1929 Wilkes-Barre Record Almanac, Luzerne County in 1928 The most important event of a general nature in Luzerne County in 1928 was the celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Battle and Massacre of Wyoming. Preparations were begun months before the event with Col. Ernest G. Smith as chairman of the general committee, assisted by many prominent citizens, men and women. President Coolidge had been invited but he was unable to be present and F. M. Kirby was appointed by him as his personal representative. Wilkes-Barre and the towns on the West Side of the river were elaborately decorated and many places of historic interest were marked, including the residences of many of the families that were prominent in the stirring events of the Revolutionary War period. The celebration began July 1 with exercises and a musical festival on the river common in Wilkes-Barre, owing to the flooding of Kirby Park. Addresses were delivered by James J. Davis, Secretary of Labor in President Coolidge’s Cabinet, by F.M. Kirby, General Chairman Ernest G. Smith, Bishop O’Reilly of the Catholic Diocese of Scranton, Bishop Sterrett of the Episcopal Church, Diocese of Bethlehem, formerly of Wilkes-Barre, and by mayor Daniel L. Hart of Wilkes-Barre. The musical part of the affair was participated in by hundreds of singers, representing the many nationalities in the Wyoming Valley, many of the group attired in the costumes of the lands from which the singers or their parents had come. Services were held in the afternoon in the historic church of Forty Fort erected early in the nineteenth century, with Rev. Paul S. Heath, pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Wilkes-Barre, as preacher. On the second if July an exhibit arranged by the women was held in the old Wilkes-Barre Institute building on South Franklin street. It included colonial furnishings and other articles, attractively arranged, many of them contributed from the prized possessions of Wyoming Valley families. Mrs. Burr C. Miller was general chairman of the women’s activities. Bands of Seneca and Paw Indians, the former descendants of the tribe of Indians that fought in the Battle and Massacre, established camps in Kirby Park. On the following day, July 3, the usual commemorative exercises were held at Wyoming Monument but they were carried out more elaborately than on ordinary annual occasions. In the morning 2,500 children of the Playground and Recreation Association gave a program of dances and other entertainments in Kirby Park, attended by thousands of people. In the evening of this day the first showing of the pageant was given in Kirby Park in the presence of 15,000 people. The pageant was given on three evenings and was said to have been one of the most elaborate affairs of the kind every given in the United States. There were several thousand participants, depicting the life of the Wyoming Valley settlers, the events that led up to the Battle and Massacre of Wyoming, the Battle and Massacre itself and the desolation wrought by the Indian and Tory invaders. Such incidents as the first successful burning of anthracite in a grate without a forced draft were illustrated, together with such national events as the signing of the Declaration of Independence and scenes in the British Parliament relating to the colonies. The characters represented soldiers and Indians of the colonial and Revolutionary War time. The staling of Frances Slocum by the Indians was one of the features of the exhibition. Frances Slocum represented by a daughter of Mrs. Nelson Bennett, the daughter of a descendant of the Slocum family. Many hundreds of singers rendered appropriate selections during the exercises. The field was illuminated with flood lights. Altogether the pageant was intensely interesting and its faithful reproduction of the events in the early days. On the fourth of July, Independence Day, there was a monster parade, formed on the West Side and marching into Wilkes-Barre streets. It was made up of thousands of marchers and dozens of elaborate floats. Unfortunately a heavy shower just at the time for the beginning of the parade drenched a number of the floats and scattered the paraders and the spectators but after the rain the parade was quickly re-formed and was witnessed by a host of people. Fourth of July exercises were held on the steps of the Court House and in the evening there was a display of fireworks from the river common. ---------------------------------------------------------- The coal assessment controversy occupied the attention of the courts at various times during the year and caused no end of confusion and complications for the counties because of greatly reduced income from coal land. The year began with Judge Fuller having sustained his first decision reducing the assessed value of the Lehigh and Wilkes-Barre’s coal land in Ashley to the extent of forty-six percent. Judge Fuller dismissed the appeal. To make matters worse for the county and the municipalities the Judge further reduced the coal valuation to conform to the difference between the market valuation and the assessed valuation on surface property, this difference amounting to sixty percent of the market value, according to agreement with the County Commissioners. The total value of the Lehigh & Wilkes-Barre coal land in Ashley now amounted to $1,446, 243 instead of $4,448,918, as originally fixed by the Assessors. In January an appeal from the county assessment of the Lehigh & Wilkes-Barre’s coal land in Wilkes-Barre was decided by Judge Fuller. In this case the Judge reduced the valuation from $19,508,609 to $9,485,000; this with the