Other Times
100 Years Ago – 1919:
An attempt to hold up Assistant District Attorney William Taylor while he was returning from Philadelphia in an automobile with his wife and three children Friday night about 9:30 o’clock along the Baltimore Pike, near West Avenue, Secane, was frustrated. A short time later, the burly ruffian, who was outwitted by Attorney Taylor, with his two confederates, endeavored to cripple a trolley car and rob the conductor. One of the men was beaten over the head by Motorman Dan Sweeney with his controller and the other two thugs were kicked off the car by Conductor Phil Carlin. The trio was arrested in a Back and White Taxi by Officer Bradley of Lansdowne while on their way back to Philadelphia.
75 Years Ago – 1944: In a trial held at Media before Judge Albert Dutton MacDade, a 54-year-old janitor at Chester City Hall was found guilty of receiving stolen liquor and also of the charge of purchasing liquor from other than a state liquor store. MacDade fined him $100 on each charge and imposed two jail sentences, one of three months to one year and the other of one-two years, the terms to be consecutive.
50 Years Ago – 1969: Swarthmore College faculty agreed Friday night to try to enroll at least 25 black freshmen students every year and seek about 10 academic “risk” black students in the 196970 school year during a six-hour meeting to meet “non-negotiable” demands of the Swarthmore Afro-American Students Society, which had occupied the college admissions office for two days.
25 Years Ago – 1994: Upper Darby Township will not appeal a judge’s decision allowing the Riverview Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill to continue temporarily housing the homeless as part of its ministry, Solicitor Alvin Ackerman said. An appeal of Common Pleas Court Judge Patricia Jenkins’ ruling overturning the Upper Darby Zoning Hearing Board’s attempt to quash the practice will not be filed on the order of Mayor Margaret Murdoch.
10 Years Ago – 2009: A Chester man dubbed “an armed career criminal” for multiple drug-trafficking offenses was sentenced Thursday to serve a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison. Chester police, the Delaware County Drug Task Force and an FBI special agent executed a warrant Jan. 12, 2007, at the 36-year-old’s apartment in Chester. At the time, he was on state parole for two drug-trafficking offenses.