125 Years Ago 1899
From The East Hampton Star, November 10
Albert M. Payne, a veteran of the Civil War, medaled for bravery in battle, was found dead in his house between this village and Amagansett on Saturday. Mr. Payne had been invalid for some years, his trouble being due in measure to wounds received during the war. On August 5, 1861, at the age of 24, he enlisted in Company II, 48th New York Volunteer Infantry, under Captain William L. Lockwood, was discharged and transferred to the Navy in 1863, and was discharged from the Naval Service on the U.S. Receiving Ship North Carolina on May 18, 1865.
After an unsuccessful assault in one of their actions, the remnant of the 48th regiment found that when they rallied by their colonel the regimental colors had been lost. Private Payne volunteered to go back alone and get them. He crawled forward under fire to where the lost battle flag lay and brought it back, not, however, without being wounded in a number of places by Minie balls.
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The election on Tuesday passed off smoothly, and the only hitch was in the counting of the ballots, which delayed the completion of the count until after midnight. The whole number of votes cast was 562.
In East Hampton, John Sherry, treasurer candidate, was unmercifully scratched and was defeated by Samuel Hildreth by one vote. The last reports from Riverhead cut Sherry’s plurality there to 23 votes, and it is said that Hildreth will contest the election.
100 Years Ago 1924
From The East Hampton Star, November 7
Last Friday night Prohibition Officers James Zegal and Merchant Phelps pulled over a Ford coupe here. In the car were twenty cases of Gilbey’s gin, very fine stuff, for which the men in the car testified they had paid $28 a case at Montauk. The men in the car were arrested but able to obtain bail on Saturday.
Also on Saturday, Officers Combs and Burris raided Steve’s Hotel, in Greenport, and seized a quantity of beer and ale. They arrested the proprietor as well as a waiter.
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The engineers at the East Hampton Electric Light Plant are today mourning the loss of their pet mascot, a beautiful goldfish, which evidently could not survive the great G.O.P. landslide election day, and lived in a large open tank at the rear of the powerhouse.
From a wee bit of a mite, three inches long, he grew in six months to a good-sized fish, measuring eleven inches long. What caused his rapid growth is a mystery. Perhaps it was due to the overhead irrigation, the warm water, or electrified air and the water combined. A peculiar thing about the growth of this fish was that originally it was gold colored.
As the months rolled by and it grew longer and heavier, the gold turned to silver, and when it passed away Wednesday it was a silver fish that died, not a goldfish. Jumbo will be greatly missed by the plant employees.
75 Years Ago 1949
From The East Hampton Star, November 10
The U.S. Navy announced on Monday the purchase of the Montauk Naval Base, established during the last war as a torpedo testing range on the shores of Fort Pond Bay, by the Goble Aircraft Specialties Co. This company has rented the base for the past three years, following its discontinuance by the Navy, and has used its warehouse facilities for the distribution of surplus aircraft parts.
The Goble Aircraft Co. now plans to use the property for three purposes. One part will be devoted to the establishment of a “sportsmen’s paradise.” For this the docks will be repaired and quarters for sportsmen set up. They also plan to set up a restaurant, tackle and repair shops and reception facilities for sportsmen arriving by plane, motor and railroad.
The Goble Aircraft Co. also plans to continue operation of its War Assets Parts Warehouse, probably for the next two years. And part of the property has been leased by the Kelite Products Co., of California, manufacturers of paint lifts and rust and soap detergents.
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Tomorrow is a holiday — Armistice Day — commemorating the signing of the armistice 31 years ago when the Allies vanquished Germany and her allied nations of Central Europe. . . . Millions of men gave their lives in that struggle and many more millions in the second World War in a brave effort to bring some sort of peace to this troubled world.
50 Years Ago 1974
From The East Hampton Star, November 7
Signs that the East Hampton Town Republican Party is resurrecting itself from the ashes of last year’s bitter local defeat to the Democrats were evident in the election returns of Tuesday night.
Though East Hampton voters continued a trend of ticket-splitting, Republicans turned out the vote for their favorite son, Perry B. Duryea Jr. of Montauk. Mr. Duryea ran ahead of all candidates here with an unofficial total of 3,967 votes. His Democratic opponent, Joyce C. Burland of Bridgehampton, did poorly in East Hampton with her 1,991 tally.
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East Hampton Town’s engineer has withheld final approval of an 80-space parking field in Montauk until repairs to soft spots in the surface are made next spring. The engineer, George Michos, a consultant to the Town, has claimed that Dragotta Construction Company, Inc., the contractor, mixed too much oil with bluestone in two surface coats of the East Lake Beach Parking Field E, thus creating the soft spots and “bleeding” oil.
Frank Dragotta, president of the local firm, disputed that finding this week. “At 40 cents a gallon I’m not about to put down too much oil,” he said. Mr. Dragotta, who has been paid $11,000 of a $17,000 contract, wants the rest of the money now.
25 Years Ago 1999
From The East Hampton Star, November 11
Borrowing a page from the 1960s activist handbook, neighbors of the Rowe Industries Superfund site south of Sag Harbor last Thursday unveiled four large red signs.
Lined up on the Bridgehampton Turnpike, they announced “Contaminated Groundwater Area,” “Cancer Causing Chemicals,” “Nabisco Is Responsible,” and “Please Boycott Nabisco Products.”
At an accompanying press conference, members of the group, which is led by John DiStefano of Carroll Street, said they were fed up with being ignored in their efforts to receive damages for health problems and decreased property values they say are caused by a plume of contaminated groundwater that lies under their neighborhood.
“What we really want is Nabisco to come to the table and make everything right with us,” Mr. DiStefano said.
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The rush to leave the house in the morning: Grab keys, coat. Cellphone. Beeper. PalmPilot. More than half the population of the United States will be using wireless technology by the year 2005, Ted Kreines, an industry watchdog and consultant, told the East Hampton Town Planning Department last week.
Prompted by the rapid proliferation of telecommunications towers in the town, and an ever-increasing number of applications for additional sites, the planners invited Mr. Kreines to visit for several days. His California company, Kreines & Kreines, helps municipalities decide how telecommunications sites will be developed and where to put them.
