Looking Back: 90 and 75 years ago today in the Daily Register

90 years ago today

On May 28, 1925, a Thursday, The Daily Register ran a story on an 11-year-old Harrisburg boy who was held on murder charges. The article stated he would face a grand jury in Pennsylvania for the murder of his brother, Patrick, 14. The newspaper reported that Charley McVay, whose father lived in Harrisburg, was at least partially responsible for the murder on the Brown farm near Lickingville.

Also on May 28, 1925, The Daily Register reported that four men were held at the Gallatin county jail in Shawneetown on charges of burglary and larceny. The men, of Harrisburg and Dorrisville, were James Newcom, Floyd and Edward Morris and William Unsel. Over a period of seven to 10 days, the men broke into a robbed several stores.

75 years ago today

On May 28, 1940, a Tuesday, The Daily Republican ran a story on a fire that caused $25,000 in damage at the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Garage in Marion. The WPA was a government agency founded under Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, which was aimed at putting Americans back to work after the Great Depression.

According to the May 28 article, the fire was caused by a worker, Arlie Jack, who was attempting to empty gasoline from a truck, "A light bulb attached to an extension cord was used by Jack to provide the necessary illumination. The bulb was broken when it dropped from its point of suspension to the floor," and set fire. Gasoline coated Jack, who was badly injured from burns. Fellow workmen, 14 of them, rushed to Jack's aid. He was then rushed to Holden hospital in Carbondale, where his condition was announced serious, but not critical.

Before the flames were able to completely take hold, workmen managed to remove 14 of the 19 trucks from the garage in time to save them. The Marion fire department "called to the scene to fight the flames," but was "handicapped by a shortage of water. Water from a nearby pond was used to save two other WPA buildings, one housing a tile factory and the other used for tile storage, from the fire."