Past Pages Sept. 10

130 YEARS AGO

Advertisement: "Carson Opera House engagement extraordinary - indescribable phenomenon of London, England, Annie Eva Fay: marvelous manifestations of modern spiritualism. Sensational experiments in full gaslight upon the open stage - an entertainment of 2-12 hours - Flowers are materialized and passed to the audience by hands plainly seen and the animated guitar that floats around the theater. The flying boat. The movable chairs. The marvelous babes, and other startling experiments."

120 YEARS AGO

All sorts: Frank Melbourne, the wizard, who yanks rain out of the sky is likely to get into trouble with Dryenforth, the other rain maker, by trying to steal his thunder.

70 YEARS AGO

Inducted: Joe Louis has been reclassified in 1-A and will be inducted into military training.

50 YEARS AGO

Best Sellers compiled by Publishers' Weekly - Fiction: The Agony and the Ecstasy (Irving Stone), To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee); Non-fiction: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (William L. Shirer), The Making of the President (Theodore H. White), The New English Bible: The New Testament.

20 YEARS AGO

Unhappy business customers are calling the state Taxation Department to complain. By September 30 business owners are expected to submit their first quarter payment of tax designed to raise $115 million.

10 YEARS AGO

An event you can count on, the Nevada State Museum hosts a two-day coin show. "Our show has turned out to be the most prestigious coin show on the West Coast, said a proud Greg Corbin, event organizer for the Nevada State Museum.

• Sue Ballew is the daughter of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.