125 Years Ago 1899
From The East Hampton Star, June 16
On Monday last Jarvis Wood discovered the body of a man on the south point of Gardiner's Island. The authorities in East Hampton were notified and the coroner sent for. On Tuesday, by order of the coroner, undertakers Thompson and Osborne went to Gardiner's Island for the body and brought it to this village. The clothing on the body consisted of a black striped shirt and a pair of waterproof pants. In one of the pockets were found a jackknife and a padlock key. Nothing was found to lead to the identification of the body. It was in an advanced stage of decomposition, and death must have occurred several months ago.
In December last a Polander, employed on Gardiner's Island, crossed to the mainland to buy some goods. Between eight and nine o'clock in the evening he loaded his packages in the boat and started for the island, three miles across the bay. The next day the boat was found on Gardiner's Island shore, but the man was never seen again. There is a supposition that the body found is that of the Polander.
100 Years Ago 1924
From The East Hampton Star, June 13
Calvin Coolidge has received the Republican nomination for President of the United States.
The vote was taken yesterday afternoon, at 3:30 o'clock, in the Convention Hall at Cleveland. There were three nominees and the vote was as follows:
Coolidge, 1,065, La Follette, 34, and Johnson, 10.
Upon motion Coolidge was unanimously nominated for the office of president.
During the afternoon President Coolidge sent word to his managers that he wanted W.S. Kenyon, of Iowa, named as his running mate. The word came from the White House while Dr. Burton was in the act of placing the President's name before the Convention.
The news created a sensation when it came out on the floor.
Among the early surprises of the day were dispatches from Washington and California stating that both Senator Borah and Secretary Hoover refused to have their names used in connection with the vice presidency.
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Considerable confusion exists as to the requirements for the renewal of existing operators' licenses and also for new licenses.
The recently enacted law provides that on or before Oct. 1, this year, all persons operating motor vehicles on the highways of the State shall be duly licensed. It further provides that prior to that date licenses will be issued, outside of Greater New York, without examination to those having previously driven cars on the highways of this State. After October 1st, all persons applying for operators' licenses will be required to pass an examination.
75 Years Ago 1949
From The East Hampton Star, June 16
The home is threatened by disruptive forces all over the world. The family, some say, is disintegrating, and when the process is complete, society itself will have disintegrated and the world will be an unhappy place to live in. East Hampton, which prides itself on being the home of "Home, Sweet Home," has a special responsibility as a bulwark of the home. School children have been assembling at the Payne shrine to sing in honor of the poet's birthday for the past twenty-six years. This should have some salutary effect on the young singers' minds. They are the future builders of homes.
50 Years Ago 1974
From The East Hampton Star, June 13
The Cedar Point Lighthouse, which was on the verge of being entered in the Federal Register of historical transportation landmarks and being restored by the Suffolk County Department of Parks, Recreation, and Conservation, was completely gutted by fire the night of Wednesday, June 5.
What caused the fire was under investigation this week by the East Hampton Town Police Department. The police said that the two-story, granite Light, built in 1868, may have fallen victim to vandals or to sparks from the torches of welders who were working at the site earlier that day.
Police said that the Parks Department, plagued with vandalism of the structure's interior and exterior, was nearing completion of a project to cover the window openings and doors with steel plates.
The work on Wednesday, it was reported, focused on a foyer which the Department had built to protect the front door. A steel plate had been placed over the foyer door, said the police, but vandals, notwithstanding, had kicked their way through the board and batten sides, and had on Memorial Day started a paper fire in the foyer. That fire "burned itself out," said the police.
Russell Cullum of Springs-Fireplace Road, East Hampton, reported the fire. "I went out there on our way to fish at Barcelona at about 6 p.m.," said Mr. Cullum. "I smelled smoke -- the wind was on me -- but I thought they were burning rubbish on the beach." When he, his wife, Minnie, and their daughter, Wendy Ann, 14, went by Cedar Point "about three hours later, it was almost dark. I smelled smoke again. I got close to the rocks, and I could see smoke coming out of the windows."
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Intensive investigation has been in progress this week into the causes of the general-alarm fire that all but demolished a large section of the Maidstone Club in East Hampton Village early last Saturday morning.
The blaze, occurring almost exactly half a century after the Club was rebuilt following a similar fire, is thought to have begun in a heating motor used in the ladies' locker room on the ground floor of the west wing. The second floor of the wing sustained extensive fire and water damage; the third floor was burned completely away. Officials refused to estimate the amount of damage, stating only that it was "in the hundreds of thousands."
25 Years Ago 1999
From The East Hampton Star, June 17
An amiable East Hampton High School senior and soccer star, who was a week away from his 21st birthday, was stabbed in the heart and died early Sunday morning after he reportedly tried to help an older brother wounded in a fight outside a Montauk restaurant and bar.
The man accused of stabbing him, a 21-year-old laborer, was being held without bail and is expected to be indicted this week on murder and assault charges.
Despite efforts at cardiopulmonary resuscitation, John Villaplana, who was his brothers' designated driver from a Latino night at Rick's Crabby Cowboy Cafe on East Lake Drive, was believed to have bled to death within minutes.
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An 83-year-old surfcaster, missing since Monday evening and feared dead, was found tired and dehydrated but in good spirits deep in the Montauk Moorlands early yesterday morning. He had been without food and water for more than 36 hours.
"Are the Knicks playing tonight?" Peter Bushel, a retired New York City policeman and former security guard at Madison Square Garden, asked Charlie Flynn, one of his rescuers, after being discovered in a thick tangle of vines.
Members of the Montauk Fire Department, East Hampton Town police and harbormasters, as well as the Coast Guard, mounted a massive search of the south-facing coves and beaches between Montauk Point and Ditch Plain beginning Tuesday morning.
