Days Gone By In Staunton

Thursday, Oct. 25, 1923 -- WORKING ON TRAIL ROAD -- The City of Staunton during the forepart of this week had several men at work in an effort to improve the condition of the south connection with the hard road. A grader was used and some of the dirt taken up from the ditches and used to fill in the holes. Due to the fact that the bumps on the road are extremely hard, it is a very difficult matter to make a satisfactory job and the men are doing as well as they can under the circumstances.

CAR TURNED OVER -- The big Studebaker coupe of Dr. Herschleder of Mt. Olive turned over on the hard road a short distance north of Staunton Tuesday evening. The doctor was driving the car at the time but miraculously escaped injury, although the machine turned over two or three times. The top of the car was practically demolished.

Thursday, Nov. 1, 1923 -- TRIED TO STEAL AUTOMOBILE -- A man who gave his name as K. S. Baymiller of East St. Louis on Wednesday night of the past week at about midnight made an attempt to steal the automobile of Mike Martinovich from the Martinovich garage.

Baymlller spoke to a boy whom he met near the Martinovich place and asked him to join him, saying that they would sell the car for $500 and split the money. The lad, however, went and notified Mrs. Martinovich who called the police and then watched Baymiller push the car from the garage to the street, where he attempted to start it. While thus engaged Night Patrolman Andritch arrived on the scene and arrested the fellow. Baymiller was given a hearing Thursday before Justice of the Peace J.W.P. Kerr, and was held on $3,000 bond, which he was unable to provide and was taken to Carlinville where he is now a guest at the Hotel Russell. His case will come up in the January term of court, so that Macoupin county will have the honor of feeding the birdie for quite a while.

CLIMBING STUNT -- Just for a bit of exercise and to keep in practice, Bertie Brooks on Monday shortly after noon climbed the west wall of the Staunton National Bank building. Not very many people were present at the time, but all who saw him pull the stunt were thrilled by the daring exhibited. The rain which fell during the greater part of the day made the feat more difficult than ordinarily, as the building was wet and foot and hand holds were hard to get.

I.T.S. CARS DERAILED -- Four freight cars and a caboose on the I.T.S. were derailed Saturday morning at about 10 o'clock a short distance north of our city. The four freight cars fell clear of the tracks.

FISCHER GETS HIS DOG BACK -- Chris. Fischer made a happy find Friday when he again gained possession of his valuable hunting dog, "Bo," which escaped from trainers at the Fischer Kennels about two months ago. His dog was found at the home of Henry Taake at Edwardsville and Mr. Taake stated that the dog had followed him along the road and went home with him. "Bo" is quite a valuable bit of hound, being worth in the neighborhood of $800, and immediately after his loss, Mr. Fischer searched the surrounding territory, visiting all the neighboring towns, but to no avail. He had just about given up hopes of ever seeing the dog again when he found it.

Thursday, Nov. 8, 1923 -- CONSOLIDATED WOULD BUY CITY RESERVOIR -- The Consolidated Coal Co. several weeks ago submitted to the City Council of the City of Staunton a proposal to buy the City's reservoir at a price of $57,000, on condition that the City of Staunton buy its electric current from the Consolidated Coal Co. for a period of five years. The proposition was submitted to the Council at their meeting on October 16 and referred to a committee, but up to the present no report has been made on the matter.

In publishing this article we do so with a view to give the public in general knowledge of what is transpiring and we believe that the proper handling of this matter will prove to be of vital importance to the future growth of our city, and those who have the welfare of the city at heart should prevail upon the alderman to give this proposal fair consideration.

It is a well known fact throughout this community that the city's reservoir is a huge failure as a means of furnishing either an adequate or a satisfactory supply of water. By reason of its location it is well nigh impossible to purify the water from it except through an expensive process. Even if purified, the supply would still be inadequate for the enlarged demands which would be made upon it.

To increase the size of the reservoir would entail additional expense. It therefore appears that the opportunity to sell this property at the figure offered should be given very serious consideration, as the sale would place at the disposal of the city sufficient funds with which to constrruct a new reservoir, properly located and provided with suitable purification equipment to give our city an adequate supply of useable water. A water supply is always the first thing which industries look out for in seeking locations and in the past Staunton had nothing to offer in that line. With the work at the mines very poor, chances are that many who have heretofore turned a deaf ear to industrial proposals along other lines will now to willing to consider them and the water supply would prove to be an important factor in successfully concluding negotiations.

Those who are opposed to buying current from a larger concern, frequently put forth the objection that the line loss is too great and would result to the detriment of the City financially. To offset this objection, Mr. Jenkins has offered to deliver the current direct to the plant, or at one or two other places in different parts of the town, or if desired, he would lease the distribution lines owned by the city and retail the current to the consumer at a rate not to exceed 10c.

With reference to the possibility of strikes or other labor troubles causing a shut down of the company's big plant at No. 15. Mr. Jenkins stated that there is no likelihood of this occurring, but in the event that it did happen, Staunton would still have its present plant to fall back on and if the City should experience difficulty in securing men to operate the same, he would secure the necessary men for the purpose.