100 years ago, 1913
The Durham wild-man, primitive nut, who made his debut in the woods at Durham a few weeks ago with nothing to cover his identity but bushes and his ability to evade all searchers, has been located. Nut was not a man nor was he a scare-crow. In fact, he was nothing but the leading man in an imaginary farce-comedy. About the time this shade of Adam made his appearance among the inhabitants of Durham, the blueberry bushes were covered with berries, says a Durham man. This was known to everybody for miles around. The few families living in the immediate vicinity of the blueberry patch, fearing that they were going to lose a part of the berries, schemed together to find some way of protecting the fruit, or vegetables, from berry hunters.
It was then that the wild man was born and his career planned out. Berry picking picnics were postponed. Nobody dared enter the wood or pastures. The effect on the berry bushes was as had been planned and the schemers harvested the fruits of their prevarications. Weeks passed before anyone dared to enter the berry pasture and when they did they found that the bushes had been stripped, even to the last berry. Thus they inferred that the advance agent of “September Morn” had gathered his stock of berries and had entered a cave to hibernate.
50 years ago, 1963
A Lewiston young man was hit on the head with a coffee mug in a local restaurant last night. A short time later, four sailors sitting in the same eatery were beaten up by a gang. Twenty minutes later, about a dozen local young men walked into the restaurant and went after four sailors eating there. The sailors were not involved in the earlier incident, it was said. The sailors were beaten up by the gang, armed with mugs and a club. Police were called to break up the fight.
25 years ago, 1988
The Auburn Teachers Association has asked the Maine Labor Relations Board to schedule a fact-finding hearing in an effort to get a contract signed before more of the school year passes. Auburn teachers began the school year without a contract.
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