Expired at the butter churn, and other wounds

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As The Times-Gazette celebrates its 200th anniversary, we’ll take a look back each Saturday at some of the important, interesting or even odd events as they were reported during the same week throughout the years, along with interesting advertising features from back in the day.

This week in 1877, The Highland Weekly News reported a temperance meeting at the Hillsboro Town Hall was a “rouser,” as pastors from here and there delivered impassioned speeches crusading for temperance.

An advertisement shouted, “GO WEST,” promoting the “shortest and most direct route” from Cincinnati to destinations like Nebraska and California.

I.A. Feibel’s store, the “Temple of Fashion,” advertised its grand spring opening with prices on all clothing under $4.

In the Buford news column, it was reported that a woman was found dead at home next to her butter churn. The autopsy verdict from the local doctor was “death by apoplexy.” “Wheat in this part of the country looks splendid,” the article added. “Peaches and cherries are all killed. Apples so far all right.”

In Leesburg news, the paper reported the “usual dull business season has commenced” with the beginning of spring, and work had begun on “the new Pike leading from this place to New Vienna.”

This week in 1908, The Hillsboro Press-Gazette reported an unidentified elderly man in the area cut his own throat after apparent financial difficulties. But, he survived, and lived to tell the tale – which the newspaper quoted verbatim. Said he, “I was out of money and despondent about my affairs and decided to take my life. I had a small pocket knife with which I cut my throat and thought that I had finished the job.” After the man’s throat was sewed up, he ate a hearty dinner and left for Chillicothe. Officials suspected someone else may have cut the man’s throat, but details were unclear.

Harry Charles, a local 10-year-old, chopped a wide gash in his foot with an axe as he cut wood at his parents’ farm. Dr. J.D. McBride sewed up the wound, and “no serious results” were expected from the injury.

Bell’s Opera House advertised a weekend run of the musical “My Wife’s Family,” by Stephens and Linton.

Lace curtains were $10 per pair at C.M. Kerns on East Main Street.

An advertisement for Frank Emmerling, a local optician, promoted the doctor’s skills, saying, “You will remember the quality long after the price is forgotten.”

This week in 1939, the Press-Gazette reported local resident, 29, had to have his leg amputated after he contracted a severe infection.

A large egg was put on display in the Press-Gazette offices after a local farmer brought it in. The egg, of the English White Leghorn variety, measured eight and one eighth by seven inches.

The Colony Theatre advertised showings of “Spirit of Culver,” starring Jackie Cooper, and “Lone Star Pioneers” starring Bill Elliott. “The Adventures of Marco Polo,” starring Basil Rathbone, was the competing weekend entertainment at Bell’s Opera House.

Kaufman’s advertised work shoes from $1.39 per pair. Work shirts started at 44 cents.

Pure refined lard was 27 cents for a four-pound can at A&P Self Service in Hillsboro.

Three young men were arrested after they allegedly ransacked the Mowrystown schoolhouse.

Seven high schools in the county were set to graduate a total of 119 students.

This week in 1986, The Press-Gazette reported former Ohio Gov. James Rhodes visited Hillsboro for a fundraiser at the Hickory House as he hit the campaign trail for the second time. Meanwhile, Rhodes was listed as a character witness for Johnny Paycheck, the country music singer on trial for shooting a man in Hillsboro after a disagreement at a bar. Rhodes had at one point given Paycheck a plaque recognizing a benefit performance the singer had made in Greenfield.

It was reported that if a Hillsboro city income tax issue were to fail in the primary election, one fireman per shift would have to be cut from the department.

Oil filters were advertised for $1.49 at Auto Works, motor oil was 79 cents per quart, spark plugs were 49 cents each after rebate, and car wax was $2.99.

At Bob & Carl’s, cottage cheese and orange juice were both 99 cents, tuna was 69 cents, saltine crackers were 79 cents, pot pies were four for $1 and turkeys were 69 cents per pound.

In sports, the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs held on to defeat Whiteoak in baseball action with a final score of 6-3.

The Hillsboro Indians tennis team scored a decisive win over Lynchburg-Clay with a final score of 5-0.

The Hillsboro Police Department was investigating the theft of some Farmers and Traders envelopes from a local woman’s purse.

Reach David Wright at 937-402-2570, or on Twitter @DavidWrighter.

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A weekly look back at news items through the years

By David Wright

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