130 Years Ago
April 28, 1893
J. F. Yanders has discovered a sandstone on his claim, six miles north of town, which he thinks will prove excellent in large quantities and he is making preparations to put it on the market immediately.
125 Years Ago
April 29, 1898
A deplorable accident happened while Mrs. W. H. Hubbell, two children and a lady accompanying them were driving through Brown’s pasture, a few miles southeast of Alliance, shortly before noon yesterday. The buggy tongue came down and caught in the ground, the team running away and getting loose. This shattered the tongue, and a piece of it flying with great force stuck little six-year-old Fay in the face. A terrible scalp wound, the loss of several teeth, a sliver through the bone of the nose and badly bruised face resulted. Drs. Bellwood attended the little sufferer as soon as they reached town, and she is doing as well as could be expected.
120 Years Ago
April 28, 1903
The Times was accorded a great deal of praise for the enterprise shown in furnishing to its nearby subscribers free a picture of President Roosevelt. The quality of the same was also a subject of surprise and remark, and many have told us they would frame and preserve the picture of the President, and being in colors increases its attractiveness.
115 Years Ago
April 28, 1908
D. E. Byrne, who fell from his engine in the entrance of Belmont tunnel several weeks ago, and had a foot run over and was badly bruised, making it necessary to have one of his limbs amputated below the knee is getting along nicely. A severe wound in his hip has caused more trouble than the crushed member.
110 Years Ago
April 29, 1913
Frank Palmer has recovered his horse “Joker” that was stolen from his barn in South Alliance. The horse was turned loose near Reno by a man, who was seen to board an eastbound train. The recovered horse showed signs of having been ridden very hard bareback. The hair was rubbed off from a large spot on his back. Mr. Palmer thinks he knows the identity of the thief and authorities have been warned to look out for him.
105 Years Ago
April 26, 1918
Frank Allen and James Temple, the two boys arrested for stealing from the Stalos store, were permitted to enter a plea of guilty before Judge Westover this week and they will be paroled to some farmer who has need of their services during the farming season.
100 Years Ago
April 27, 1923
Emil Shadwinkle, proprietor of the Alliance bakery has bought the business block occupied by the Duncan grocery store from William King, the owner, for a cash consideration of $17,000. Mr. Shadwinkle bought the property for a business location for his bakery which is now located in the Syndicate block. On his newly acquired property, he will remodel the building into a modern bakery, with a big oven and all modern conveniences.
95 Years Ago
April 27, 1928
Fire broke out in the vulcanizing room of the Alliance Motor Company shortly before noon yesterday and caused damage to tire building equipment and some auto tires in the room. Some damage was done to the building which is owned by W. D. Rumer. Glass windows in the front of the structure crashed when the frames around them were weakened by the fire. The blaze is believed to have been caused by a small gasoline tank starting to leak.
90 Years Ago
April 28, 1933
Pat Langan of Alliance, arrested last night for investigation following a disturbance on a downtown street and another at 509 Sweetwater avenue, made an unsuccessful attempt at breaking jail about 9 p.m. last night. Only his miscalculation of the weight of a section of iron bars covering a window is believed to have prevented his escape. The section overbalanced and crashed through with noise enough to attract an officer. Langan is reported to have boasted to friends that the jail would never hold him again. He is reported to have said since he was released that he had loosened the bars on a window so that he could get out the next time he was locked up with the use of his hands only.
85 Years Ago
April 26, 1938
Only property damage resulted Saturday night when cars driven by Frank Boness and Ernest Panwitz collided near the West Tenth street corner. Boness was heading out of town and Panwitz was coming in.
80 Years Ago
April 27, 1943
John Gabriel from Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota, faced a charge of drinking and driving without a license – his second offense. Gabriel got in his car and tried to open a new street at 101 Sweetwater, the rendezvous of all nations, when a call came in to police headquarters. He ran around corners and chased people around alleys without blowing his horn.
75 Years Ago
April 27, 1948
A formal dedication of a new 10-room house near the Agricultural school in Lincoln took place April 18 with Mr. and Mrs. Frank Messersmith of Alliance, donors of the building, as special guests.
70 Years Ago
April 28, 1953
Private Lester R. Todd of Alliance, only Nebraskan among the American prisoners of war released last week by the Communists is winging his way home over the Pacific today, and may be in Alliance by the end of this week. Todd is one of 35 of the sick and wounded repatriated prisoners who boarded a plane at Tokyo today.
65 Years Ago
April 26, 1958
Bishop John L. Paschang of the Grand Island Diocese helped celebrate High Mass this morning at the Holy Rosary Catholic Church as part of the Golden Jubilee celebration of St. Agnes Academy. The Academy is celebrating its 50th year here in a 2-day observance.
60 Years Ago
April 26, 1963
One Alliance citizen, Charles T. Podhaisky, will be especially interested in the technicolored film, “Miracle of the White Stallions,” which started a 5-day run today at the Alliance Theater. The film tells the story of Austrian Col. Alois Podhajsky, who risked his life to rescue the Lipizzan stallions from the holocaust of war. The Colonel is a first cousin of Charles Podhaisky, Realtor and insurance man whose father, Frank, changed the original “j” in his name to “i” when he took out citizenship papers in America “to ease penmanship difficulties.
