes-Barre has been selected by the city planning department of the Bureau of Municipalities at Harrisburg as the third class city to be beautified according to a special set of plans to be prepared for the particular needs of the municipality. The State not to assume the cost of putting the plans into effect. 26. (Almanac skipped day 26) 27. Judge HENRY A. FULLER appears in court for the first time in a wheel chair since Sept. 16, when he had a leg broken in an automobile accident. 28. Rev. W. GRAY JONES of OVERBROOK, PHILADELPHIA, takes up his new pastorate in Central M. E. Church; Rev. W. H. LINDENSTRUTH goes to READING. 28. Although Wilkes-Barre, Pittston and several other towns had adopted daylight savings ordinances, by which the hands of the clock were to be turned an hour ahead from the last Sunday in March until the last Sunday in October, as during the two previous summers, the ordinances were not carried into effect owing to lack of cooperation on the part of other towns and to the fact that a Senate law was discovered which fixes standard Eastern time as the time for Pennsylvania. Congress had rescinded the daylight saving law which had previously applied throughout the nation, owing to the influence of the Western farmers and it was hoped to make the same arrangements applicable by local ordinances; the plan was greatly favored by industrial workers. New York City and a number of other cities throughout the country began with local experiments.. 29. (Almanac skipped day 29) 30. Mayor HART answers a committee of women by saying that he will not prohibit entertainments conducted on Sunday for charitable purposes, that Sunday band concerts should be encouraged for the promotion of music and that the closing of cigar stores, confectionery stores and soda water fountains would mean a rigid enforcement of the old blue laws, which would prohibit the running of trains, street cars, automobiles and the prohibition of many other things for which the community would not stand. 30. County commissioners and controller, acting as a salary board, increase the pay of a number of clerks who received $1?5 a month to $140 a month, and also the pay of other county employees. APRIL 1920 1. All but twenty of the 1,097 persons to whom licenses were granted take out the licenses up to the last day. 1. Moving day reveals an unusual situation owing to the great scarcity of houses; many families unable to find quarters store their furniture and go to boarding, or rent rooms or double up with other families; landlords able to get about what they ask for their houses, and in many instances heavy extortion is practiced; the cost of moving also greatly increased, a motor truck load costing as high as $25. 2. Official announcement of new census figures for Wilkes-Barre-73,828, an increase of 6,723 or about ?? per cent. For the first time Wilkes-Barre is below Harrisburg and will probably be below Erie and one or two other Pennsylvania cities. Wilkes-Barre has lost out greatly because of its restricted territorial area and the fact that much of its natural increase in population has gone to the suburbs. 3. City authorities discovered seven trunks having containers filled with whisky, being transshipped from the Laurel Line to the Lehigh Valley station; the consignment came from Scranton and was placed in the hands of the district revenue officer. 4. Gloomy Easter weather-rain, snow and sleet in the morning, rain most of the day and cool. 4. Women's voices heard in the choir of St. Mary's Church for the first time in a number of years, the male choir being replaced by a mixed chorus of about seventy voices. 5. Rev. R. B. WEBSTER, who for forty-seven years, was pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church and who recently resigned, elected pastor emeritus. 5. Wilkes-Barre school board increases the salaries of teachers and principals owing to the increase in the cost of living; the minimum salary for grade teachers will be $750 for first year teachers, with the maximum of $1,350 to be given after ten years of service; heretofore the minimum salary has been $702 and the maximum $1,200. Generally speaking, the teachers will receive an increase of approximately 12 per cent. 6. Tablet unveiled in front of No. 8 engine house at East end in honor of the men and women from that part of the city who served in the world war. 7. Miss LILLIAN SPERLING, a senior in the WILKES-BARRE high school, wins first prize in a contest for school pupils of the city for an essay on the advantages of joining the Unites States Army. 7. Wyoming Conference of the Methodist Church begins in Scranton. 7. Heavy snow squalls and thermometer down to freezing in the morning. 8. Many complaints coming in to the police that prohibition is not strictly enforced in Wilkes-Barre,- that whisky, much of it of vile concoction, is being sold in the saloons; the city authorities take the view that the problem of enforcement is up to the federal authorities and that the former do their duty when they report specific violations that come to their notice. 9. Fifty-fifth anniversary of Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox observed by the local encampment of the Union Veteran Legion, of which there are only eighteen out of the original 120 members left. 10. Molders in a number of the shops in Wilkes-Barre out on strike for an increase in wages to $7 a day. Strike originated by switchmen on some of the railroads of the West spreads to the East and causes apprehension over interference with transportation and a food shortage; some of the employees on the D., L. & W. at Kingston effected and trainmen on about all of the railroads running into Wilkes-Barre; the strike unauthorized by the chiefs of the railroad brotherhoods and they are cooperating with the managers to break it; chiefs say that the strike was instigated by radicals attempting to break up the regular unions and to substitute a single union in which the radicals would be in control. 11. Local Lithuanians have a mass meeting in the Nesbitt Theatre, attended by prominent representatives of the new republic of Lithuania; more than $20,000 subscribed for the Lithuanian Liberty Loan campaign. 11. About tow hundred feet of the river common and riprapping cave in owing to the working of a strata of quick- sand. 12. Local people meet to consider suggestions to be made to the commission on revision of the State Constitution. 12. Death of WILLIAM L. WATSON, president of the First National Bank of PITTSTON and one of the most prominent citizens in the upper part of the county. 