Other Times
100 Years Ago – 1921: A fire starting from an overheated stove, and causing a small-sized panic among some 50 young people who had gathered for a social affair, last night attacked the auditorium of the Community Church at Essington, bringing almost a complete loss to the building before the fire engines from the surrounding boroughs could arrive. Smiles and laughter in an instant were turned to shrieks and plaintive outbursts, and in the helter-shelter escapes to the frigid atmosphere for safety, the wildest pandemonium reigned.
75 Years Ago – 1946:A
lone gunman, who may or may not have been the long-sought “flash” bandit, held up a confectionery store at 120E. Ninth St., Chester, last Friday night, cowed the proprietor with a pistol and robbed the cash register of $15in bills. He entered the small shop at
11:40 p.m., walked behind the count and pointed a blue-steel automatic at owner Roy Grubb, who was preparing to close for the night.
50 Years Ago – 1971: The standard fee charged by bail bondsmen in Delaware County far exceeds the legal maximum rate, according to President Judge John V. Diggins. “Bondsmen are limited by law to $10 for any amount (of bail) up to $100 and $5 for each $100,” the judge said. “Unhappily the public believes that in Pennsylvania the legal fee is a flat
10percent, and almost universally that’s what the bondsmen are collecting.”
25 Years Ago – 1996: For the second time in two years, the owners of the Pulsations night club in Concord have staved off a sheriff’s sale by filing for bankruptcy. The space-age nightclub-turned-stripclub turned white-elephant on Baltimore Pike was scheduled to be auctioned off this morning, but the Sheriff’s’s Office canceled the sale yesterday when it received word about the bankruptcy filing.
10 Years Ago – 2011: The Chester Republican Party will announce its endorsements for the municipal election tonight at party headquarters, 500 Edgmont Ave. With the terms of Mayor Wendell N. Butler Jr. and council members Marrea Walker-Smith and Shepard Garner expiring at year’s end, the GOP needs to reclaim each of those seats to maintain a majority on council. The Chester Democratic Committee endorsed Councilman John Linder as its candidate for mayor last week. If Butler seeks re-election, he and Linder would spend the next year working side-byside while also campaigning against one another.