130 Years Ago
Jan. 20, 1893
Mrs. W. L. Helling has leased the lot on Wyoming avenue on which the old Carmicle hotel building once stood and commenced the erection of a frame 16 X 24 yesterday to be used as a millinery store and living rooms.
125 Years Ago
Jan. 21, 1898
Mrs. J. B. Smith has become totally insane, and will probably be taken to some asylum in the near future. Her husband has been intoxicated frequently of late, and the neighbors claim that while in this condition he struck her a blow on the head, and has also spent all his earnings for drink, causing her worry as to where a living was to come from, and that these conditions caused her insanity. The husband avers that her trouble was brought on by sickness and religious enthusiasm. Both of these people are well advanced in years and the case is a very sad one.
120 Years Ago
Jan. 20, 1903
Burglars entered the Famous clothing store this morning about 2:00 o’clock. Percy Cogswell, who sleeps in the store, was awakened by a noise at the front door, and thinking that it was some of his young friends trying to play a joke on him called out to them, and was surprised by hearing one of the burglars say to his pal, “let me down,” but had evidently gotten too far through the transom to get back, and dropped down on the inside of the store. At this point in the proceeding Percy fired a shot from a 44, which struck the ceiling at an angle, but frightened the burglar so that he leaped through the plate glass door taking all the glass with him, and then the two men ran down the street and made their escape.
115 Years Ago
Jan. 21, 1908
Rev. Father McNamara of the Catholic church was summoned to Lakeside Friday night because of the illness and death later of one of the Allen twin babies.
110 Years Ago
Jan. 21, 1913
Christian Johnson had a very narrow escape last Friday evening. They were four in a one horse cart, two Johnson children and two Reiman children driving their horse at full speed, when the hub of the wheel struck a fence post, throwing them all out. Christian struck the back of his head on the frozen ground and was unconscious for several hours, the doctor having little hopes of his life for a while. But he seems to be about alright now. We hope there will not be any serious results from it. Boys take a lesson from this.
105 Years Ago
Jan. 18, 1918
The entire family of John Koke, 707 Missouri avenue, came very nearly being asphyxiated Wednesday night by the gas which escaped from a new coal stove installed the day before. In the morning when Mr. Koke awoke he started toward the stove, but he fell to the floor where he would have died in a few minutes had not his wife succeeded in dragging him to an open door. A physician was called and when he arrived the entire family was near the point of exhaustion from the deadly fumes. The open door was all that saved their lives.
100 Years Ago
Jan. 19, 1923
Tuesday night at five minutes before 7 o’clock Mrs. W. H. LaMon, 923 Niobrara avenue says she distinctly heard someone come upon her front porch. Her attention was first attracted by the low growls of a big bull dog which she keeps in the house and who started toward the door in a menacing manner. She was alone in the house and for a moment was perplexed what to do. She quietly let the bull dog out of the back door and then hurried to the front window, raised the curtain and looked out. She says she distinctly saw a man hastily enter an automobile which had stopped directly in front of her house and drive rapidly away. This happened just as the dog came around the corner of the house and the car had sped away before the dog could get to the man who entered the car.
95 Years Ago
Jan. 17, 1928
The Times-Herald takes this means of introducing the latest member of its staff – R. M. Falley, formerly of Wahpeton, N. D. Mr. Falley arrived by automobile Saturday after a business trip which took him from North Dakota to New Orleans and southern Louisiana. Until recently he had been with the semi-weekly Globe at Wahpeton, N. D., and prior thereto had been connected with other well known Dakota and Minnesota papers. On the Times-Herald his work will be largely in the advertising department.
90 Years Ago
Jan. 17, 1933
A large barn on the Clyde Rust farm, about a mile north of Alliance, was completely destroyed by fire early this morning. The barn was the one in which county and federal officers yesterday unearthed a 10-gallon keg containing liquor and bearing a novel device for pumping the contents to the surface as needed.
