100 years ago, 1913
Durham, as a whole, objects. It insists that there was a wild man, crazy man or some other abnormal creature wandering in the woods, lanes and cow paths of the town’s suburbs for many days in the past month. It declares that the wild man was a reality, not a hoax. One man from the town has started much discussion. He gave out a tale to the effect that the scare was started for the sole purpose of keeping people away from an extremely profuse and luscious crop of blueberries. This assertion is declared to be unwarranted by a large portion of the townspeople. They say there were few berries on the lot, anyway, and that positively there was some person or thing wandering about. They saw the tracks, found the club which the man threw away, found empty cans, with the dregs of milk and a partially eaten lunch. Also, one woman saw the wild man engaged in milking cows in a field. They do not question the existence of the wild man.
50 years ago, 1963
Roaring flames jumped leapfrog along a row of barns at the Lewiston fairgrounds early today, virtually leveling the horse and cattle sheds. Scores of horses, freed from the burning barns just in time, raced over a maze of hoses, scattering firemen and spectators. Three persons were unaccounted for at 2:15 a.m. and it was feared they had perished in the flames. The number of horses lost in the blaze will probably run as high as 20 or more. Three of the horses were said to be owned by Maine Governor John Reed.
25 years ago, 1988
St. Mary’s Hospital has modified its proposal for a $1.6 million adolescent psychiatric program, leading state officials to recommend approval for a program they opposed less than two months ago. At the same time, Central Maine Medical Center has requested that its own $2 million adolescent program be granted “suspended review status.” State officials had said that neither hospital had justified increasing the number of beds.
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