125 Years Ago 1899
From The East Hampton Star, October 13
Mr. Walter Witter, of the U.S. battleship Chicago, will be in Sag Harbor next week, after completing a circuit of the globe. Mr. and Mrs. Witter will visit Mr. Fred Spath in this place. Mr. Spath's brother Philip, who was here last summer, has again enlisted in the 3rd Cavalry of California, and is now in the Philippines. He was also in Company E, U.S. Infantry, at the charge on San Juan Hill.
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Mrs. Phebe R. Reilly and Miss Sarah Corwith, two aged ladies of Bridgehampton, were nearly suffocated by coal gas Sunday night. Monday morning the servant went to their room to call them. She noticed the peculiar odor and became frightened and ran out to call a physician, thinking them dead. Mrs. Charles W. Forrest and Mrs. Roxanne Rugg discovered the nature of the trouble and succeeded in resuscitating Miss Corwith before the doctor's arrival. Mrs. Reilly, who was ill, was more affected by the gas and it was only after three hours' hard work by Dr. S.R. Corwith and the two ladies that she showed signs of consciousness. The gas came from a coal heater.
100 Years Ago 1924
From The East Hampton Star, October 10
The body of Everett Bartman of East Hampton, who was drowned two weeks ago today off New Suffolk, was found early last Sunday morning by Mrs. Spoon at Angine's Neck, between Southold and New Suffolk. The body was identified by the clothing and papers found in his pockets.
Mr. Bartman, twenty-nine years of age, was drowned while leaning over the side of his scallop boat to pick up Rudolf Irsa's cap which he had dropped overboard. The auxiliary sloop C.H. Davis was used by Bartman and Irsa in catching scallops in Peconic Bay.
An unceasing vigil was kept by fishermen for Bartman's body for days. On the tenth day the body was discovered by Mrs. Spoon.
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Peter J. Smith of Shelter Island, who is employed by the Fisheries Product Company to help lay up their steamers and look after the vessels during the winter months, had the misfortune to injure his right arm while at work in the Chappel Ship Yard last Thursday morning. Mr. Smith was helping moor one of the steamers and in some manner his arm was caught between the steamer Mason and the tugboat Bess, and badly crushed. Mr. Smith is under a doctor's care and it will be several weeks before he can resume his duties with the company.
75 Years Ago 1949
From The East Hampton Star, October 13
Both Houses of Congress will be represented on Saturday at the dedication of the Transportation Building at MacArthur Airport, north of Bohemia, when Senator John Foster Dulles and Congressman W. Kingsland Macy will speak. The ceremonies begin at 1 p.m. and end at 2 o'clock.
Senator Dulles telephoned Representative Macy on Sunday night in response to the latter's invitation, to say he had arranged his schedule to be present. The Senator and Mr. Macy are friends of some 30 years' standing.
A crowd of several thousand persons is expected to visit MacArthur Airport on Saturday to witness the dedication, inspect the huge Lockheed plant which will be thrown open to the public for the day, and go aboard the newest type of planes that are to be lined up on the field for exhibition. The $3 million field owned by the Town of Islip is one of the finest in the East, being three times the size of La Guardia.
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At the meeting of the Chamber of Commerce on Monday evening, the members decided to go ahead with the preparation of a folder on East Hampton which they plan to use in conjunction with an advertising campaign beginning next spring.
The folder will contain pictures and text on the entire township with a cover design showing Home, Sweet Home and the Montauk Lighthouse.
50 Years Ago 1974
From The East Hampton Star, October 10
East Hampton Town Supervisor Judith Hope proposed a tentative 1975 budget of $3,411,042, up 16 percent over this year's figure of $2,931,991.
The tentative budget, which is subject to revision by the Town Board and which Supervisor Hope expects will be cut, includes $2,703,768 to be raised by taxation and estimated revenues from other sources of $707,275.
The tax rates caused by the tentative budget would be $5.25 per $100 assessed value for taxpayers outside Incorporated Villages, and $1.98 per $100 for those living within Incorporated Villages. These rates were $4.38 and $1.62 respectively in 1974.
The tentative rate for those living outside Incorporated Villages would have increased by 87 cents per $100, or 20 percent. The rate for those inside Incorporated Villages would have increased 37 cents per $100, or 23 percent. The rate increases would be the highest proposed in a Town budget of recent years, perhaps the highest ever.
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Last Friday morning, Perry B. Duryea Jr. of Montauk found himself with a party of five aboard a French RTG five-car Turboliner train.
The trip was part of an effort by Speaker Duryea to find a train that could be purchased in the near future for service on the Long Island Rail Road, particularly on the East End, which has not seen any new equipment for many years.
On his return, Mr. Duryea said he was sold on the Turboliner, and could see no reason, other than a possible shortage of money, why the L.I.R.R. should not have one or more of these trains. "The ride," he reported, "was amazingly smooth. There was no feeling of acceleration or of slowing down for our first stop."
25 Years Ago 1999
From The East Hampton Star, October 14
Officials of Brookhaven National Laboratory held a press conference Tuesday to announce that new tests revealed plutonium in the sediment of the Peconic River.
The Federal facility first announced the discovery of "low levels of plutonium" in the river bed, on the lab's eastern border, in a June press release.
The lab has also received much recent criticism over a 12-year seepage of radioactive tritium into the ground from its high flux beam reactor, as well as other dangerous emissions.
On Tuesday, lab officials stressed that plutonium was found in such small amounts in the river sediment that it may have been just fallout from nuclear weapons testing conducted all over the globe in recent decades.
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The Bridgehampton School Board voted Tuesday night to lower the passing grade for students to 65 from 70. The grade was raised a few years ago with the intention of raising standards of achievement, according to board members, but the move ultimately created problems.
Dr. Stuart Rachlin, the District Superintendent, said that when the district raised the passing grade to 70, "the impression was that if you created a higher passing grade, that was raising the standard for students. Although that may be in part true, it created a difficult situation for students moving in or out of the district to schools that did not follow the same policy."