12. Beginning of a well organized campaign for the purpose of raising $500,000 for the Sisters of Mercy to rebuild the convent and academy in Wilkes-Barre destroyed by fire and to erect a mother house at Dallas. 13. Owing to the embargo on freight trains because of the strike, considerable apprehension is felt in Wilkes-Barre over a possible serious shortage of the food supply; some things have already increased in price. 13. Owing to the high interest rates offered by corporations, a block of $100,000 of Wilkes-Barre City bonds, 4 ½ per cent. interest, has no bidders. 14. (Almanac skipped day 14) 15. Shortage in some foods, especially in meat, being felt in Wilkes-Barre owing to the railroad strike and prices soar; many people rushing to the stores to lay in supplies and thereby increase alarm; Sheldon Axle Works suspends because of the non-arrival of material and other local industries at the point of doing the same. 15. American Legion secures permission from City Council to use the B. I. A. building for club purposes, the building having been forfeited by non-use by the B. I. A. 16. Report made that the recent Visiting Nurse Association drive in Wilkes-Barre yielded $11,590. 16. Adjusted county valuation of property for 1920 is $344,625,701, a decrease of $2, 597,431 from the previous year, due to coal mined. 17. JOSEPH DUBOIS of WILKES-BARRE convicted of first degree murder in the Wyoming County court for killing his wife at Vernon on Oct. 2, 1919. 18. WILLIAM F. SMITH of BLACK CREEK TOWNSHIP killed and three persons injured by a train striking the automobile in which they were riding at Tank Station. 19. Apprehension over a food shortage relieved by the collapse of the rump strike by railroad switchmen and other employees; local strikers on the D., L. & W. return to work and considerable improvement in railroad traffic noted. 20. The first spreading movement in wearing overalls as a protest against the high cost of clothing strikes Wilkes- Barre; a number of high school students appear in that attire, also a number of the clerks in the Lehigh & Wilkes- Barre Coal Co. offices. 21. (Almanac skipped day 21) 22. Mr. and Mrs. THOMAS STEPHENS of WILKES-BARRE celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. 23. New census gives Dorranceton a population of 6,334, an increase of 56.5 per cent. from 1910, and Kingston a population of 8,952, an increase of 38.8 per cent. 24. (Almanac skipped day 24) 25. Rev. Dr. FARR of the First Presbyterian Church makes comparisons with thirty years ago, when the present edifice was opened for use; there were then 532 members and now 925. 25. Interchurch World Movement campaign to raise $336,777,532 begun in Wilkes-Barre and vicinity; thirty Protestant denominations interested; the quota assigned to the fourteen Wilkes-Barre churches cooperating amounts to $265,625; the purpose is to apply the fund by promoting church and Christian work. Baptists have a separate drive for $100,000,000, the quotas for Luzerne County being $240,000. 25. JOHN MCANDREW of AVOCA, son of the late Mr. and Mrs. TERRENCE MCANDREW, ordained to the Catholic priesthood. 26. Rev. H. J. BUCKINGHAM, who for twenty-three years was pastor of the First Primitive Church of WILKES- BARRE, accepts a charge at NEWCASTLE. 26. Kingston Lodge of Odd Fellows, No. 709, celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the lodge with a banquet and a program. 26. Judges WOODWARD and GARMAN, in instructing grand jurors and constables, refer to rumors of general violation of the prohibition law and say that the local officers have as much right as federal officers to make arrests and that is their duty to do so. 27. (Almanac skipped day 27) 28. Death of JOHN T. LENAHAN of WILKES-BARRE, leader of the Luzerne County Bar and one of the most prominent citizens in northeastern Pennsylvania, aged 67 years. 29. Announcement made that the Sisters of Mercy drive for replacing the convent destroyed by fire and for erecting a mother house at Dallas netted about $115,000. It was hoped to raise $500,000. MAY 1920 1. Cool and rainy Spring, no real warm weather so far. 1. Local restaurants increase food prices, coffee to 10 cents a cup and pie to 15 cents a cut. 2. (Almanac skipped day 2) 3. Women of Wilkes-Barre organize to boost the campaign of Gen. LEONARD WOOD for the presidency. 3. Wilkes-Barre School Board decides to employ an engineer to investigate mining conditions under the school buildings with a view to ascertaining the extent of present or future danger. 3. Church people petition Mayor HART and Council to prohibit permits for Sunday amusements that violate the sanctity of the Sabbath. 4. (Almanac skipped day 4) 5. (Almanac skipped day 5) 6. Lafayette College confers upon Judge HENRY A. FULLER the degree Doctor of Laws. 7. Mr. and Mrs. JOHN E. PHILLIPS of WILKES-BARRE observe their golden wedding anniversary. 7. One hundred and two aliens who fought in the late war admitted to citizenship in the local court on their discharge papers and without special examination. 8. (Almanac skipped day 8) 9. Rev. G. CAMPBELL MORGAN of LONDON, noted Bible student, begins a two weeks' series of Bible lectures in Memorial Presbyterian Church. 10. Mr. and Mrs. DAVID D. DAVIS of AVOCA celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. 10. Salvation Army, assisted by many friends, launches a local drive for funds. 10. Among eighty jurors summoned for a term of court, thirteen were reported as dead or having removed from the county. 10. Concordia Society of Wilkes-Barre completes forty years of continuous concert giving with a concert in Irem Temple. 11. New park on Hillside street, recently acquired by the city, named DAVID P. GRIFFITH Park, in honor of Councilman GRIFFITH. 12. In the presence of visiting Shriners from seventy-six different temples, more than one-half of the number of temples of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Mystic Shrine in the United States; a class of 138 candidates is admitted into the order in Irem Temple; the local shrine band appears in parade for the first time. 12. Laflin breaker of the Hudson Coal Co. destroyed by fire; loss about $300,000. 13. (Almanac skipped day 13) 14. (Almanac skipped day 14) 15. Mrs. DOUGLAS ROBINSON, sister of the late Col. THEODORE ROOSEVELT, delivers an address in Irem Temple in the interest of the LEONARD WOOD presidential campaign, under the auspices of the Women's WOOD campaign committee. 