Other Times
100 Years Ago – 1917: In 20 minutes after President Wilson uttered the last word of his important war message to the world yesterday, the Times appeared upon the streets with every line of the message. This was made possible through the splendid wire service which the Times maintains for the benefit of its readers. As a rule the president’s message and all other import documents are given out in advance and held in confidence by the newspapers until day of release. But no copies of the president’s speech were given out. All of the splendid deliverance had to come word by word over the wire.
75 Years Ago – 1942: A Chester Army private, apparently convinced that his furlough at home would be his last before leaving for overseas duty, scrubbed a note saying, “This is the way I wanted it to be” and walked into the path of a swiftly moving Pennsylvania train at Sixth and Lamokin streets last night. The 28-year-old West Second Street man was found dead on the tracks about 8 this morning by an engineer of a north-bound freight. He is the father of a 3-month-old daughter.
50 Years Ago – 1967: A truck driver told police he was dumped in Delaware County after being held captive for several hours by three men who hijacked his vehicle containing $20,000 in package coffee. The 55-year-old Philadelphia said he was abducted about 8:30 a.m., driven around blinded in a car, then dropped off about 1 p.m. along the Middletown-Chester Heights line. The tractor-trailer was founded abandoned about 7:45 p.m. near a Trainer diner.
25 Years Ago – 1992: In an ongoing crackdown on speeders on East Ridley Avenue, Ridley Park police caught 40 motorists who exceeded the 25 mph speed limit between 1 and 5 p.m. Monday, police said. Four officers operating at excessive Speed Preventer,
which includes the use of two strips 6 feet apart on the highway, stopped motorists about two or three blocks away who did 36 mph or more. Their average speed was about 40 mph.
10 Years Ago – 2007:
Reducing speed and warning motorists of the school zone is the objective of signs along intersecting streets of two major roadways. Upper Darby council recently established 15 mph speed limits on Bond, Blythe, Alexander and Marvine avenues along Burmont Road in the vicinity of Aronimink Elementary and St. Dorothy’s schools.