125 Years Ago 1898
From The East Hampton Star, January 14
New York. The true story of the fatal mission of Lieut.-Col. Ruiz to Col. Aranguren’s camp was told for the first time in this city yesterday by one in possession of all the facts. In a word, it is said that Ruiz boasted in his cups that he would bribe the Cuban leader, was jeered by his companions and went to certain death to make his word good.
It began at a dinner of Spanish officers in Havana. Everyone had been drinking freely and the wine began to talk.
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David Fithian and A.E. Sherrill went to Cedar Point on Thursday of last week and fell in with an immense flock of ducks. In a short time, they had bagged seventy-five.
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Samuel C. Hedges, while in the woods chopping wood on Tuesday, met with an accident which will confine him to the house for several days. His axe glanced and struck the top of his foot, cutting a deep gash lengthwise of the foot.
100 Years Ago 1923
From The East Hampton Star, January 12
Some very good news was given us this week by Ralph C. Frood, manager of the Maidstone Inn. The owners of the inn have planned to make alterations in the west end of the building with the idea of keeping the hotel open the year around.
Since the closing of the Osborne House this winter, for the first time in thirty years, this hotel having been the only one in town to remain open the year around, East Hampton has been without a suitable hotel for the accommodation of families who like to come and look at prospective rents.
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Louis Christman of New York, formerly of Sag Harbor, is the author of the song “I Wish I Had Someone to Love Me Like My Mammy Used to Do,” which is creating quite a furore in New York. He is the author of several other songs.
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50 good cigarettes, 10 cents. Genuine “Bull” Durham Tobacco. — Advertisement
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Which is the best ingredient a woman can provide towards the making of a happy marriage?
“Clever housekeeping,” one woman remarked. Another joined in the discussion with the opinion that common sense was the most necessary ingredient. “A sweet temper,” “an understanding of men,” and “femininity” were suggested.
Then one man present gave his verdict.
“What men like best in women is happiness,” he said.
There is a profound truth behind these words, casually uttered at a tea-table discussion.
75 Years Ago 1948
From The East Hampton Star, January 15
The Executive Committee for East Hampton’s 300th Anniversary celebration met Monday evening in the Village Board Room, Ralph C. Frood presiding. Also present were Mayor Judson Banister, Morton Pennypacker, George S. Miller, Frank Tuma, Mrs. David Snyder, Mrs. W.T. Bell, Kenneth Hedges, and Mrs. Arnold Rattray, secretary.
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More than one hundred sportsmen will attend the dinner at the Oaks Inn Saturday, January 17, when prizes will be awarded at the first annual Montauk Striperstakes dinner sponsored by the Montauk Business Men’s Association. The tournament has attracted a great deal of attention to Montauk fishing through the emphasis placed on the catching of striped bass in Montauk.w
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A community hospital is not run for profit. The busier the hospital is, the greater the deficit. The Southampton Hospital operates on a fiscal year which begins June 1st and ends on May 31st. For the last fiscal year — June 1st, 1946 to May 31st, 1947 — there was an operating deficit of $57,708. For the first seven months of the current fiscal year — June 1st, 1947 to December 31st, 1947 — the operating deficit was $37,500.
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January is no time to travel, unless you’re going by train to Florida, perhaps, as several East Hampton people are, this week and next. This is the time to hug your own fireside, to keep off slippery roads, “better be safe than sorry.” It’s the time to cultivate the society of your family. They might turn out to be surprisingly good company.
50 Years Ago 1973
From The East Hampton Star, January 11
The State Department of Transportation is proposing that the 23-mile Sunrise Highway Extension, or Hamptons bypass, “be built initially as a two-lane highway,” the State Transportation Commissioner, Raymond T. Schuler, announced this week. But, he continued, “provisions will be made for future construction of another two lanes for a four-lane divided highway when traffic conditions warrant such development.”
According to the Department’s district planning engineer, Peter Halbin, they would warrant it in “probably ten to 15 years, if our projections come true,” and perhaps in 20 years if they don’t. He said that construction of the first two lanes would begin, at the very earliest, in 1978, and that there were no definite plans for the second two.
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Charges of “coercion” were exchanged this week as two East Hampton Town officials and a representative of the Suffolk County Civil Service Employees Association awaited an informal hearing on charges by the CSEA that a recent attempt to organize 48 employees here had been sabotaged by the officials.
In an election held Dec. 28, employees of the Town’s Highway, Sanitary Landfill, and Parks Departments voted 22-21, with five abstentions, not to join the CSEA union.
The union, which claims to represent 50,000 public employees on Long Island and over 200,000 in the State, has filed an “improper labor practice” complaint with the State Public Employment Relations Board.
25 Years Ago 1998
From The East Hampton Star, January 12
An East Hampton house dating to 1707 which was home to a local hero of the American Revolution was nearly destroyed last Thursday night during a drill by the East Hampton Fire Department.
The drill, during which the house was filled with smoke while as many as 50 volunteers practiced rescue maneuvers, was authorized by the owner, Ronald O. Perelman. Mr. Perelman, who bought the seven-acre property adjacent to his 58-acre estate, the Creeks, in 1994, expected the Capt. John Dayton house to be demolished this week.
Demolition was halted, however, after a descendant of Captain Dayton, Averill Dayton Geus, launched a vigorous protest over the weekend. Mr. Perelman’s lawyers are now trying to work out an agreement with village officials to save the oldest part of the house.
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Objections to the East Hampton RECenter have begun to be heard, first on Friday at an East Hampton Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, where a special permit for its construction was being considered, and again on Monday, when two Zoning Board members called for an independent traffic study in the Gingerbread Lane area.
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A construction worker who, according to the East Hampton Village police, admitted stealing a $30,000 engagement ring and selling it for $200 was released on his own recognizance Sunday, after he cooperated with police in a ruse that ended in the arrest of the alleged buyer.