16. Jews of Wilkes-Barre and vicinity assemble in Y. M. H. A. hall to rejoice over the assurance reiterated at the recent San Reno conference that Palestine would be available as a home for the Jews and bring about a realization of their dream of centuries; a substantial sum subscribed for the Palestine restoration fund. 17. Ninety-seventh annual convention of the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows of Pennsylvania, and the Rebekah Assembly, open in Wilkes-Barre. 18. (Almanac skipped day 18) 19. (Almanac skipped day 19) 20. First real warm spell of Spring, farmers more delayed in their work than in many previous years. 21. JOSEPH KIELTY of WILKES-BARRE, son of Mr. and Mrs. PATRICK KIELTY, appointed to West Point Military Academy. 21. Twenty-six nurses graduated from Wilkes-Barre Hospital Training School, largest class in the history of the hospital. 22. (Almanac skipped day 22) 23. Forty Fort and Dorranceton M. E. congregations vote against a merger of the two churches. 23. Chief of Police PITCHER gives warning to young men and boys who shoot crap on the public highways. 24. Delegates from the anthracite region assemble in Wilkes-Barre to consider proposal made by Secretary of Labor WILSON and by the President for a settlement of the controversy over demands. 24. Italians have a parade and concert in Wilkes-Barre in honor of Italian-American day; five years since Italy entered the world war. 24. Wilkes-Barre School Board increases tax levy from nine to eleven mills to take care of increased pay for teachers and for the beginning of a junior high school building. 25. Nine County Funeral Directors' Association meet in Wilkes-Barre. 26. Barnum and Ringling combined circus in Wilkes-Barre. 26. Sixteen nurses graduated from Mercy Hospital training school. 27. Delegates representing the anthracite mining region, in session in Wilkes-Barre, reject the plan of settlement offered by Secretary of Labor WILSON and accept the plan offered by President WILSON for the appointment of a board to investigate and recommend terms of settlement. The convention also requests the President to take over several mines and a washery and operate them under government auspices for the purpose of finding out definitely the cost of mining and marketing coal and what should be a fair price to the public. 27. Lodge 544, Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, holds a dinner and entertainment and confers medals on nineteen of its members who served the nation during the war. 28. Mr. and Mrs. A. C. MCHENRY of WILKES-BARRE celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. 29. Announcement made that the International Fabricating Co., whose plant is at Forty Fort, has been purchased by the Owen Magnetic Motor Car Corporation. 29. Ashley Memorial Day Association unveils a war cannon received from the government. 30. Automobile struck by a train at Pittston, one boy killed and a girl loses a leg. 30. JOSEPH FRANCIS HUGHES of WILKES-BARRE and GEORGE L. LEACH of ASHLEY ordained to the priesthood of the Catholic church. 31. Veterans of three wars, the Civil War, Spanish-American and the World War, parade in the Memorial Day demonstration, floral boat sent adrift in the river in memory of the sailors who died, field mass and services conducted in St. Mary's Cemetery, pleasant weather for the day. JUNE 1920 1. Forest fires destroy about 2,000 acres of timber on the ALBERT LEWIS tract near BEAR CREEK. 1. Lehigh and Wilkes-Barre Coal Co. announces a new plan of supervision by eliminating division and inside superintendents and substituting colliery superintendents. 1. Six occupants of an automobile injured in a collision with a train near Hazleton. 1. 173d annual convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania and adjacent States opens in St. John's Church, Wilkes-Barre. 2. (Almanac skipped day 2) 3. Five members of the election board of the Third Ward of Larksville plead guilty to fraud in the election of November, 1919, and are sentenced by Judge FULLER to $500 fine each and imprisonment for the maximum term, twelve months, the judge stating that the enormity of the offence makes the plea for mercy untenable. 3. Luzerne County Gas & Electric Co., which furnishes services to West Side towns, increases its charges for gas from $2 to $2.15 per thousand feet; and in place of a minimum charge of 50 cents a month establishes a service rate of 75 cents a month to be charged against all bills. 3. Eleven young men ordained to the Lutheran ministry at the Pennsylvania Synod Conference in Wilkes-Barre. 3. Judge GARMAN says in reference to the Volstead prohibition enforcement act that the act is being notoriously violated, that "postmasters, revenue officers, enforcement officers and county officials are engaged with bootleggers in this illegal traffic." 3. Rev. Dr. A. E. PIFER resigns as pastor of the First M. E. Church, WILKES-BARRE, to accept a call to First Church, CLEVELAND. 4. Many local silk mills go on part time owing to a slump in the demand for that product. 4. F. M. KIRBY of WILKES-BARRE gives $100,000 to Lafayette College for the establishment of a professorship to instruct students in the civil rights of individuals, meaning absolute rights of persons, such as the right of personal security, personal liberty, the right to acquire and enjoy property as regulated by law, and to combat doctrines that limit the legitimate privileges of the individual. 5. (Almanac skipped day 5) 6. Polish parade and mass meeting in Wilkes-Barre to mark the beginning of a drive to raise $50,000,000 in the United States by the sale of bonds, the proceeds to be used for the establishment of pre-war conditions of industry in Poland; the central figure in the demonstration was Prince Casimer Lubomirski, minister from Poland to the United States. 6. Former local service men of the United States Marines hold services on Belleau Wood Day in Riverside Park in memory of six comrades who gave up their lives in France. 7. American Legion, composed of ex-servicemen, forms a county committee. 7. Supreme Court of the United States sustains the prohibition amendment of the Constitution and the Volstead enforcement act; the court knocks out all of the contentions of the "wets," including the contention that the provision in the amendment for joint enforcement as between the federal and State governments means that a State may define the alcoholic content of a beverage as long as it is not a clearly intoxicating content; the court says that since Congress defined a permissible alcoholic content of less than one-half of one per cent. every State is bound by that law. The only hope of the "wets" now is to elect a Congress that will legislate in favor of beer and perhaps light wines, or to repeal the amendment. 