Past Pages for Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014

140 years ago

A man, whose name is unknown to us, collided with a locomotive engine yesterday and got knocked into the Carson River this side of the Brunswick Dam. We are told he was walking toward the train, which was coming towards Carson but failed when he met it to calculate the variation of the compass in his staggering (he was full of potables). His left shoulder came in contact with the bunter of the engine and over he went, right slap into the raging Carson. Train came to his assistance. Brakeman James Fee grabbed him by the hair and came out a wetter, soberer and wiser man. The doctor found our Russian without broken bones.

130 years ago

A resident of Montana was out hunting recently and as a storm came up he crept into a hollow log for shelter. After the storm he tried to crawl out, but found the log had swelled so that it was impossible for him to exit. He thought of all the mean things he had done and his mind finally reverted to the fact that instead of subscribing to the newspaper, he had the habit of borrowing from his neighbors. On this he said he felt so small, he slipped out of the log. Moral: Don’t sponge from your friends, subscribe.

100 years ago

How the shock felt underground. Inquiry of miners relative to the effects of the earthquake brings some interesting statements. Engineer Brown, at 2,200 feet of the Ophir, reports falling rocks and a cracking noise like a cave-in. On the 1,000-foot level of the Con. Virginia heavy 6-by-12 splitters between two tunnel sets were broken off like toothpicks.

70 years ago

Lester O. Groth has filed for reelection to the Carson City School Board for two years and Charles Oliver for a four-year-term. J.P. Fodrin, a member for 16 years and president of the board, has announced he will not run again.

50 years ago

Bids on a contract to drill two water wells for the proposed Lahontan Fish Hatchery in Douglas County will be opened Feb. 27.

30 years ago

Singer Ethel Merman, a brassy Broadway star who belted her way to fame with the song “I got Rhythm,” died in her Manhattan apartment 10 months after brain surgery.

Trent Dolan is the son of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.