125 Years Ago 1897
From The East Hampton Star, August 27
On Sunday morning last the Rev. Thomas B. McLeod, D.D., of Brooklyn, occupied the pulpit of the Presbyterian church. Dr. McLeod's sermon was one of the most impressive ever delivered in the church. The congregation was very large, and among the preacher's auditors were the Rev. Dr. Talmage and his son Rev. Frank Talmage.
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The life saving crew at the Georgica life saving station go through their surf boat drill every Thursday morning about ten o'clock. Visitors intending to go out in the boat should take bathing suits with them.
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Baker Williams had a narrow escape from having his goods baked to a crisp on Thursday last. One of the bakers was frying crullers, when the kettle which contained the lard tipped over. The lard spread over the stove and floor and the flames sprang to the ceiling. The baker grasped the blazing kettle and carried it out doors, burning his arms and chest so badly that he has been unable to do any work since.
100 Years Ago 1922
From The East Hampton Star, August 25
Baymen report that there are plenty of escallops in Peconic Bay, and that the indications for big catches are excellent. "But," one man says, "it looks now as if the price would be low, there are so many of the escallops here and elsewhere."
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The crash of field artillery reverberated throughout the eastern end of Long Island as men of the 105th Field Artillery began their first day of service practice with the French 75's, at an early hour Monday morning. At 8 o'clock all batteries had left camp for the artillery range in the vicinity of Great Pond, and horses and limbers taken to a place of safety in the rear.
The firing consisted of battery commander's problems in indirect firing. In this kind of firing the guns are in a position where in the cannoneers and gunpointers cannot observe the targets.
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An especial invitation to attend the annual tournament of the Suffolk County Volunteer Firemen's Association, to be held in Sag Harbor, August 30, has been extended to the fire departments of New London and all the companies in Suffolk County. The different committees are now hard at work to make the event a success. The firemen's committee is to work in conjunction with the committee having charge of an ambulance fund for Sag Harbor Auxiliary to Southampton Hospital.
75 Years Ago 1947
From The East Hampton Star, August 28
The Suffolk Board of Supervisors whisked through its monthly meeting in record time Monday, perhaps with the hope of escaping the near-record heat at some of the beaches or on some of the waterways which occupied much of the board's attention at the abbreviated session. Except for the assortment of marine matters, very little of importance came before the county legislative body.
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Hugh Martin took applause in Monday night's audience of "Best Foot Forward," as collaborator with Ralph Blane in the music and lyrics of the production now being presented at the John Drew Memorial Theater. The season's final production, "Best Foot Forward," taken from the book by John Cecil Holm, is a happy, fitting goodbye gesture. In praise of the show and the public's response, Francis I. Curtis, producer, is preparing to close his season on this happy note, "To have an already satisfactory summer end on this pleasant upcurve of good acting, wit and music is a treat to East Hampton befitting 'America's most beautiful summer theater.' "
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The East Hampton Town Police were called, at 8:30 last Friday morning, to investigate a robbery at the Marshall Prado gas station on the Montauk Highway at Montauk business village. Mr. Prado, who runs the station (the Bonner station) and the garage at Montauk Manor and a taxi service, had left $3,465 in cash and $447.99 in checks in the safe there, when he left the station at 10 p.m. last Thursday. The East Hampton Town Highway Department keeps a town truck there, and the next morning noticed a window wide open and reported it.
50 Years Ago 1972
From The East Hampton Star, August 24
Joseph H. Boyd, of Sag Harbor, the Republican candidate for Congress, held a news conference last Wednesday at the Perkins Hotel in Riverhead and accused his Democratic opponent, Representative Otis G. Pike of Riverhead of being "one of the most liberal Congressmen in New York State" and "a leader of the most liberal doves." He also said, accordingly, that he hoped his Conservative opponent, Robert David Lion Gardiner, of East Hampton, Bay Shore, and New York, would withdraw from the race. Mr. Gardiner has since suggested that, on the contrary, it is Mr. Boyd who should do so.
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Montauk
Dr. Ian Marceau, director of the Office of Environmental Protection in Huntington, spoke Aug. 19 to a meeting of the Concerned Citizens of Montauk. He condemned piecemeal zoning, and warned against further development of the Montauk area without serious consideration of the water table, wetlands, and sewerage problems.
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East Hampton Town has gone to Suffolk Supreme Court in an attempt to halt violations of the town's grouper laws, allegedly being committed by five homeowners in Amagansett and Three Mile Harbor and a New York firm that has promised "Coed Living in the Hamptons."
Allen M. Smith, special counsel to the Town, obtained an order Friday from Supreme Court Justice George F.X. McInerney directing the company, Summerlong, Inc., its president, Robert Zimmerman, and the five homeowners to show cause why they should not be enjoined from operating rooming houses in violation of the so-called grouper law, adopted as an amendment to the Town zoning ordinance last March.
25 Years Ago 1997
From The East Hampton Star, August 28
The floors are shiny, the bulletin board paper bright, and brand-new books, markers, and notebooks await those who will arrive with excitement or perhaps a bit of trepidation.
Yes, next week will bring the start of school. Those who have been planning for the event have filled their agendas with goals they hope will be braced with September's fresh air and good-natured nose-to-the-grindstone ambition.
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A hearing on the East Hampton Town Trustees' bid to expand their regulatory powers turned acrimonious for a while last Thursday night when two of the measure's supporters asked that only town residents be permitted to speak.
The target of their ire was Carolyn Zenk, an attorney with the Group for the South Fork, a conservation organization based in Bridgehampton.
John Carley of Springs, a Republican Trustee, called the lawyer a "carpetbagger," while Milton Miller Sr., a fishing captain and Independence Party candidate for Supervisor, shouted from his seat that Ms. Zenk should relinquish the podium.
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What are the chances? Two bottles bearing messages are tossed ashore after a tempestuous late summer storm. They are found one day, and 15 miles, apart (one in Amagansett and one in Southampton) by small children exploring the beach.
With the seas as rough as they were last Thursday and Friday, it's not surprising the waters would yield up a couple of treasures like these.