7. Wilkes-Barre Lodge No. 106, Fraternal Order of Reindeer, instituted, the first of the kind in this vicinity. 7. Twelve young men and women graduated from the local extension of the Wharton School of Accounts and Finance of the University of Pennsylvania. 8. Russian Orthodox Mutual Aid Society holds its convention in Wilkes-Barre. 8. Demolition of one of the oldest landmarks, the stone house at Kingston Corners, which was known to the older residents of the West Side as Myer's Cocked hat, the house more than a century old. 9. Lehigh Valley Coal Co. donates to West Pittston the plot of land that was used as a camp ground for RICKETT's BATTERY which had an important part in the Civil War, and as a camp for the 109th Field Artillery before its departure for the South preparatory to going to France for the world war; it is expected to establish a park and memorial and perhaps an aviation field upon the plot. 9. ISADORE ABELSON, general secretary of the Young Men's Hebrew Association of WATERBURY, CONN., elected general secretary of the Wilkes-Barre Y. M. H. A. 10. (Almanac skipped day 10) 11. SCHUMANN-HEINK sings at the commencement of Wilkes-Barre Institute; eight young women graduated. 11. Five nurses graduated from Nesbitt West Side Hospital. 12. On the tenth ballot the Republican national convention nominates WARREN G. HARDING of OHIO as the candidate for President and Governor CALVIN COOLIDGE of MASSACHUSETTS for Vice-President. Senator HARDING is a member of the HARDING family that was prominent in the Wyoming Valley in Revolutionary days. 12. Death of JOHN SMOULTER, a prominent banker and business man of NANTICOKE. 13. (Almanac skipped day 13) 14. DAVID P. GRIFFITH Park on the Heights dedicated and turned over to the public. 15. Wyoming Seminary graduates one of the largest classes in its history, 153 members, including the business courses, and announcement made that the goal of the jubilee fund of $75,000 had been exceeded; Syracuse University confers the degree Doctor of Humane Letters upon the Seminary's president, Dr. L. L. SPRAGUE. 16. Mr. and Mrs. PHILIP BLAUM of WILKES-BARRE celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. 16. Judge GARMAN charges two jurors with cowardice and dismisses them from further service because they stated that they were unwilling to serve in an Italian murder case for fear of Italian vengeance. 17. (Almanac skipped day 17) 18. Members of election board of the Thirteenth Ward, Fifth district, Wilkes-Barre, convicted of fraud in the November, 1919, election. 18. Bronze tablet unveiled in the Wilkes-Barre high school in honor of thirty-one students and eleven teachers who served in the World War; there were also 344 alumni who served. 18. Wilkes-Barre high school graduates unusually large classes. 19. Col. ASHER MINER elected chairman of the Republican county committee. 19. Three men killed and six overcome in a gas explosion in No. 6 colliery of the Pennsylvania Coal Co. at Inkerman. 20. (Almanac skipped day 20) 21. Death of Rev. LOUIS C. SCHMITT, pastor of St. Boniface Catholic Church, WILKES-BARRE. 21. Seven students graduated from the academic department of St. Ann's Academy. 21. Death of CHARLES TRETHAWAY of WILKES-BARRE, county treasurer since Jan. 1 and prominently identified with war drive campaigns. 21. Seventy graduates in all courses in St. Mary's high school, Wilkes-Barre. 22. (Almanac skipped day 22) 23. Death of Rabbi R. D. GINSBURG, head of the Orthodox Jewish congregations in Wilkes-Barre. 24. Anthracite wage convention appointed by the President begins its sessions in Scranton. 24. Several recent deaths in Wilkes-Barre due to the "sleeping sickness." 25. (Almanac skipped day 25) 26. Golden wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. JOHN H. HOOPER of WILKES-BARRE. 27. (Almanac skipped day 27) 28. Audit of the Central Poor District shows that during 1919 the expenditures of outdoor relief and medicines amounted to $176,010, an increase of $54,406 over the amount for 1918, the increase being due to the higher cost of food and medicines and to the greater extent of sickness in the influenza of epidemic. 29. Governor SPROUL names HENRY G. DAVIS of KINGSTON to be county treasurer to fill the place of CHARLES TRETHAWAY, deceased, until the next general election. 29. City Council decides to buy the plot of land adjacent to the 100 acres recently acquired by condemnation proceedings on the West Side; the new plot contains about seven and one-half acres and was known as Diamond Park. JULY 1920 1. West Side residents gather in an extraordinary mass meeting to protest against the raise in gas rates by the Luzerne Gas & Electric Co. to $2.15 a thousand feet, not including a service charge of 75 cents a month to be added to each bill; the meeting urges consumers to pay only the old rates and defy the company, and a permanent welfare association is organized. 1. Bell Telephone Co. reports that in Wilkes-Barre for June there was an average of $90,000 calls a day, the greatest number of calls per day per station for any city in the State. 2. (Almanac skipped day 2) 3. The most distressing railroad accident in the history of the Wyoming Valley. A Laurel Line car crashes into the rear end of a standing car filled with people near the South Pittston station and telescopes it. Seventeen people killed and thirty injured under most horrible conditions. The disaster apparently due to carelessness on the part of an employee or employees. Distressing scenes as relatives look for missing persons in the wreck and at the morgues in Pittston. 3. Mr. and Mrs. ELIAS H. ROBBINS of KINGSTON observe their golden wedding anniversary. 3. Dr. MILLEDGE L. BONHAM, Jr., professor of history in Hamilton College, the principal speaker at the exercises at Wyoming Monument, the subject of his address "Patriotism and History." 4. Mr. and Mrs. SYDNEY GREGORY of SWEET VALLEY observe their golden wedding anniversary. 4. Fine cool weather on Independence Day, but the observance deferred until Monday. 5. Lithuanian Day at Valley View Park attended by many thousands of people of that nationality; speeches, athletic contests and open air military mass in memory of the young men who died in the war. 5. On Czecho-Slovakia Day, Sacred Heart Slovak Church in Wilkes-Barre unveils a bronze tablet in honor of its members who served or died in the war. 5. Great crowds of people spend the day at the nearby summer resorts. 5. Mr. and Mrs. JAMES S. WILLIAMS of SEYBERTSVILLE observe their golden wedding anniversary. 