130 Years Ago
Jan. 27, 1893
The Times has entered into an agreement with that irrepressible young American, Hon. John Carmicle, Jr. whereby he undertakes to deliver at the door of each of our city subscribers a copy of this great journal fresh from the press each week. If you do not get your paper come to this office and report where you live and if John does not rectify the error we will have him skinned alive.
125 Years Ago
Jan. 28, 1898
Our late assistant postmaster, John Keefe, had quite an experience when coming to town the day after the storm. He drove into a snowbank, when his horse became fractious, breaking the crossbar and getting loose from the buggy. John held onto the horse for all he went head first into a six foot snow bank.
120 Years Ago
Jan. 27, 1903
We are told that some mischievous half grown boys have been using an abandoned cave cellar in the northwestern part of town for the purpose of cooking nocturnal feasts, and that the neighbors hen roosts have suffered in consequence. The aforesaid neighbors have registered a kick and are undecided whether to watch their hen houses with a shot gun or invoke the aid of the law for their protection. In either contingency the boys had better watch out or they will get into serious trouble.
115 Years Ago
Jan. 24, 1908
Chas. O’Leary who has been working until recently at the freight depot is now preparing to take life easy in the future. He recently sold the right to a patent street indicator for use on street cars for twenty thousand dollars. The indicator registers the block ahead of the car automatically and is the only patent in that line ever invented. He also has several other patents pending that are likely to be easily disposed of. The right was sold to the International Railway company of Chicago. He has been in this city for the past three or four months.
110 Years Ago
Jan. 31, 1913
C. A. Newberry tendered to the employees of his retail and manufacturing hardware company their annual banquet. This took place at the Drake Hotel and was highly enjoyable in every social particular besides affording an excellent opportunity for the Newberry men to get together. The wives of the men were present. The management of the Drake Hotel served a most excellent seven course feast with every appointment of the very best. The tables were decorated with ferns and flowers. Music was discoursed by Miss Beulah Smith at the piano and Paul Thomas on the violin.
105 Years Ago
Jan. 22, 1918
Chester Yount had a narrow escape from serious injury while he was riding on a sled attached to the rear of a Snyder motor truck. As the car passed the corner at Big Horn and Eight street the laundry car, driven by Dan Colerick, came along Eight. The driver did not see the sled attached to the rear of the other car and he hit the connecting rope, throwing the boy several feet. Just the margin of a few inches of space saved the lad from being run over by the other car. While the practice is an enjoyable one for the kids it is likewise a dangerous one and should be discouraged by the parents.
100 Years Ago
Jan. 26, 1923
Miss Ethel Graham sustained a deep cut on her arm when the Ford coupe in which she was riding with her brother, James Graham, turned over on its side in the street, directly in front of the Al Wiker residence yesterday evening. Mr. Graham was driving the car, going north, and in turning out sharply to avoid striking a team and wagon which were going in the same direction, a tire of the car flew off, causing it to turn over. Miss Graham’s arm struck the broken glass in the car door, cutting a deep gash.
95 Years Ago
Jan. 27, 1928
What is believed to be one of the largest sources in northwest Nebraska for the supply of hooch being dispensed by bootleggers of this vicinity was discovered by federal, state and county officers in a raid upon a farm occupied by Charles E. Moore, 45, four miles west and a mile south of Alliance. Nearly 500 gallons of mash were found in a potato cellar, especially reconstructed for the purpose of brewing liquor, according to officers.
90 Years Ago
Jan. 31, 1933
Officers today are apparently still without clues in the slugging and robbery of Carl Horton, 19, delivery boy for the Fourth Street Market, from whom was taken $64.96 in cash and currency by the robber. Young Horton, who is employed as a delivery boy by Virgil Lehr, proprietor of the downtown market, drove his delivery truck into the alley beside the market to reload for another delivery. He felt something strike him on the head and that is all he remembers of the incident. Mr. Lehr and Elgin Ingram employed in the meat department, heard something fall against the door which leads to the alley near the rear of the store. Upon hearing the noise at the door they opened it and noticed Horton lying on the step. They carried him into the store and found that he was in a semi-conscious condition.
85 Years Ago
Jan. 28, 1938
Albert Schadwinkel and C. G. Eaton each paid a fine of $1 in police court Wednesday for overtime parking.
80 Years Ago
Jan. 26, 1943
Mrs. Isabelle Headden of Hemingford has four sons in the service of their country. They are Staff Sgt. Forrest L. Headden, who has been in the Solomons since early last summer; Sgt. Lester Headden, who is at Yuma, Ariz., on detached army service; Floyd R. Headden, Camp Claiborne, La., and Elmer A. Headden who graduates from the navy quartermaster school January 29.
75 Years Ago
Jan. 27, 1948
Quick action by a mother saved her 3 ½ months-old baby from burning to death when fire gutted the small home of Mr. and Mrs. Francis Schmitz at 1211 Yellowstone avenue. A defective oil heater is believed to have caused the blaze. Mrs. Schmitz was at a neighbor’s house when she saw smoke coming from the windows of her house. She rushed home and carried one small daughter to safety then returned and carried out the infant, Charlotte.