85 Years Ago
Jan. 18, 1938
A 16 year old boy was charged with drunken driving and a 17 year old was charged with drunkenness Monday as the result of a drinking party they staged Saturday night. The 16 year old was Wayne Cudny who was placed on probation for a year and had his driver’s license suspended for one year upon arraignment in county court. The other youth was James Stark, who was fined $10 and costs in police court. The boys told authorities they bought the liquor from a local liquor store and it is probable that a charge of selling liquor to a minor will be brought against the proprietor.
80 Years Ago
Jan. 19, 1943
Handicapped because he had no hands, W. P. Allbee, formerly of Alliance, nevertheless is contributing his part toward winning the war. With two defense projects in Plattsmouth, where he now resides, the town’s appeal for volunteer helpers in the rationing office was almost hopeless. But one of the first to apply was Allbee. He spent three full days a week handling fuel oil and gasoline applications and addressing envelopes. He grasps his own ball point pen between his two stubs and fills out the blanks attached to a clip board. “Allbee is doing a remarkable job,” board Chairman W. G. Boedeker said. “It is wonderful that a man so handicapped could offer his services.” Allbee, as a railroad switchman at Alliance in 1910, made a daring rescue of a little girl from the railroad tracks here. He lost his hands in October of 1911, when he was substituting for a switchman in the Alliance yards. He was thrown onto the track as he attempted to lock the brakes on a car. He grasped the rail only quickly enough to push his body under the oncoming car. Both hands were severed. Now he’s a member of the auxiliary police force and is active in several civic organizations.
75 Years Ago
Jan. 16, 1948
Police records show that H. H. Jagger, 82 of Hemingford was struck and knocked to the pavement by an automobile driven by George Douglas, 619 East Third street. The aged man was bruised and cut but no bones were broken. A small boy Ernest Hesseltine, 6, was hit by an automobile driven by Darrell Jensen, 17, 1016 Missouri avenue, in front of St. Agnes academy. The boy was bruised and frightened but Dr. R. J. Morgan reported no broken bones or other injuries.
70 Years Ago
Jan. 17, 1953
Mumps and chicken pox are taking a greater toll of Alliance school children than influenza, a check with school authorities reveled today. Superintendent W. A. Schindler said this morning that Alliance has not been hit nearly as hard as schools in the eastern part of the state. He said most of the sickness is confined to the pupils in the lower grades – kindergarten through the third.
65 Years Ago
Jan. 18, 1958
Four Alliance amateur boxers will go to Crawford tonight for a ring program in the Hereford Association sale barn. Don Underwood, coach of the four, also will referee the bouts which will draw fighters from Crawford, Chadron and Scottsbluff. Representing Alliance will be Jay Hutton and Henry DuBray, both 160 pounders; Woody DuBray, 135, and Seth DuBray, 200. Seth won the championship in the Scottsbluff Golden Gloves heavyweight Class A division last year.
60 Years Ago
Jan. 18, 1963
Box Butte County’s March of Dimes campaign is on this month and will feature a “Chip-In” sale Saturday in Alliance and Hemingford. Alliance Y-Teens will sell potato chips on the streets here and Hemingford eighth graders, under the direction of Eddie Davies, will sell the chips there.
55 Years Ago
Jan. 18, 1968
Three educators from Alliance – Lowell Gaswick, principal of Central School; Floyd Colwell, principal of Grandview School and Dr. Jean Henschel assistant administrator of Educational Service Unit 17 – are attending a “UNIPAK” workshop in Salt Lake City, Utah, today and Friday.
50 Years Ago
Jan. 18, 1973
Teaching contracts with the Nuns were the main business at the regular meeting of the St. Agnes Board of Education Wednesday night. Six nuns were given contracts. They include Sister Laurissa, Sister Leonita, Sister Mildred, Sister Emilie, Sister Agnes and Sister Bertrand. Resignations of Sister Judea and Sister Anita were accepted.
45 Years Ago
Jan. 18, 1978
J. L. “Oley” Saylor, a Box Butte County Commissioner the past five years, announced Tuesday he would not file for re-election. Saylor, chairman of the three-man Board of Commissioners during 1977, has served in the office since he was appointed in 1973 to fill the term of Dake Novotny. Saylor was elected to his first four-year term in 1974.
