125 Years Ago 1899
From The East Hampton Star, July 21
Capt. Philip Taber, of Orient, and his hired man, John Barrel, nearly lost their lives in the surf at Montauk Point one day last week. Capt. Taber arrived home Saturday and gave the first details of his thrilling adventure. Capt. Taber conducts a fishing business at Fort Pond and vicinity. Recently striped bass have become plentiful in the ocean.
On Monday Capt. Taber decided to try the sport. His sloop, the Madaline, was anchored in the ocean about a mile west of Montauk Point. Taking a small sharpie in which was a bluefish net, Taber and Barrel went in as near as they dared to the breakers. Barrel was instructed to keep a sharp lookout for combers and when he saw one coming he was to pull off shore as rapidly as possible to prevent being swamped. Capt. Taber was too busy pulling at the lines to watch the position of the boat. Suddenly a comber came which capsized the sharpie. Both men were thrown overboard, and to make matters worse became tangled in the bluefish net which prevented their reaching shore.
100 Years Ago 1924
From The East Hampton Star, July 18
Almost nightly rehearsals for the forthcoming pageant, in celebration of the 275th anniversary of the settlement of East Hampton town, are in order nowadays. Miss Abigail Halsey, who is directing the pageant, may be found nearly every night on the village green directing rehearsals of the different episodes. It is believed that nearly 600 residents of the village will participate in the pageant, which will be the most spectacular production ever attempted in East Hampton.
A grandstand seating 1,000 persons will be constructed at the north end of the green. In the afternoon both sides of Main street along the village green will be roped off and seats arranged along the grass and roadways. The road will be closed between Buell lane corner and Woods lane.
—
It is expected that over 800 dogs will be entered in the annual consolidated Hampton dog show, to be held on the F.B. Wiborg estate, on the dunes, Saturday, August 23.
Last year’s show was held at Southampton and the show next year will be held at Good Ground. A special train will run from the west end of the Island to accommodate dog fanciers and breeders.
75 Years Ago 1949
From The East Hampton Star, July 21
Mrs. Edna Flannery Kelly of Brooklyn, daughter of Mrs. Patrick Flannery of this village, has been designated by the Democrats of the Tenth Congressional District of Kings County to run for Congress. Mrs. Kelly will be the first woman ever to run for Congress in greater New York City. She is the widow of City Court Justice Edward L. Kelly. Her husband’s political career ended when he was killed in a motor accident at Montauk in 1942. For the past seven years Mrs. Kelly has served as research director for the Democratic party in the Legislature in Albany.
—
A small group of taxpayers met at the East Hampton Village Office, last Friday afternoon, to consider recommendations for the zoning of the newly annexed village area on both sides of Montauk Highway at the western end of the original incorporated village. The annexation and zoning of this area has been under way for just over a year. It was unanimously agreed that the territory be zoned as residential; all in Class A except 300 feet along the Montauk Highway on both sides and a piece of Baiting Hollow Road — these will be Class B. The Village Board met in executive session immediately after the hearing and adopted a resolution which completed the matter.
The annexed area includes about four miles of highway. Mayor Judson L. Banister says that although there will be a difference in taxes this year — about $1 — from then on residents of the newly acquired district will find it cheaper to live inside the incorporated village than outside it.
50 Years Ago 1974
From The East Hampton Star, July 18
“Sometimes we at the government level even delude ourselves into thinking we know how the public actually feels,” County Executive John V.N. Klein observed last Thursday night at the East Hampton Middle School. The delusion was an “occupational disease,” he said.
—
A program of aerial and ground spraying by Suffolk County, using the controversial chemical Diazinon to combat the hordes of ticks which have been responsible this summer for an unprecedented number of cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, was postponed this week following an outcry from environmental groups and conservationists.
The imminent use of the spray in large areas of East Hampton, Moriches, Bellport, Smithtown and Patchogue had been announced July 10 by Dr. Mahfouz Zaki, director of the County Health Services Department’s public health division, in the wake of reports that the incidence of the disease, caused by a bite from an infected tick, had risen alarmingly. About 20 confirmed cases of tick fever are on record in the County so far this year; last year there were ten in all.
—
A young bicyclist was pursued by a pack of local dogs on Saturday at about 10:30 a.m. as she headed west on Town Lane, Amagansett, near the intersection of Town Lane and Abraham’s Path where the Bayberry Tennis Club is located.
Apparently, the dogs chased and jumped about the girl, causing her to fall on her head, bruising it and her shoulders. A group of people playing tennis nearby heard the barking, but did not investigate.
“I heard the noise,” said one woman, a resident of Montauk, “and when I was finally able to see the running dogs and the girl, it appeared that the dogs were running with her — that they were not bothering her — so I did not get alarmed.”
25 Years Ago 1999
From The East Hampton Star, July 22
The Kennedy family may have learned to co-exist with the press, but local residents traveling up and down Sagaponack Road Monday expressed outright disdain at the media presence here en masse in the face of the family’s latest untimely loss.
Whether from expensive sedans or hard-working pickups, driver after driver shouted words of contempt at representatives of more than 20 news organizations whose cameras, for most of the day, pointed at the gravel driveway of number 500, identified by a small sign reading E.C.R.T.J.
The letters stand for Edwin (Schlossberg), Caroline (Kennedy Schlossberg), and their three children, Rose, 11, Tatiana, 9, and John 6.
—
The South Fork’s Congressman, Michael P. Forbes, condemning the Republicans who lead the House of Representatives as “extremists,” abruptly switched party affiliations on Friday and became a Democrat.
His action brought predictable welcomes from President Clinton and Congressional Democrats, and condemnations from the Republicans, whose House majority has now decreased to only 11 votes.
Mr. Forbes’s staffs in Washington, D.C., and Shirley resigned en masse on Monday and left angry letters taped to the office doors. They have been replaced by staffers of key House Democrats who, it appears, have been courting Mr. Forbes since early this year.