5. Six boys and girls fatally burned from "sparklers;" one slight fire in Wilkes-Barre due to fireworks.-Less use of fireworks in Wilkes-Barre than on any other Fourth of July celebration, due to the restrictions and to the high cost. 5. Pleasant and cool weather for the Fourth of July observance. 6. On the forty-fourth ballot the Democratic convention at San Francisco nominates Governor JAMES M. COX of OHIO as the candidate for President; FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT of NEW YORK, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, nominated for Vice-President. 6. More than 700 babies being cared for by the Visiting Nurse Association at its stations in Wilkes-Barre and vicinity. 6. 1,378 aliens made citizens in Luzerne County in 1919, including 553 aliens who served the United States in the war and were admitted on their discharged papers without examination. 6. City Council appoints OSCAR J. HARVEY, Mrs. ELLA M. BAMFORD and Col. ERNEST G. SMITH a commission to preserve and properly mark the numerous places in Wilkes-Barre and the Wyoming Valley of historic interest. 6. Mr. and Mrs. JAMES ASKEW of HUNLOCK CREEK celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. 7. Economist for the miners in the government investigation being held at Scranton to settle the wage controversy contends that the operators have been profiteering in the cost of coal and presents many facts and figures to sustain his argument. The miners ask that the financial status of the coal companies be gone into and the operators hold that this is not necessary, since they are willing to grant whatever wages the commission recommends. The public contends that an investigation of company finances is necessary to decide whether an increase in the cost of coal is justified. 7. Rear end collision on the Nanticoke line of the traction company similar to that on the Laurel Line on Saturday; a car stalled and a car from the rear crashes into it after rounding a curve; a number of passengers injured. 7. Sixty-four graduates of the 1920 class of the Wilkes-Barre high school intend to enter college. 8. After several years of controversy, contract for the dredging of Solomon's Creek is awarded to the Goeringer Construction Co. for $52,180, the cost to be apportioned as follows: Wilkes-Barre City, $18,469.72; Pennsylvania Railroad, $10,978.60; coal companies, $19,569.18; Hanover Township, $3,162.50. 9. Many West Side gas consumers go in a body to the company's office and tender payment at the old rates, refusing to pay the increase; the company refuses to accept anything but full payment. 10. Harwood power house near Hazleton, which supplied electric light for a number of towns, destroyed by fire, loss about $300,000, and towns without light, also industries without power. 10. Twenty-six employees of the Pennsylvania R.R. in this section receive medals in consideration of their services during the war. 10. Attorney CHARLES M. BOWMAN of WILKES-BARRE receives notice of his nomination as a candidate for congressman-at-large on the Democratic ticket in the May primaries, he receiving the highest vote of any of the candidates. 11. Mr. and Mrs. SAMUEL THOMPSON of WILKES-BARRE observe their the golden wedding anniversary. 11. Word received that Dr. LEON WILLMAN of CAMDEN, N.J., has been given permission for transfer to the First M. E. Church , WILKES-BARRE to succeed Rev. Dr. A. E. PIPER, resigned. 12. (Almanac skipped day 12) 13. Anthracite wage commission decides that it has no jurisdiction to admit exhibits tending to prove that the operators are profiteering and exploiting the public and the employees. 14. Coroner's jury in the Laurel Line disaster renders a sharp verdict in which the company is charged with liability for reparation for all damages incident to the collision and a number of the employees are charged with gross negligence. 14. Heavy wind storm strikes the valley; old Parrish breaker, at Plymouth blown down; a number of trees uprooted and roofs damaged. 14. Crop outlook in northeastern Pennsylvania better than for last year. 14. New aerial truck for Wilkes-Barre tested; eighty-five-foot ladder raised to its full length in a few seconds, reaching to within a few feet of the top Hotel Sterling. 15. About 6,000 miners of collieries of the Pennsylvania Coal Co. vote to go on strike because of the refusal of the company to abolish the practice of contract mining. 15. A representative of the State Department of Health informs the Wilkes-Barre authorities that after an investigation he is of the opinion that Wilkes-Barre is cleaner morally than probably any other city in the State. 16. Bodies of local soldiers who died in France beginning to arrive, expense of shipment being paid by the government. 17. Announcement made that the new census gives Luzerne County a population of 391,001, an increase from 343,186 in 1910. 18. VINCENT NANORTANIS, son of Mr. and Mrs. JOSEPH NANORTANIS of NANTICOKE, ordained to the Catholic priesthood in Scranton. 19. (Almanac skipped day 19) 20. From the new census figures it is estimated that Wilkes-Barre is the shopping centre for 316,000 people. 21. Deborah Chapter of Eastern Star of Pennsylvania convenes in Wilkes-Barre. 21. Many West Side people go to Harrisburg to appear before the Public Service Commission in their fight against the Luzerne Gas & Electric Co.'s increase in gas rates. 22. (Almanac skipped day 22) 23. (Almanac skipped day 23) 24. One of the heaviest rain storms in years, lasting for several hours; river at Wilkes-Barre goes up to 14 feet; much damage to crops and roads. 24. As the result of traffic congestion Franklin street is made a one-way street for vehicles from West Market to Northampton and from Market to Union, the former for southbound and the latter northbound traffic; street cars not to stop between River street and Public Square on Market or between Public Square and Northampton on South Main. 25. (Almanac skipped day 25) 26. Strike of miners of the Pennsylvania Coal Co. collieries in the Pittston district increases in extent; operations stalled at all of the mines. 27. Chief HALDEMAN of the State Department of Municipal Planning reports on conditions in Wilkes-Barre after a thorough investigation. 27. Funke Lace and embroidery mill at Ashley damaged by fire to the extent of about $50,000. 