application of the ratio of sixty per cent of market value brought the Wilkes-Barre valuation down to $5,691,000. Consternation prevailed in a number of municipalities depending on coal land for revenue, over the great reduction in tax revenue indicated by the decisions in the Ashley and Wilkes-Barre cases. Municipal employees and school teachers were in fear of not being paid and the authorities were in a quandary as to how to pay contracts entered into and improvements deemed necessary. As a means of possible relief the tax collectors threatened to levy on the personal property of the coal companies to compel them to pay taxes on the full assessed valuations, pending final dispositions of the appeals in the Supreme Court. It was finally suggested that the coal companies advance sufficient monies to meet their urgent requirements on condition that they would agree to refund the excess in the case the Supreme Court decided in their favor, twenty two and one half percent of the taxes held back to be paid. This was agreed to. In the meantime, it was agreed to frame an amicable action in the courts on the question whether the coal companies should be compelled to pay all of the tax money held back, pending appeal. Finally the Luzerne County court en banc decided to review Judge Fuller’s decision and other pending appeals. The composition of the Bench had been changed by the retirement of Judge Fuller and the election of Judge Kosek. Judge McLean declined to participate because of personal interest in coal property. In August three decisions were rendered by the court en banc. One overruled Judge Fuller in the Ashley case in his refusal to reopen arguments on certain features. Another decision modified Judge Fuller’s decision in the Wilkes-Barre case, with the result that the Fuller valuation was about doubled but the valuation was still twelve per cent less than the original Assessors’ figures. In the third decision the court en banc, the Glen Alden Coal Co. appeal from the Newport township assessment was disposed of by granting a reduction to the extent of twelve and one-half per cent. Before the whole assessment business is finally settled the Supreme Court will have to pass upon the carious decisions. In the meantime the county and municipal authorities were at a loss to know how much revenue they could depend upon. The situation in some of the communities remained critical. --------------------------------------------------------------- Another affair of extraordinary interest was the fight begun by the municipalities supplied with water by the Scranton-Spring Brook Water Company against a proposed heavy increase in rates and the imposition of a new revenue producer in the form of a service charge. The Public Service Commission of the State had approved the merger of the Spring Brook Water Supply Co., the Hyde Park Gas Co., the Consolidated Water Supply Co., the Scranton Gas and Water Co. and the Olyphant Water Co., thus combining all of the water companies from the Forest City to Nanticoke. In May the management gave notice of an application to the Public Service Commission for the increase in rates. A wave of indignation swept over the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys because of the extent of the proposed increase and because of the impression that the former owners had made a fair profit, since they had financed extensive improvements out of their revenue and had made no move to advance rates. It was charged against the new concern that it paid excessive prices for the stock, that it added fictitious values to the property and that it was planning to impose unnecessary burdens upon local consumers. Representatives of the various Wyoming Valley municipalities held a number of meetings and decided to organize a flight. This was done by the naming of an executive committee to take complete charge in securing appraisers and attorneys and attending to other details, the municipalities to pay the cost on the basis of their respective assessed valuations. The Public Service Commission held several hearings bit a decision had not been rendered up to the close of the year. In Lackawanna County the same kind of a fight was waged. In the meantime considerable agitation in favor of condemning the water company’s property and taking it over for municipal ownership prevailed but this phase of the controversy quieted down pending a decision by the public Service Commission. An epidemic of school board ousters furnished considerable interest during the year. Late in December of 1927 six of the school directors of Hanover township, together with a contractor and an architect, who had been convicted of conspiracy on sensational charges of bribery and other misconduct, began their jail sentences of from one to two years. The seventh convicted directors and another contractor were placed on trial on another charge of conspiracy to defraud but the jury disagreed, and on a re-trial of the case in May a verdict of acquittal was rendered. A new board of directors, appointed by the court, took the places of the ousted members but another senation was sprung when charges were files to the effect that several members of the new board had accepted money for the election of a principal. But this was not the full extent of the trouble. Later in the year serious charges were made against the majority members of the new board, involving the payment of excessive fees to the treasurer and tax collector, reckless expenditures, illegal awarding of contracts and violations of the school code. The jury rendered a verdict of acquittal in December on one of the conspiracy charges, others