Past Pages for Sunday, April 20

140 years ago

Fire in the Rear. Yesterday a Granger came into town and thought to indulge his taste for royal Gilroy Habano; after smoking up six or eight inches of the weed, he put the stump into his pocket, thinking to take a rest, and smoke the balance the next day. In a few minutes he discovered that there was a large and unhealthy fire in the rear, the hay seed in his pocket had ignited from the saved and much coveted cigar stump, and the blisters in that locality so often mentioned by Darwin were numerous and painful, but not dangerous.

130 years ago

The people who went up on the Knight Templar excursion night before last say that they had to go through those long dark tunnels without any light. Considerable prospecting was done in the tunnels, but no official reports of developments have been received.

100 years ago

Phil Seeman, sheriff of Storey county, died suddenly last night at his home from an attack of heart failure. Seeman had been ill for the past two weeks and recently was confined to his bed. His attack was thought to be not serious and death was not suspected.

70 years ago

More than 3,000 members of the protective services of the Nevada civilian defense organization are being placed on leave. All air raid wardens and similar workers are not being disbanded. It is to be noted that protective services are not being abandoned, but merely placed on reserve status.

50 years ago

Proposals for a highway tunnel through the mountains separating Western Nevada valleys from South Lake Tahoe were expected to be discussed at a meeting this afternoon. The committee is exploring possible tunnel sites from Washoe Valley to Kingsbury Grade.

30 years ago

Victims of drunken drivers could become eligible for state benefits under a proposal now before a legislative subcommittee.

Trent Dolan is the son of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.