27. County commissioners report to the district attorney irregularities or fraud in four election districts in the late primaries--Second district of the First Ward, Wilkes-Barre; Third district of the Ninth Ward, Wilkes-Barre; First district of the Twelfth Ward, Wilkes-Barre; and Jenkins Township, Middle district. The report based on the opening of ballot boxes by the commissioners in the counting of the vote. 28. (Almanac skipped day 28) 29. Sugar in the canning and preserving season 25 cents a pound. 30. Another victim of the Laurel Line wreck dies, making the eighteenth. 31. Mr. and Mrs. EDWARD L. SAXE of CARVERTON celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. AUGUST 1920 1. (Almanac skipped day1) 2. Reported that during 1919 6,425 defects were found by medical inspection among Wilkes-Barre public school children, 3,539 due to poor teeth, and 1,620 due to diseased tonsils. 2. Wilkes-Barre School Board awards contract for excavation, foundations and stadium for proposed new junior high school building to JOHN E. JAMES for $240,525, the cost greatly increased by the advanced cost of labor and material. 2. Sugar Notch Town Hall destroyed by fire, loss about $25,000. 3. J. C. & W. L. FARRELL, real estate dealers, offer the city the portion of land on the river from the end of Riverside Drive to the railroad bridge, part of which has been used as a dumping ground. City accepts the offer and intends making an extension of the River Common. 4. (Almanac skipped day 4) 5. J. C. REDMOND of the Redmond Engineering Co. comes from Philadelphia to Wilkes-Barre in an airplane to transact business, the first business trip of the kind having Wilkes-Barre as its destination. 6. (Almanac skipped day 6) 7. (Almanac skipped day 7) 8. Mr. and Mrs. CHARLES EHRET of JACKSON observe their golden wedding anniversary. 8. Judge FULLER paroles three of the officers of the election board of the Third Ward of Larksville who were sentenced to a year in prison, on the ground that two of them are physically afflicted, one has a wife and six children depending upon him for support and they are probably less guilty than the others convicted; they have already served nearly ten weeks of the term. 9. (Almanac skipped day 9) 10. Attorney THOMAS A. BUTKIEWICZ of WILKES-BARRE, who saw much war service, ask for permission to recruit a volunteer regiment of unmarried Poles in this vicinity to serve in the defense of Poland against the Russian Bolshevist armies. 11. In the suit of the Mount Lookout Coal Co. against JOSEPH SCHOOLEY and others, Judge FULLER decides in favor of the SCHOOLEY heirs, that they are entitled to nearly $250,000, being the minimum royalties and interest due for the past eight years. 11. Polish Deposit Bank of Nanticoke opens for business. 12. First hydroplane visits Wilkes-Barre on an advertising expedition, lands on the river and flies over the city. 12. Camp Ricketts at West Pittston, 109th Field Artillery camping ground before the regiment left for Georgia, preparatory to going to France, accepted as the site for a memorial park in honor of soldiers of all American wars; an organization known as the Wyoming Memorial Association perfected, with the following trustees: Mayor DANIEL L. HART of WILKES-BARRE, Col. ASHER MINER of WILKES-BARRE, F. M. KIRBY of WILKES-BARRE, GEORGE W. EVANS of PITTSTON, FRANK L. COURSEN of PITTSTON, JOHN UHL, president of Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce; Capt. NEIL CHRISMAN of WILKES-BARRE, P. F. JOYCE of PITTSTON, WILLIAM F. MCHUGH of PITTSTON, M. N. DONNELLY of PITTSTON. 13. (Almanac skipped day 13) 14. (Almanac skipped day 14) 15. St. Anthony's Syrian Catholic Church in Wilkes-Barre dedicated. 15. Mass meetings held by the Poles of the Wyoming Valley pledging loyalty to the United States and asking that the United States render assistance to their native land in distress; prayers for Poland offered in the churches. 15. Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Luzerne Borough observes its twenty-fifth anniversary. 16. (Almanac skipped day 16) 17. Fifty American Poles from Wilkes-Barre and vicinity leave for Washington to join with other representatives of the American committee for the Defense of Poland in petitioning government officials in behalf of Poland. 17. City Council calls upon all coal companies operating in the city to file maps and blueprints of their operations so that underground conditions may be known. 18. Judge FULLER imposes a sentence of $100 fine and one year in jail upon two men who pleaded guilty to driving an automobile while intoxicated. 18. Man and woman who have fifteen children by former marriages apply for a marriage license at the local court house. 18. The Curtiss hydroplane makes a trip to Harvey's Lake after taking up passengers from the river in Wilkes-Barre also goes to Lake Nuangola. 18. Tennessee Legislature completes ratification of the Nineteenth or women suffrage amendment to the Constitution of the United States. 19. (Almanac skipped day 19) 20. First body of the soldier dead for Wilkes-Barre arrives from abroad, that of Private W. T. ROBBINS, who died of pneumonia March 19, 1918, in a hospital in England. 20. Six employees of the Wilkes-Barre post office retired because of having passed the age of 65, which is the minimum in the new civil service pension law for government employees. 20. Big drop in the cost of sugar, from 25 to 30 cents to as low as 19 cents, owing to a heavy importation from new sources of supply and to the fact that speculators and hoarders overestimated the consumption capacity of the country and were forced to unload. 20. When the prospects for an unusual potato crop were most promising, the late blight brings havoc to many fields, the greater part of the crop being destroyed in Luzerne County. 21. Mr. and Mrs. WILLIAM LORD observe their golden wedding anniversary. 22. Rev. ALFRED MORRIS, pastor of the First Baptist Church of WILKES-BARRE for about four years, announces his resignation to accept a pastorate in TOLEDO, OHIO. 23. Judge FULLER in a characteristic charge to the grand jury refers to the new disease "motoritus," or "a disease of the mind, or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say a disease arising from entire absence of mind, which impels an astonishing large number of people to buy automobiles when they can barely afford to buy bread, to steal automobiles when they can get them in no other way, and to drive automobiles on every opportunity with mad lust for speed and with crazy disregard of law, life, limb, liberty, feelings, property and morality." 23. Despite prohibition, the grand jury has 500 transcripts of crimes, 150 more than at the same time last year. 23. Decided by the county assessors that women voters shall be taxed six cents for those who have no occupations except in the home and eighteen cents for those who have earning occupations. 