Past Pages for Thursday, March 12, 2015

140 Years Ago

Handkerchief. Carrie Smith, “The Spring Chicken,” attempted to commit suicide in the Virginia City jail by hanging herself with her handkerchief. She was unhung in time to save her life. She has tried this trick before — her neck seems a harder one to wring than that of most spring chickens.

130 Years Ago

Death of Hon. James Crawford. The former superintendent of the Carson Mint was at the home of his niece, Miss Lizzie Crawford, when he died. He was born at Hardinsbug, Ky., and came to California in 1852. He followed mining in Sierra County, which locality he once represented in the Legislature. In 1861 he was taken with the Washoe excitement and came to Nevada. He served in the Legislature in the session of 1873 and appointed as superintendent of the Carson Mint in 1874 and occupied the position for more than 10 years. During his time at the mint, there was never the loss of a single dollar.

110 Years Ago

Gov. Sparks affixed his signature to a bill providing for the new state building that will be used as a Supreme Court room and the State Library. The building stone and the foundation and walls will come from the State Prison. The budget for the construction is $40,000 and must be completed before Dec. 31, 1906.

70 Years Ago

Testing room. Once in a blue moon you will find something that you had least expected. The State Highway Department has offices in the Memorial Building in Carson City. The American Legion and the Spanish American War Veterans are permitted to have their quarters there. At one of the Spanish American War Veteran meetings this writer was asked to brew coffee for the guests, and was asked to go to the basement to find a gas plate to heat the coffee. Once down there I discovered a hidden laboratory where an absolute check is kept on all materials going into road construction.

50 Years Ago

Advertisement. “Carson Theater — ‘The Disorderly Orderly’ with Jerry Lewis.”

15 Years Ago

Census. Census forms will be sent to every known residential address in the country with all residents expected to return a filled-out form. Carson City had the second best rate for response in Nevada for the 1990 census. Hispanics and American Indians living in the capital city were significantly under counted.

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