to be tried. During the latter part of the year taxpayers of Duryea filed serious charges against four directors of the school board and petitioned the court to dismiss them from office. The payment of excessive fees, excessive and suspicious expenditures and violation of the school code were alleged. The court removed the directors. Later another petition was filed in court asking for the removal of two other directors of Duryea on more than a score of charges. At about the same time citizens of Wilkes-Barre township petitioned the court for ousting of members of their school board on charges of excessive expenditures, questionable transactions and violations of the school code, and in October citizens of Pringle borough petitioned the court for the removal of five school directors of that lace on numerous charges, among them falsifying the records with intent to defraud. In October the court appointed new directors to fill the vacancies in Hanover township, Duryea and Ashley. The latter part of October the seven Wilkes-Barre township school directors were ousted by the court on charges that they violated the school code by paying excessive fees, etc. -------------------------------------------------------- On the first of the year Judge Fuller retired after twenty years of service on the Bench of Luzerne County but during the year continued to perform certain duties consistent with the retirement act. Judge Clarence D. Coughlin and John S. Fine continued on the Bench by election and John V. Kosek made his first appearance, having been elected to fill the vacancy caused by Judge Fuller’s retirement. ---------------------------------------------------------- During the year occurred the death of Mrs. Hannah Gray of Shavertown at the age of one hundred years. By petition of a number of citizens of Wright township the township was divided, the new part being name Rice township in honor of Judge Charles E. Rice, for many years one of the Luzerne County Judges and later President Judge of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. ------------------------------------------------------- Weather for the year. New Year came in the midst of a cold wave, the thermometer twelve degrees above zero in Wilkes-Barre. Soon afterwards ice from ten to twelve inches thick was harvested. There were a few heavy snow falls during the Winter but in the aggregate there was not as much snow as in former years and no extremely cold weather, although for days at a time the thermometer remained below the freezing point. The Spring was cold and rainy. On the first of May the river rose to twenty-two feet, due to rain and melting snow. On the fourth of May an unusually hot spell set in and the thermometer went up to eight-nine degrees in Wilkes-Barre. The Spring was so cool and wet that the farmers were greatly retarded in their work, although the plentiful harvests were reaped in the Fall. The fruit crops had not been badly damaged by frosts, and potatoes were a larger crop than the previous two years. Hot weather did not set in until July. That month and august were marked by torrid spells, with the thermometer registering close to one hundred degrees. The river remained high until late in the Summer. ------------------------------------------------------- Work on the Market street bridge progressed during the year and the structure neared completion by the close of the year. Traffic was continued during the year on half of the bridge. The annual Community Welfare Federation campaign closed on March 26 with $503, 00 pledged. The goal had been set for $545,000. Charles B. Waller was chosen as chairman for the 1929 campaign. In September Irem temple and enlarging the auditorium, and with these projects consummated it was hoped that the national organization would select Irem Temple Country Club grounds as the site for a sanitarium and convalescent home for crippled children. The talking moving picture made its appearance during the year at the Capitol theatre in Wilkes-Barre, following the introduction of sounds with the news pictures. Opinion was divided as to whether the pictures in which the characters spoke the words were as interesting and enjoyable as the pictures in which the characters were mute. During the intended presidential campaign in the latter part of the year Herbert Hoover and Governor Smith were shown in the pictures and they were heard in parts of their speeches, and other notables were seen and heard in reproductions. Towards the close of the year the transmission of moving pictures and voice by radio was being perfected and a few of the larger stations sent out such exhibits, although the thing had not been perfected far enough to bring it into general use. ------------------------------------------------------- Business was slow during most of the year, although no serious depression was experienced in the county. The mines worked irregularly during the Summer, with less than the usual demand for anthracite, and this had an effect upon business in general. Later in the year as cold weather set in the mines worked on better time. Renewed activity towards erection of a monument to the soldiers and sailors of the Civil War was shown during the latter part of 1928. Thomas H. Atherton of Wilkes-Barre was employed to draw plans. It was stated that the difference between the appropriation of $150,000 by the county and the cost of the memorial ($500,000) will be made up from the treasury of Conyngham Post and by donations of the three prominent local citizens whose names have not been divulged. Tentative plans call for a set of chimes costing $250,000 at the tip of the shaft.