Past Pages for Friday, May 9, 2014

140 Years Ago

The following true story leaves no room to doubt the existence of porcupines. A gentleman in town has a thoroughbred setter, a beauty. He is full of spirit of the chase and must have his periodical hunt. In spite of every restraint he will run off taking along all dogs he can persuade to go with him. He came back home worn out from the effects of one of his hunting sprees, a really pitiable sight. He was half famished and thin as a dog can well live and yet not be blown away by the roaring “zephyrs” of our valley. In addition to his other afflictions, he showed marks of a rather lively “set to” with a porcupine. The end of his nose and lips were swollen, broken in the scrimmage from the porcupine’s quills. His master pulled out several, but the extraction caused the poor beast such agony that he determined to let the stingers alone to work themselves out ...

130 Years Ago

Cole’s circus is on the way here, also Barnum’s white elephant.

110 Years Ago

Officials of the Lakehurst Naval air station investigated the crash of a training blimp that took the lives of 10 men. Naval authorities examined the wreckage of the 250-foot blimp to determine if the accident was due to mechanical defects.

70 Years Ago

A miracle medicine, penicillin, is available to civilians. Every area of the country will be supplied by 1,030 hospitals designated to handle the quotas assigned on the basis of size and number of hospitals.

50 Years Ago

Births: Mr. and Mrs. James Fleckenstein of Carson City are the parents of a boy born at Carson-Tahoe Hospital.

30 Years Ago

Gerald Crane was honored as the best local columnist in any daily Nevada newspaper. He couldn’t pick up the Nevada State Press Association award because he is in prison. Crane gets $15 a week for his “Being There” column, written in his Northern Nevada Correctional Center dormitory and run in the Nevada Appeal.

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