55 Years Ago
April 26, 1968
Harold Porlock, who will graduate from Chadron State College in May, has signed a contract to teach and become head track coach next year at St. Agnes Academy. The announcement was made this morning by Father Robert Rooney, Academy superintendent.
50 Years Ago
April 26, 1973
Six Alliance Cub Scouts win Pine Wood derby cars and plaque awards. They are Rick Nelson, first place; Klete Peterson, second; Kirk Peterson, third; Mark Empson, fourth; Troy Roten, fifth; and Roger Hansen, sixth. They are members of Cub Pack 205.
45 Years Ago
April 29, 1978
Theron Kosmicki, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Kosmicki, was injured in a car-motorcycle accident at 3rd and Niobrara about 1 p. m. Friday. He was initially taken to Box Butte General Hospital by the Alliance Emergency Unit, but has been moved to West Nebraska General Hospital in Scottsbluff. Kosmicki is reported to have sustained a broken thigh bone, fractured knee cap and a fractured pelvis. The extent of other injuries was not known. Alliance Police Officers Larry Beam, Ben Peterson and Jerry Stricker, investigated the accident.
40 Years Ago
April 29, 1983
Museum Director Deb Dopheide displays antique musical instruments at the Knight Museum, 908 Yellowstone. One fiddle is approximately 100 years old and has been in the Oscar Carey family of Hemingford for three generations. Another fiddle, called “Ole Bull” is from the Earle Enyeart family of San Diego, Calif. The Knight Museum also features new displays of “Music and the Military” and baptismal garments of the 1870-80’s.
35 Years Ago
April 26, 1988
A fatality was reported in a house fire at 120 Yellowstone late Tuesday morning, according to Alliance Fire Chief Bud Taylor. Taylor said the body was found in the southwest bedroom of the one-story structure. Identification of the body was not available at press time.
30 Years Ago
April 29, 1993
Wednesday morning Anne Adam was delivering mail on Route 1 when her car started burning on a country road. Volunteer firefighters believe it may have been an electrical fire. When the car was towed back into town, Postal Service employee Bill Kunzman and Roy Newton had the job of taking the charred mail and placing it in a basket. The mail was taken to the post office and it will be sorted and delivered as soon as possible.
25 Years Ago
April 24, 1998
The “Wah-tah-ne” girls stride onto the stage during rehearsal for “The Music Man” at the Alliance High School gym Thursday evening. Close to 150 students including elementary, middle school and high school age members of the cast and stage crew ran through the production scene by scene. The spring musical will open at AHS on May 1 followed by two weekend performances. It is directed by AHS teachers Nathan Toso and Jeannie Christen.
20 Years Ago
April 28, 2003
Nine Alliance members of the Nebraska Army National Guard’s 1057 Light/Medium Transportation Company were mobilized into active duty in January and received training at Fort Carson, Colo., before their deployment last week to Kuwait. They are Zach Schnare, Shawn Almond, Josh Digmann, Mike Erickson, Cody Green, Patti Hoegerl, Lori Hoegerl, Rachel Weisgerber and Amanda Krul.
15 Years Ago
April 28, 2008
Larry Hansen’s 40th year as a pilot was celebrated over the weekend. To date, Hansen has logged in more than 33,800 hours of flight time and has had a chance to teach 456 students the art of aviation. During his years as a pilot, Hansen has never had a close call. Back in April of 1968, Hansen was in the Army, stationed in Braunschweig, Germany, a town near Hanover. He took advantage of a G.I. bill that allowed him to learn to fly in a German civilian flying school. He returned to Alliance in 1969, and signed up for another G.I. bill that would help him earn his commercial pilots license here in America. From 1969 on, Hanson has stationed himself in Alliance.
10 Years Ago
April 26, 2013
Alliance High School graduate Andrew Maddox is now a state park ranger at the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area in Colo. On March 2, he traveled to State Forest State Park in Jackson County, Colo. To provide extra law enforcement help during a snowmobile club ride that drew about 200 people to the park. His presence there made all the difference for Alex White’s life, a University of Colorado law student who was skiing the Paradise Bowl on the west side of Cameron Pass. After an avalanche a search and rescue went out from the Jackson County sheriff’s department. The first to respond were Maddox and fellow ranger Sam McCloskey. Maddox spotted Whites toe’s sticking out of the snow. Maddox is trained in avalanche rescue and has been an instructor for the Colorado Parks and Wildlife for two years. He believes one thing that contributed to White’s survival was that he was able to get the mouthpiece of his Avalung within two inches of his face.
5 Years Ago
April 28, 2018
Seven-year old Reese Armstrong celebrated her birthday on Feb. 5 with a birthday party at the Alliance Recreation Center but instead of receiving presents from her guests, she requested that each family bring food to donate to the Alliance Backpack Program.