70 Years Ago
Jan. 27, 1953
The Republican inaugural committee is in the doghouse with Ilene Walker, 13-year-old Alliance girl and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dave Walker. Ilene’s invitation to attend inaugural ceremonies for President Dwight Eisenhower arrived a week after the event was held. Ilene several weeks ago wrote personally the President-elect asking if a 13-year-old would be permitted to attend the inauguration. The General informed her that he had turned her request over to the inauguration committee for action.
65 Years Ago
Jan. 27, 1958
Chief Doug Thomas and other members of the Alliance police force have solved recent break-ins at the Alliance Creamery and the Methodist “Little House” with the arrest of six Alliance teenage boys. All six of the youths have signed statements admitting the break-in at the creamery and one of the six also has admitted breaking into the Methodist house.
60 Years Ago
Jan. 26, 1963
A Lexington pharmacist Virgil V. Hatch, 38, has purchased the Merrick Drug Store in Alliance form Clay Merrick. Hatch will take possession of the business on February 25, and announced that it would be known as Hatch Drug Store. Hatch announced that he planned no immediate changes in the store’s operation and that the connection with the Walgren Company would be continued. Merrick has owned the store for the past 12 years.
55 Years Ago
Jan. 26, 1968
The Alliance City Schools adult education program is continuing to grow, Bruce Rockey, the director, reported today. Latest addition is the welding class which will be conducted for eight weekly sessions. It will be held in the Vocational Education building with Albert Colerick as the instructor.
50 Years Ago
Jan. 27, 1973
Dennis Powell, an Alliance High School senior received a trophy for being the champion Future Farmers of America (FFA) beet grower in the Bayard district of the Great Western Sugar Co. The trophy was awarded on the basis of his FFA crop record, the yield of his 5-acre beet crop, and his leadership and participation in school activities. He also has been named the state FFA sugar beet champion, and for this has received a $50 savings bond from the Great Western Sugar Co., and a letter of congratulations from GW President George E. Wilber. Dennis is the son of Mr. and Mrs Ralph Powell who have been raising sugar beets on their farm three and one half miles west of Berea since about 1956.
45 Years Ago
Jan. 25, 1978
FBI Special Agent James L. Williamson of Omaha is speaking to law enforcement officers from Alliance and the Panhandle region at the Regional Law Enforcement Center. Williamson and Special Agent Thomas J. Murphy are conducting the three-day workshop on the topic of “Laws of Arrest and Searches.”
40 Years Ago
Jan. 27, 1983
Stockholders voted overwhelmingly to approve the proposal to lease and operate a bean and wheat elevator in Alliance at the forty-first annual meeting of the Alliance Consumers Co-op. Orval Weyers, Hay Springs, was presented the Joe J. Kirchner Award in recognition of his past service to the Co-op and the community.
35 Years Ago
Jan. 29, 1988
Eva Knight and Paul Phaneuf were selected as the newest members of the Alliance City Council.
30 Years Ago
Jan. 25, 1993
Slagle Memorial Library receives on-line catalog. Mavis McLean, librarian, and Steve Ooton of the Panhandle Library System in Scottsbluff install a DC Ram Unit which has an electronic encyclopedia, an atlas, and quotations. The Slagle Memorial Library is the third in the Panhandle to have on-line cataloging. Work stations have been set up so information can be searched for by author, title and key words.
25 Years Ago
Jan. 27, 1998
Second District Congressman Jon Christensen stopped at the Alliance Airport on a gubernatorial campaign swing through Nebraska.
20 Years Ago
Jan. 25, 2003
The Royal Neighbors of America-Alliance, donated teddy bears to Box Butte General Hospital. The bears have been given to children visiting the Emergency Room, and according to BBGH public relations officer Bonnie Wallace, they have been a great comfort.
15 Years Ago
Jan. 25, 2008
The work goes on at Sallows Conservatory. New doors have been installed on the north side. The tentative plans are to have a covered patio area outside these doors and the east doors of the Military Museum. Mosaic art work is being done by Girl Scouts Amy Watson and Bridget Scherbarth who are working on their Gold Awards. Volunteer and Parks Foundation president Sandy McCarthy works to clean rocks for lining the inside ledge of the south wall. A future cacti bed is being built and filled in with the appropriate soil. Several individual cacti are waiting to be planted with more to come.
10 Years Ago
Jan. 25, 2013
On Jan. 27, 1888 the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad arrived in Grand Lake, Neb. It was decided at that time that the town should consider a name change – something simple, one-word. Railroad Superintendent G. W. Holdrege suggested “Alliance.” Among the reasons for the suggestion: it would place the town near the top alphabetically in a list of Nebraska communities, Railroad Engineer, J. N. Paul was a native of Alliance, Ohio, and the location was to be the junction point of two rail lines. The name stuck. 125 years later, Alliance celebrates its heritage. A number of events are planned as part of a year long celebration in 2013.
5 Years Ago
Jan. 27, 2018
Jim Headley has been named the new publisher of the Alliance Times-Herald. Headley replaces Kyle Cummings, who served as sports editor and as director of operations before taking the role of publisher in August 2017. Headley, a native of Sidney, comes to Alliance after four years with the Hastings Tribune. Headley knows the Panhandle well. He started his journalism career in Sidney as a sports editor in 1988. After many years, he returned to his hometown as editor of the paper. He went on to publish the Gering Courier. Investing in the community, Headley eventually founded his own newspaper, the Gering Citizen.