40 Years Ago
Jan. 18, 1983
Gary Tomlin was reelected president of the United Way of Box Butte County for 1983 by the board of directors at its organizational meeting Monday night at the First Federal meeting room. Also elected by the UW board was Shannon Garwood vice president and treasurer, and Dixie Tye, secretary. Mary Beth LaValley was reelected chairperson of the Budget and Allocation Committee.
35 Years Ago
Jan. 16, 1988
The Alliance Centennial Committee, and the Alliance Chamber of Commerce Heritage Days Committee have both unanimously approved the theme: “Celebrate Alliance” for the upcoming community Centennial Celebration. Walt Griffs, president of the Centennial Committee, and Pam Brown, Heritage Days chairperson, encourage all organizations in the community to begin making plans to “Celebrate Alliance” this summer and begin planning activities for Alliance’s once in a lifetime 100th birthday.
30 Years Ago
Jan. 18, 1993
On January 14 at 10:15 a.m., a baby girl was born to a mother who apparently was staying at a friend’s home, possibly in Alliance. She named the baby April. The mother knew she couldn’t take the baby to her home; she believed her father would be mean to April. When April was two days old, the mother had to decide how to take care of her baby. The only thing she could think of was to leave the baby with an Alliance family she believed to be good, kind and loving people. The mother wrapped the baby in many blankets and wrote a long note. She made her way to 407 Laramie, the home of the Rev. Samuel L. Reed, his wife, Barbara, and their daughter, Carolyn. Sometime between 10:10 and 10:30 p.m. Saturday she left the bundle on the porch and went to a phone. “The mother called me at about 10:35 p.m. and told me she just put her baby on our doorstep,” said Mrs. Reed. “She asked us to please raise it and said she knew that Carolyn would help me raise the baby. I asked her her name, she hung up the phone. I ran downstairs. I opened my front door and found this huge bundle on the front porch.”
Mrs. Reed opened the bundle and found a beautiful baby with light reddish brown hair.
25 Years Ago
Jan. 19, 1998
An early morning fire caused approximately $7,000 in damages to an Alliance home and created problems for drivers on Highway 2 west of Alliance this morning. The Alliance Volunteer Fire Department was called to the home of Ed Wilkins, just south of 10th Street, at 4:48 a.m. The fire was contained to the room of origin. Fire Chief John Yoakum said while the incident is still under investigation, it appears the fire was caused by a wood burning fireplace or ashes from the fireplace. A large amount of water was used to put out the fire, some of which spilled over onto the highway and froze. City crews were out early to spread gravel in the area, and the ice melted as the sun came out and temperatures rose.
20 Years Ago
Jan. 16, 2003
Tom Osborne, Nebraska’s Third District Congressman, discussed crop insurance, disaster drought relief and related farm issues with members of the High Plains Dry Pea Growers meeting yesterday at the Alliance Eagles Club.
15 Years Ago
Jan. 18, 2008
Yesterday Chief Jailer Mary McDonald led the Leadership Box Butte class on a tour of the Box Butte County Jail. During the tour, McDonald answered questions about prisoner processing and rights, and shared some experiences she has had with problem prisoners. McDonald said that about 500 suspects were booked into jail in 2007. Of that, she said 347 were county residents. The average stay in the jail last year was 11.95 days.
10 Years Ago
Jan. 18, 2013
Alliance High School one act play cast and crew were presented with their Class B State Play Production gold medals. AHS won state with “I’m Not Ebenezer Scrooge,” by Tim Kochenderfer. The play was directed by Jill Hoesing and Mary Theresa Green.
5 Years Ago
Jan. 13, 2018
Alliance’s Patty Guszak receives $1000 in Chamber Bucks from Alliance Times-Herald Publisher Kyle Cummings. Guszak correctly picked 26 games for 34 points to win the Alliance Bowl Spectacular, which concluded Monday after the National Championship Game. Because Guszak is a Times-Herald subscriber, she won the full $1,000 prize.