Dipping into the past…

June 25, 2015 · 0 Comments

125 YEARS AGO
Thursday, June 19, 1890
• elegraphic and other advices received in Shelburne yesterday report the collapse of a bridge and the killing of five men on the eastern division of the CPR near Claremont Tuesday night. It seems a bridge had been damaged by the recent storms and orders had been given for an examination of the structure. For that purpose John Wanless Jr., bridge inspector, a driver, fireman and two section men were making a trip to the scene on the locomotive, but before reaching the bridge thought to be dangerous, the locomotive crashed through a smaller structure. The men were pinned in the wreckage and the volumes of steam from the locomotive burned and scalded the victims in a frightful manner.
• At about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday of last week a tornado passed about a mile north of Milton. About 2 p.m., the clouds gathered dark to the west and a heavy dash of rain, accompanied by lightning, swept over the countryside. As the storm passed, a tornado suddenly developed on the CPR near the works of the Toronto and Milton Pressed Brick and Terra Cotta Company and created a career of devastation to the east.
• Shelburne Volunteer Company No. 7, comprising 38 men, and commanded by Lieuts. Denroche and Windeyer, left Tuesday morning for Niagara Camp. Bandmaster Joseph Parks, W. Perkins, C. B. Hooey and James Jelly, of Shelburne Citizens’ Band, joined a number of players from Alliston to form the Battalion band. They will be gone about 10 days.
• More than 100 cars of potatoes, from last year’s crop, have been shipped from Shelburne Station to outside points. Mr. S. F. M. O’Flynn has shipped 22,900 bushels and E. Berwick & Co. 33,000 bushels. They are the principal shippers but there have been quite a number of cars shipped by other buyers and farmers.
• Says the Shelburne Free Press: Last Saturday a few of the “boys” of the town went out fishing. They were very successful in the fishing exploits, getting a good haul. But on Sabbath, instead of going to church and conducting themselves respectably, they so far forgot themselves as to go coon hunting. Names are suppressed. This is Sabbath desecration, and the last time, we hope, we shall hear of such doings.

100 YEARS AGO
Thursday, June 17, 1915
• r. Charles Mason, of Shelburne, Wednesday forenoon, received a telegram from the Adjutant-General at Ottawa, informing him that his son, Private Harold Mason, 4th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, was killed in action in France, on Tuesday, June 1. Harold went from Shelburne last August to join the 36th Regt. detachment, 4th Batt., for active service, and is the second of Dufferin County’s sons to be killed in action. Lieut. Harry McGuire, of Orangeville, who was killed at Langemarck, Belgium, was the first.
• Louisa Marksfelt, a young German girl who was working in Shelburne when war broke out, but left about September 20, is now under arrest in Toronto, suspected of being a German spy. She has been under arrest since May 26, but the fact was not known to the public until her appearance in Toronto Police Court last Friday, on a nominal charge of vagrancy. An adjournment was made until Friday of this week, when her internment as an alien enemy will be sought. Some Toronto officials look on her as the “real goods” in the spy line, while others think the principal thing the matter with her is that she is not quite right in the head. On Sunday she added to the excitement she had already caused by outwitting the matron at the Court Street Police Station, gaining an unguarded window and dropping a distance of many feet to the cement flags and making a bold break for freedom. She came to Canada a few years ago under the care of the Margaret Home for girls in Peterborough. About March 1 she came to Mr. John Newton’s, Violet Hill, and a month later to Shelburne to enter the employ of Dr. C. L. Morgan where she remained until about September 20, when she went to Niagara Falls where she worked in the household of Rev. James Barber, pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, who discharged her after rumours she was in the employ of the German government. Since then, she is known to have been employed in both Brantford and Berlin, Ont. She was in Shelburne when war broke out, and it was at this time that her actions made her the talk of the town and countryside. She was a constant visitor to the Economist bulletin board and gave very strong expression to her German sympathies on different occasions. She was credited with saying she would cheerfully poison the town’s water supply if only she could climb up the reservoir tank – a very foolish line for a real first-class spy.
• Crown Attorney J. L. Island, and Liquor License Inspector Thomas J. Robinson, successfully prosecuted two important cases in Shelburne on Thursday of last week, when a $300 penalty was imposed by Magistrates Hugh Falconer, Reeve of Shelburne, and J. J. Hall. The defendants are farmers. This is the first time the increased penalty has been imposed in Dufferin and the severity of the fine will make illegal sale of liquor a rare offence. William Bates, a Melancthon farmer, was charged with selling liquor illegally, and two sales were proven by the defendant to neighbours. In the other case, George Whitton, of Corbetton, was charged with keeping liquor for sale. Evidence proved that the defendant received a case of whiskey at Corbetton on May 11, and another at Melancthon Station on May 12, and a third that was shipped to Proton Station on May 25.

75 YEARS AGO
Wednesday, June 13, 1940
• full complement of officers of the Lorne Scots Peel, Dufferin and Halton Regiment attended a special meeting June 4 in the Brampton Armouries to hear Col. R. V. Conover, Commanding Officer, detail plans for summer training and announce dates for Officers’ Training Schools. More than 20 officers from the regiment will attend schools at Niagara-on-the-Lake next month.
• Rev. W. J. Tribble, of Shelburne, has notified Earl of Shelburne Chapter I.O.D.E. that he will give the proceeds of his building lot on Victoria Street, Shelburne, to be used by them solely for war work. The lot is next to Mr. Tribble’s own home.
• Mr. Tom Leader, Melancthon, suffered a severe loss about 9 p.m. Monday when fire started in his hatchery, caused when gasoline ignited from starting an engine. The building and its contents were a total loss. Mr. Leader was burned about the hand and his daughter received painful burns on her arms and shoulders.

50 YEARS AGO
Wednesday, June 16, 1965
• ayne (Sleepy) Marlin, of Louisville, Kentucky, will be coming to the 1965 National Fiddle Contest in Shelburne, on August 6 and 7. And since this year, the contest’s 15th, the emphasis will be on a Grand Reunion, Sleepy’s appearance will be appropriate since he competed the first time in 1952 when Mel Lavigne won the Open Title for a second time.
• Neighbours turned out in force to put in the grain crop for John Burns, who farms on the 3rd Line of Amaranth, near Shelburne, and in about 10 hours had finished over 50 acres. There were nine tractors, along with spreaders, cultivators, harrows and seed drills. Mr. Burns took ill in February and although having improved in health, has not been able to do any farm work since.

10 YEARS AGO
Thursday, June 16, 2005
• espite being surrounded by tornadoes and warnings, Dufferin County appears to have been spared. A cold front mixed with unseasonably warm temperatures to create a night of severe weather in south central Ontario. Twisters are reported to have touched down near Walkerton, Guelph and Elmvale. Orangeville Fire Chief Andy McIntosh said the area received only a severe thunderstorm with high winds and rain. The wind did knock down at least one tree in East Garafraxa.
• Dufferin County Council took ownership of Orangeville’s south arterial road last Thursday night. The new highway will be known officially as County Road 109, and there are plans to name its bridge over the Credit River for Tom Lockyer.
• Having settled with the elementary teachers about a month ago, the Upper Grand District School Board has now reached an agreement with the local chapter of the Ontario Secondary Teachers’ Federation. The agreement will go to a ratification vote by the teachers tomorrow.