125 Years Ago 1899
From The East Hampton Star, May 5
Good Ground is all right. Those who wish to abandon that old familiar name should go to the Samoan Islands, start a new town and name it to suit themselves. Let old Long Island names alone.
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The poor sparrow seems to have no friends. Even the children imagine they have a right to join in the battle against this bird. While this wholesale slaughter is going on it is interesting to note that the Mayor of Boston, who not long since ordered the destruction of all sparrows’ nests in the Boston common, is now considering measures for the protection of that bird, and a petition to that end has been signed by over four thousand citizens of the city. It is claimed that the birds are of more benefit than injury to the city, inasmuch as they protect the trees by eating vast numbers of insects and their larvae.
100 Years Ago 1924
From The East Hampton Star, May 2
After the disastrous fires which occurred in East Hampton last weekend the capture of a section hand at Bridgehampton, by Chief Morford Tuesday morning at Eastport, created quite a stir here, as the man had already admitted setting fire to the woods on the Three-Mile Harbor road.
Monday afternoon as John Huntting, clerk in Gregory Company’s store, was returning to his bungalow at Three-Mile Harbor, with John Payne, they noticed a man in blue overalls standing over a small fire near the edge of the road, just below David Lester’s home. Mr. Huntting drove his car a few hundred feet further on, when he remarked to Mr. Payne, “I don’t like the looks of that fire in the woods; let’s go back and see that everything is all right.” Mr. Huntting got out of his car and walked back and, to his surprise, noticed that the fire was gradually spreading, the dry leaves offering wonderful tinder.
75 Years Ago 1949
From The East Hampton Star, May 5
A 42-year old mason’s helper burned to death early Sunday morning when his home on Three Mile Harbor road was destroyed by fire. He was alone in the house. The East Hampton Fire Department responded to the alarm about 2:30 a.m., turned in by Raymond McMahon, who discovered the fire while driving on Three Mile Harbor road.
The fire apparently broke out in the bedroom, which was badly burned out, and spread to the kitchen. The body, burned beyond recognition, was found slumped on the floor near the kitchen door. An investigation was conducted by Town Police Chief Harry M. Steele and Patrolman Earl Finch. Police recalled that several months ago the man had attempted suicide by cutting his throat.
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For the first time, members of the Amagansett and Springs Village Improvement Societies were invited to meet with the East Hampton L.V.I.S., on Monday afternoon at the home of Mrs. A. Victor Amann. Mrs. Russell Hopkinson presided; there were about sixty present.
Mrs. E.H. Siter, Roadside Committee chairman, spoke of plans for further elimination of roadside advertising, and on the Long Island Association’s campaign against poison ivy and ragweed, in which the L.V.I.S. will again cooperate. There was considerable discussion of potato-growers’ encroachments upon the public right of way, plowing out to the roadway, especially on Further Lane.
50 Years Ago 1974
From The East Hampton Star, May 2
The East Hampton Town Planning Board brought the Town’s professional planner and the public together Wednesday night in a public hearing to consider part one of the “Town Plan for Open Spaces,” which the Town Board proposes as an addendum to the 1968 Town Comprehensive Plan. Part two is scheduled for completion by fall.
Thomas Thorsen, Town planner, reviewed the proposal, which was detailed in an advertisement in the Star early this month, including public, semi-public, association, and Nature Conservancy open space holdings within the unincorporated areas of the Town of East Hampton, indicating their locations with the aid of charts.
The holdings comprise a total of 4,508 acres, which, broken down, show Federal ownership of 41.8 acres; New York State, 2,381 acres; Suffolk County, 944.5 acres; East Hampton Town, 719.3 acres. Semi-public holdings or subdivision reserved areas include 187 acres; association holdings, 16 acres; and those belonging to the Nature Conservancy, 118.6 acres.
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A detective shot and killed a dog on North Main Street, East Hampton, last Wednesday afternoon; the dog had attacked him, and was one of four that had been harassing pedestrians and bicyclists. In East Islip, at almost the same time, a St. Bernard attacked and killed a six-year-old boy and was shot by its owner. Distrust of stray dogs here had been widespread even before these events, and both the Town and Village governments have been considering laws to control them.
The Town Police learned of the trouble on North Main Street at about 4 p.m. on April 24, when the East Hampton Medical Group reported treating a woman who had been badly bitten there. Her assailant was a black and brown mongrel, she said.
A moment later Alfred King, a Village police officer, radioed Town Police with news of four dogs on North Main Street attacking passers by. The four were harassing two girls on bicycles when Detective Richard Lia, Patrolman Wayne Fenelon, and Henry Chapman, the Town dog warden, arrived there.
The dogs proceeded to “jump on” one girl, police said. Detective Lia chased them off, two of them attacked him, and he shot one.
Canine notoriety was such by Sunday that reports of a trivial assault that morning, again on North Main Street, were thought ominous. A Labrador reportedly mistook or pretended to mistake the leg of a dismounting cyclist for a tree. The cyclist, evidently transfixed with horror, did not withdraw his leg until the dog had finished. The incident was observed and reported in detail by a police sergeant.
25 Years Ago 1999
From The East Hampton Star, May 6
The epidemic of copycat threats that has unnerved students, parents, and school officials all over the country since the Columbine High School massacre on April 20 reached East Hampton last week — three times.
On Friday, after school officials learned that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was looking into a seemingly threatening e-mail message sent to a high school student, all three East Hampton schools were evacuated and kept locked through the weekend.
At the same time, threats called in to Southampton High School forced the administration of Scholastic Assessment Tests there on Saturday to be canceled.
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Shadmoor, the 99-acre Montauk undeveloped oceanfront tract long on the wish lists of preservationists, will become home to four residences under the terms of a subdivision approval finalized by the East Hampton Town Planning Board last week.
After years of reviewing details of the subdivision proposal submitted by Shadmoor’s owners, Robert Bear and Peter Schub, the Planning Board finished its fine-tuning at a work session on April 28, and is expected to complete a formal vote on a resolution of approval next week.