23. Council decides to name the proposed new park and athletic fields of 110 acres recently acquired on the West Side running from the Market street bridge to the Connecting R. R. Co. bridge the F. M. Kirby Park, in honor of an esteemed citizen of Wilkes-Barre. 24. With the placing of a new fire engine, the Wilkes-Barre Fire Department becomes completely motorized. 24. Wife of former District Attorney FRANK P. SLATTERY is the first woman in Luzerne County to be assessed for voting. 25. Railroad employees receive first installment of back pay dating back to May 1, as a result of the wage award granted by the commission; about $500,000 to be distributed in the Wyoming Valley. 26. Although there is litigation over the legality of Tennessee's vote, Secretary of State COLBY issues a proclamation declaring that woman suffrage amendment has been ratified and is in effect. 27. Grand jury indicts officials of thirty municipalities and the county for maintaining bad roads, on complaint of the constables, who were stirred into activity by threat of persecution of the Wyoming Valley Motor Club. 28. Grand jury hands down a surprising report in ignoring all election fraud and slot machines cases presented by the district attorney. 28. Dr. and Mrs. A. G. DAVISON of CAMBRA celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. 29. Dedication of the First German-English Lutheran Church of Wilkes-Barre at the new location on South Main street, formally the Universalist Church building. 30. President WILSON announces acceptance of the majority report of the federal anthracite commission, granting the men an increase of from 17 to 20 per cent. A majority report was submitted by the representative of the miners on the commission in favor of the full demands of the miners, 30 per cent. increase. 31. Farmers and persons interested in farming in Luzerne County form an organization to be called the Luzerne County Cooperative Association, for the purpose of securing economy in the purchase of material, and to improve their business in various ways. SEPTEMBER 1920 1. Insurgents in the ranks of the United Mine Workers meet in Wilkes-Barre under the leadership of ENOCH WILLIAMS of TAYLOR and vote to strike as a protest against the acceptance of the majority report of the federal commission. Sixty of the union locals represented and so vote. 1. Estimated that 35,000 women in Luzerne County have been enrolled in voting. 2. Anthracite operators and United Miner Workers' leaders sign new two-year contract incorporating terms of award made by presidential commission and approved by President WILSON. Officers of miners' union sign contract under protest and call meeting of general scale committee to take steps to reopen agreement and obtain further wage increases. About 50 per cent. of workers in mines of anthracite district remain away from work in protest against majority award. Industry seriously crippled, particularly in Luzerne and Lackawanna district, because of factional fight between insurgents and Dempsey forces. Operators agree to pay $18,000,000 in back wages to mine workers on or before Oct. 16. 3. Anthracite mine workers appeal to President WILSON to reopen the wage contract for the correction of inequalities in the award. 3. Residents of the Heights section of Wilkes-Barre raise $5,000 at a street carnival to pay part of the cost of a swimming pool. 4. Republican county chairman Col. ASHER MINER appoints a woman in each of the legislative districts to take charge of the women's' end of the campaign. 4. JOHN T. DEMPSEY, president of District No. 1, United Mine Workers for the last ten years, ousted from the office by the executive board on charge of neglect of duty. 5. (Almanac skipped day 5) 6. Death of HOWARD HALLOCK, prominent business man of WILKES-BARRE. 7. Insurgents in the mine workers vote to continue their strike until they have definite assurance that the award will be reopened or that their demands will be granted. 7. Rabbi ISIDOR M. DAVIDSON of YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, chosen as chief rabbi of the Jewish Orthodox community of Wyoming Valley, succeeding Rabbi GINSBURG, deceased. 8. First fatal airplane accident in Luzerne County. FRANK A. DICKMAN who had been making occasional visits to Wilkes-Barre with a hydroplane, taking up passengers, lost control of his machine and both he and a passenger, E. R. MEDFORD of WILKES-BARRE were killed when the plane plunged to earth nose downward in a field off from the North street road across the flats. 8. Plentiful supply of tomatoes and other vegetables, and an unusual apple crop, in the county. 9. Death of GEORGE SCOTT of WILKES-BARRE, a well known business man. 10. Women in three cities of the county assessed for the payment of taxes as follows; Wilkes-Barre, 9,397; Hazleton, 3,310; Pittston, 2,262; total assessment for the county, 40,676, compared with a normal male registration of 75,000. 10. President WILSON announces that he will not reopen the anthracite wage award, and severely criticizes those miners who have gone on strike in violation of the contract signed by the regular officers of the United Mine Workers of America. There is much anxiety as to whether the insurgents will remain on strike or will heed the admonition to respect the sanctity of the contract. Nearly all of the collieries in the Wilkes-Barre and Scranton districts at work with the exception of those of the Pennsylvania Coal Co. at which miners are striking against the contract system, but in the Hazleton, Shamokin and Pottsville regions most of the mines are idle as a protest against the award. 11. (Almanac skipped day 11) 12. Wapwallopen Reformed Church observes it one hundredth anniversary. 13. (Almanac skipped day 13) 14. (Almanac skipped day 14) 15. Public Service Commission decides that the eight-cent fare on the Wyoming Valley street car system was not unreasonable according to the earnings for the year ending September 30, 1919, and unless a substantial surplus for the year ending September 30, 1920, is shown by the company the complaint against the fare will be dismissed. 16. Third Regiment of Artillery, Pennsylvania National Guard, leaves Wilkes-Barre for Camp Bragg, North Carolina, for two weeks' training. 16. Policy committee of the United Mine Workers meets and advises the striking miners to return to work, as the only means by which demands for further concessions may receive attention. 