Another year, another time | Turning back the pages

Oct. 2, 1656 – Connecticut Colony passed a law providing for Quakers to be fined and banished as religious heretics. Massachusetts followed suit the same month. (Update: My own ancestor, Mary Dyer, whose statue is located on Boston common, was involved in this debacle.) Oct. 2, 2005 – The tour bus vessel Ethan Allan capsized on Lake George and twenty elderly passengers died. Oct. 4, 2006 – Former first lady Laura Bush visited the Hall of Springs in Saratoga Spa State Park. Oct. 6, 2007 – Dr. Maxwell A. Mintz, of Glens Falls, an ophthalmologist at Glens Falls Hospital, was honored at a 100th birthday celebration at the Queensbury Hotel. (Update: Dr. Mintz, 101, died Jan. 6, 2009. His wife, Maria died in 1990.) Oct. 7, 1777 – The second battle of Saratoga was fought. Benedict Arnold lost his leg there. Oct. 12, 2007 – Former Vice-President Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his warning about global warming. Oct. 13, 1917 - Mary, mother of Jesus, appeared to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal and produced a miracle of the sun witnessed by 70,000 people. Oct. 13, 1963 – There was a Warren County Municipal Center dedication and the building was open to the public for the first time. Oct. 14, 1912 – John Flammang Schrank shot Theodore Roosevelt in the chest at Milwaukee. Roosevelt survived and gave a campaign speech with the bullet still in his chest. Oct. 15, 1995 – At 7:50 a.m. a transformer exploded at the Warren County Garage, on upper Main Street near the landfill and caused a great deal of damage. (Update: I lived directly across the street at the time and felt the floor shake beneath my feet.) Oct. 15, 1815 – James Caldwell deeded property in Caldwell (now Lake George village) to build a courthouse. Oct. 16, 1995 – The Red Lobster restaurant, in Queensbury, opened for the first time. Oct. 16, 2005 – There was an open house at Glens Falls Hospital for the public to view for the first time the new "Northwest Tower" addition. 2,000 people attended. Oct. 17, 1781 – General Charles Cornwallis, with his army of 8,000 Redcoats and Hessians, made a formal offer of surrender to George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia. Oct. 17, 1995 – Jeanne Calment, in Paris, France, celebrated becoming 120 years, 238 days old, earning the title of being the oldest person in the world. Oct. 17, 2006 – Tuesday, 7:46 a.m., the number of people living in the United States reached 300 million. Oct. 18, 1781 – At the close of the American Revolution, the Augustine and Lucy Moore house on the Yorktown Battlefield was where the terms of General Cornwallis' surrender were negotiated. (Update: The war officially ended on Oct. 19, 1781.) Oct. 18, 1932 – M.J. Livingston became the proprietor of the Warrensburg News, a newspaper born in 1878. Oct. 19, 1949 – Workmen were tearing down the time honored old Fort William Pergola on the Beach Road, Lake George, in order to build a new road. Oct. 21, 1942 – Television celebrity Judge Judy Sheindlin, 74, was born. Oct. 21, 1909 – Dr. Cyrus S. Merrill and daughter, Miss Grace, of Albany and Warrensburgh, started on a vacation trip around the world. (Update: Their home here is now the Merrill-Magee House.) Oct. 21, 1898 – The beautiful Neptune Fountain, that once stood in front of the Rockwell Hotel, in the middle of Glen Street, Glens Falls, was dismantled and was eventually sold for scrap during World War II. Oct. 22, 2005 – The TV History Channel filmed the paddle-wheel Minne-Ha-Ha, on Lake George, to make a film about the 1865 explosion and sinking of the paddle-wheel steamship Sultana on the Mississippi when 1,800 soldiers were drowned. Oct. 23, 2005 – The first snow of the season fell on this area. Oct. 23, 2001 – NASA's unmanned space craft, Mars Odyssey, reached Mars and entered orbit. Oct. 24, 1935 – Famous law breaker and bad guy, Arthur Flegenheimer ("Dutch Schultz") died of a rusty .45 bullet wound in Newark, New Jersey. Oct. 24, 1926 – The Aw-Kum-On Inn, located near the Judd Bridge, in Warrensburg, was burned under suspicious circumstances. Oct. 24, 1823 – Israel Bissell, 71, died in Hinsdale, Conn. In 1775 he rode his horse 345 miles from Boston to Philadelphia to spread the word, "To arms, to arms, the British are coming." (Update: Paul Revere was later given credit for Mr. Bissell's deed. The Revolutionary War had begun!) Oct. 25, 1960 – Automobile dealer Karl Duell's Oldsmobile Garage, corner of Routes 9 and 28, in Warrensburg, burned in a spectacular fire. (Update: I was a bystander there that awful, but memorable night.) Oct. 25, 1978 – The Worden Hotel and the Arlington Hotel, combined to make the Lake George Hotel on Canada Street, burned. This great hotel was a total loss. Oct. 25, 1998 – A ceremony at the Warren County Airport, hoisted by Warrensburg Supervisor Jerry Quintal, took place as the name was changed to Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport. (Update: I had a happy front row seat that day when the airport was re-named after Warrensburg's famous hero.) Oct. 26, 1843 – The courthouse in Caldwell (now Lake George) was destroyed by fire. (Update: see Oct. 15, 1815.) Oct. 26, 1947 – Hillary Rodham Clinton was born. Oct. 26, 1962 – The cornerstone of the new county municipal building was laid at Lake George. Oct. 26, 2001 - Congressman Jerry Soloman, 71, died at 12:07 p.m. of heart failure. Oct. 27, 2002 – The dead body of Dorothy Finelli, 59, of Lake Luzerne, was found in Viele Pond, Warrensburg. Heath B. Russell was convicted of second degree murder in her death and was sentenced to 25 years to life. Oct. 28, 1986 – At 11:45 p.m. a fire started in the rear of the Jacob's and Toney grocery store at 157 Main Street, Warrensburg. The store burned along with the adjoining D&G hardware store and Marco Polo Pizza shop. Warrensburg fire Chief Jerry Pennock and 90 firefighters and fire companies from many other towns fought the gigantic blaze. Four people in upstairs apartments were left homeless. Oct. 29, 1901 – Leon F. Czolgosz, 28, was executed in the electric chair for the murder of President William McKinley, whom he shot in Buffalo. Oct. 29, 1989 – It was 71 degrees in Warrensburg. Oct. 29, 1998 – John Glenn returned to space after an absence of 36 years. Oct. 29, 1999 – A full grown Lynx was seen crossing the road, in broad daylight in Thurman. Oct. 29, 2006 – Indian Lake received 11 inches of snow and Warrensburg received not a single flake. Old Forge received 16 inches. Oct. 31, 1978 – Construction began on the expansion of the Warrensburg Fire House on Elm Street. Oct. 31, 1994 – Warrensburg resident Morry Stein died in a plane crash.

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