125 Years Ago 1900
From The East Hampton Star, May 18
The largest number of immigrants landed in a single day at New York for many years passed through the Barge Office Wednesday. There were 4,657 of them from six ships. It is probable that the immigration for this month will exceed by thousands the figures of last May. The number of home seekers landed last month was 46,677, which exceeded the figures of April 1899 by 18,874.
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Here is a copy of a card which recently came to our notice. Ten good reasons why every respectable man should swear just as often and as hard as he can:
1) Because it is such an elegant way of expressing one’s thoughts. 2) Because it is such a conclusive proof of good taste and good breeding. 3) Because it is such a sure way of making one’s self agreeable to his friends. 4) Because it is a positive evidence of acquaintance with good literature. 5) Because it furnishes such a good example and training for boys. 6) Because it is just what a man’s mother enjoys having her son do. 7) Because it would look so nice in print. 8) Because it is such a good way of increasing one’s self-respect. 9) Because it is such a help to manhood and virtue in many ways. 10) Because it is such an infallible way of improving one’s chances in the hereafter.
100 Years Ago 1925
From The East Hampton Star, May 15
Four of the five alleged hijackers who raided the $250,000 liquor cache on the Benson estate were arraigned before County Judge Furman in Suffolk County Court on two indictments charging burglary in the first degree and agreement to accept a bribe.
They were State Trooper William Dalmage, who was wounded when the bootleggers defended their stock, Frank and Thomas Smith, and William Shaber. They pleaded not guilty and waived the reading of the indictment and bail of $5,000 for Dalmage and $2,500 for each of the others. Jerry O’Keefe, former State Trooper, the fifth man in the raid, has not yet been apprehended.
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The public meeting on the proposition of adopting a zoning system in East Hampton held last Tuesday proved to be a very quiet meeting, as nearly all of the thirty or more taxpayers in the assemblage were in favor of the proposition.
A few thought that the proposition was to be either adopted or rejected at this meeting, but Village President N.C. Osborne explained that the people had been called together to express their opinions whether for or against zoning the village. An informal vote was taken before the meeting adjourned and the majority were in favor of adopting the zoning system.
75 Years Ago 1950
From The East Hampton Star, May 18
Registered reportable communicable diseases decreased from 1,053 cases during March to 497 during April. Scarlet fever was reported in 58 instances, dropping from 71 in March. With the exception of five in the preschool age and seven in age groups over 15, all the cases occurred in children of grade-school age.
Measles was the leading cause of sickness, with 238 cases, which was a drop from 386 in March. Only 17 cases, or slightly over 7 percent, were reported in children under 5 years of age. Brookhaven and Islip Towns registered 141 and 41 cases respectively.
Mumps was the third cause of reported sickness, with 81 cases, compared with 295 for the preceding month. Other diseases reported in order of frequency were chicken pox, 43, whooping cough, 24, pneumonia, 18, tuberculosis, 19, and German measles, 5.
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Bruno Huhn, composer, pianist, and conductor, who made his summer home at The Huntting in East Hampton for about twenty-five years, died in New York on Saturday. Mr. Huhn was born 78 years ago in London, England, came to this country in 1891 and, as a naturalized citizen, pursued almost his entire musical career in this country.
Perhaps his best-known composition was “Invictus,” which set to music the poem by William Ernest Henley containing the lines “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”
50 Years Ago 1975
From The East Hampton Star, May 15
In what must be the nautical equivalent of being hoist with your own petard, David Edwards of Montauk got his dragger cable looped around a boulder on the bottom of Block Island Sound May 1 and ended up capsizing his 40-foot trawler Ruth M trying to winch it free.
For about five minutes, Mr. Edwards, 22, his two young mates, and one Labrador retriever mascot floundered around in punishingly-cold water about a mile and a quarter off the Montauk breakwater before a passing outboard scooped them aboard.
Mr. Edwards and his mates, John Riley and Debbie Kuntz, had been fishing for about four hours when the cable for their net got hung up on the boulder. Divers later found out that the boulder was five feet tall.
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Grains of salt were taken in profusion last Wednesday night when two oil executives told the East Hampton Town Board that self-service gasoline stations, which it is proposing to prevent here, would save customers money. The consumers and gasoline dealers who spoke at the 53-minute hearing did not seem to believe that oil companies cared about saving consumers money.
Gasoline at self-service pumps is in fact about 2 cents a gallon cheaper. However, the dealers argued, customers patronizing these pumps risked their health and would be frustrated if they wanted other, mechanical service.
25 Years Ago 2000
From The East Hampton Star, May 18
With Memorial Day just around the corner, the State Department of Transportation is scrambling to finish work on a temporary bridge between Sag Harbor and North Haven. But there is little hope, according to the agency, that it will be ready before the beginning of the summer rush.
“Memorial Day was always the goal,” said Eileen Peters, a D.O.T. spokeswoman. “That is what we were shooting for. But the drop-dead date has always been July 4.” Officials are now predicting that the bridge will open in mid-June.
Work began to replace the bridge last September, and completion of the project was slated for Memorial Day 2001. But problems along the way, including the collapse into the cove of a crane and of more than half of what was left of the bridge, have slowed the project down considerably.
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After two weeks during which fishing vessels were repeatedly boarded and cars and trucks stopped by state police in Montauk, state police officials said this week that the creation of a “special detail” was justified, although it was only obliquely connected with the May 1 slashing of tires on state police vehicles at the Montauk Yacht Club.
“It began as a joint investigation into the tire slashing led by the East Hampton cops,” said Mark Lowery, a spokesperson for the State Department of Environmental Conservation. “As a result [state environmental police] discovered widespread violations of fishery laws. A special detail was formed. Yes, there is a link, but it’s not retribution, and it will continue until compliance improves.”