16. Nearly 200,000 books circulated from the shelves of Osterhout Library last year, the largest number in the history of the library. 17. (Almanac skipped day 17) 18. (Almanac skipped day 18) 19. Twenty-fifth anniversary and rededication of Christ Lutheran Church, Wilkes-Barre. 20. Most of the miners in the anthracite region return to work on recommendations by the officers, and the English- speaking miners of the Pennsylvania Coal Co. who with the foreign miners were on strike for ten weeks against the contract system also vote to return. 21. Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce inaugurates an intensive campaign for new members, by entertaining one thousand business men and professional men at two dinners. 22. Death of JAMES M. COUGHLIN for twenty-six years superintendent of the Wilkes-Barre schools and one of the most prominent educators in the State. 22. County commissioners agree to settle with contractor WILSON J. SMITH for $75,200 on his $130,000 claim for work and extras in the construction of the new court house over twelve years ago. 23. Miners of the Pennsylvania Coal Co. in the Pittston region, who have been on strike for ten weeks against the contract system, vote to return to work on the promise that their grievances will be taken up by the State Department of Mediation. 23. Dallas fair the most successful yet held, 11,000 people attend on Thursday. 24. (Almanac skipped day 24) 25. (Almanac skipped day 25) 26. Langcliffe Presbyterian Church of Avoca celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. 26. Death of ABRAM NESBITT, one of the Wyoming Valley's most prominent business men and wealthy citizens, at the age of 89 years. 27. State County Commissioners' Association in convention in Wilkes-Barre. 27. Fiftieth anniversary of the Presbytery of Lackawanna observed in the church at Wyalusing in which the first meeting was held. 28. Mayor HART of WILKES-BARRE expresses disgust over the failure of federal agents to enforce the prohibition law and promises in a vigorous statement that he will use the whole power of the city administration to stop the sale of whiskey and vile poisons sold under the name of whiskey. 28. Tenants in seventeen houses in Edwardsville notified that the houses are in danger because of the Hudson Coal Co.'s intention to mine near the surface. 29. Death of SAMUEL W. BAIRD, for more than forty years a teacher in the WILKES-BARRE schools and for more than thirty years principal of the Franklin school. OCTOBER 1920 1. (Almanac skipped day 1) 2. Figures show that on registration days in the cities of the county 65 per cent. of the women who were assessed paid their taxes and registered and that the women in the great majority of cases expressed the same party preference as the men of the household. The Republican majority in the three cities in the proportion of almost three to one. 3. (Almanac skipped day 3) 4. After working a few days the miners of Pennsylvania Coal Co. in the Pittston region again go out on strike, alleging that the promises made by the company officials were not fully lived up to; the miners now declare that they will not go back until the contract system has been abolished at all of the collieries. 4. The will of ABRAM G. NESBITT leaves his entire estate, estimated at $4,000,000,000, to his son and grand- children. 4. Toney PANTARRIO found guilty of murder in the first degree on the charge of having killed Detective SAMUEL LUCCHINO of PITTSTON. 4. Plasterers of Wilkes-Barre demand a new wage scale, $10 day of eight hours. 5. Death of Maj. IRVING A. STEARNS of WILKES-BARRE, prominent in business and in civic improvement. 6. FRANK HOCHREITER, chief of the Wilkes-Barre fire department, elected chief of the State Firemen's Association. 6. Mr. and Mrs. WARREN HUFFMAN of BROADWAY celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. 7. Miners of Pennsylvania Coal Co. in the Pittston region go back to work after a complete abolition of the contract system of mining, which was the cause of the eleven weeks' strike. 7. ABRAM G. NESBITT, son of the late ABRAM NESBITT, elected president of the Second National Bank of Wilkes-Barre to succeed his father. 8. Rev. EBENEZER FLACK, D. D., of NEWBURGH, N.Y., accepts a call to the Kingston Presbyterian Church. 9. Mr. and Mrs. D. F. HERSH of WILKES-BARRE celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. 10. Death of L. D. LANDMESSER of WILKES-BARRE, for years a prominent factor in political and legal circles. 11. Forty Fort Presbyterian Church begins the celebration of its twenty-fifth anniversary. 11. Opening of the Capitol moving picture and vaudeville theatre on Public Square, with a seating capacity of 2,600. 11. Col. ASHER MINER elected president of the Wyoming National Bank, to succeed Maj. IRVING A. STEARNS, deceased. 11. Death of JOHN F. SHOVLIN, for many years a principal in the Wilkes-Barre schools. 12. President WILSON requests the anthracite miners and operators to meet and adjust the differences that yet cause dissatisfaction. 13. Lowest bid for rebuilding the lower flat road from Wilkes-Barre to Kingston, 4,459 feet, is $109,466.90. 14. Shriners come from many parts of the State to participate in a meeting and ceremonial session at Irem Temple; 500 candidates admitted in the order; the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of Irem Temple observed, and the occasion also was in the nature of a memorial observance for FRANK DEITRICK, who was largely instrumental in carrying out he project. 14. Attorney Mary L. TRESCOTT of WILKES-BARRE honored at a dinner given by various civic and other organizations in which she is interested in observance of the twenty-fifth anniversary of her admission to the Bar. 15. Long spell of unusually pleasant weather, little rain and temperature from 60 to 75 in Wilkes-Barre in daytime. 16. Death of Dr. JOHN G. SPERLING , one of the pioneer family physicians in the Wyoming Valley. 17. Cornerstone for St. John's high school at Pittston laid by Bishop HOBAN. 18. Death of LELAND E. STEARNS, for nearly half a century a photographer in Wilkes-Barre. 18. Wilkes-Barre school board votes to permit the use of the school buildings for political purposes. 19. Coalville Lodge, 474, F. and A. M., of Ashley, celebrates its fiftieth anniversary with a banquet and dance given at Hotel Sterling. 19. F. M. KIRBY announces a gift of $250,000 from him for carrying out plans for transforming into a park and athletic field the land recently secured by the city on the West Side flats. 19. F. M. KIRBY purchases for $300,000 the property of 9 South Main street, occ