
Joseph Carl Murdered, 1919
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Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Chester Dawald shooting, 1931
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Republican Compiler,Gettysburg, Pennsylvania,May 10 1836
Loss of Property - The Bloomsburg (Pa.) Register of the 26th ult. Says"
We learn from below, that for many years past there has not been as much
property lost on the river altogether, as during the present season. In addition
to numbers of arks stoved and sunk on the river, we are informed that upwards
of thirty were sunk on Friday last by high winds between Northumberland and
Marietta. We have ehard the value of the property last, variously estimated
$50,000 dollars.
Indiana Progress, Indiana, Pennsylvania, March 2 1871
The Bloomsburg Republican says the extension of the Catawissa Railroad passes
through an old fort of land belonging to Andrew Eves, not far from the mouth
of Muncy creek. In excavating through it quite a number of small stone
fire-places, Indian pottery and stone tools supposed to have been used in
making it were unearthed. Curiosity seekers have been very busy gathering
everything in the shape of Indian relics that have been turned up by the
plow and scraper.
The Indiana Democrat, Indiana, Pennsylvania,November 4, 1875
The corner stone of the New Normal School in Bloomsburg, Columbia County,
was laid on the 30th ult., by Prof. Wickersham and Hon. J. P. Allen
Daily Gazette and Bulletin, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, June 17 1880
The Bloomsburg Republican says that the storm which passed over that county
last Sunday afternoon did a great amount of damage. The barn of Mathias Moore,
near Buck Horn, was blown down, killing two horses and bruising one belonging
to Buckalew quite severely. The roof was blown off Col J. G. Freeze's farm
barn, and Jacob Dieffenbach's wagon shed was overturned, destroying a carriage.
Several trees were uprooted in the track of the storm, For a time the rain
fell in torrents.
The Columbian, Bloomsburg, Friday, September 25, 1902
Calvin R. Kressler has strayed in the pervert and foolish path and as a result to his misdoings he is now in jail at Sunbury. It appears that he has been acting the roll of a Judas Iscariot for some time past, but not until Monday morning was his treachery discovered. On the night before he and Miss Mary Walters, a girl of eighteen years, walked into Hotel Zerbe at Sunbury and asked for a room. After registering as man and wife they were given a room. The next morning Mr. Zerbe asked Kressler if they were married and he said no. The two evidently anticipating trouble hurried out of the hotel but the proprietor made use of the telephone and securing an officer had them arrested.
It was since developed that Kressler had been having considerable trouble at home and that his wife had sworn out a warrant for his arrest Saturday night but he could not be found. Kressler’s friends are dumbfounded at his conduct. Until very lately he had been looked upon as a man of correct habits but drink is supposed to have led to his downfall.
Time Magazine, Monday, May 5, 1924
Died. Clover, aged 53, "oldest horse in the world"; in the stable of his
master, Dr. U. Myers, of Catawissa, Pa.
Daily Sentinel, Saturday, February 3, 1894
Court Week Coming
Regular Term of Court Begins on Monday-Criminal List not Large-The New District Attorney will take hold
Monday next being the first Monday in February the regular term of court begins. The criminal list is not large, yet there are some four or five continued cases to be taken up such as the Berwick depot burglary, for which Abe Warner is now in jail, the case of Wm. Arnold chared with stealing a valise at the check room at the Bloom Fair last October and so on. Among the new cases of more than ordinary interest that District Attorney Thos. Hanly has been preparing is the one of Geo. Houghton who is charged with larceny by Jerry Brobst, of Catawissa; a couple of assult and battery cases against J. Smith and J. Fetterman of Centralia, and then a sort of family trouble in which Jacob Carl appears against his brother Joseph. The cast that will attract the most attention however is that of the Penna R.R. Co. against Harvey Sponenberg charged with false pretense & a brief of this case is about to follows: Several weeks ago Harvey Sponenberg who was then at Hazleton was out driving with a woman named Yeager and as they were about to cross the Penna. RR Co’s tracks at that place were run down by an engine and the woman killed, besides doing damage to the horse and buggy. Sponenberg then entered a claim against the RR Co., for $600 for the loss of his wife and damage to the horse and buggy. The claim was settled and later it was learned that the woman killed was not the defendant’s wife at all, that his wife was then and is now living in Lewistown, Pa. An account of the accident was published in this as well as nearly all the papers for miles around at the time, and much sympathy was expressed for Sponenberg who is well known in this county. What the sequel will be remains to be seen. Taken from beginning to end however this term of court promises to be quite interesting.
Thomas B. Hanly the new District Attorney is an active young lawyer of ability and at his hands the commonwealth cases will be carefully prepared and disposed of with dispatch and fairness. We bespeak for him a successful career in his new official capacity.
Daily Sentinel, Thursday, February 15, 1894
Harvey Sponenberg, who collected $600 from the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for the death of a woman whom he claimed to be his wife, but wasn’t, is a lucky man. He got the very best of the railroad company, something very few man do. They arrested, indicted and tried him in the Columbia county courts before a jury of farmers, who do not have the fear of corporations before their eyes, and they acquitted him promptly, putting only one-half the costs on him. Sponenberg ought to go on the stage. He is a great actor.
Daily Sentinel, Monday, August 5, 1895
Centraila Tragedy
High Constable Griffith Killed and a Student Seriously Injured.
Fetterman the murderer
A Drunken Row in a Centralia Saloon Ends in the Death of One Man and Another Man Will Probably Die—The Murderer Claims that it was an Accident
On Saturday evening, Constable Downey, of Centralia, brought Charles Fetterman, of that town, to Bloomsburg and lodge him in the county jail to await the result of the injuries which were inflicted upon Constable William Griffith and M.J. Costello, by the discharge of a gun in the hands of Fetterman.
The three man were in Fetterman’s saloon in Centralia on Saturday morning and were drinking quite freely and all of them were under the influence of liquor at the time of the shooting affray. At about 9:30 the discharge of a gun was heard, and those who ran into the dining room was Fetterman standing in the middle of the room with a double-barreled shot gun in his hands. Griffith was lying on the floor and Costello was lying partly under him and both covered with blood.
The gun had been heavily charged with buckshot and all the contents went through Griffith’s abdomen, cutting the intestines and making his recovery extremely doubtful. Costello was struck in the right leg and his knee was badly shattered by the shot.
William Griffith, the constable of the borough, was taken to his home where he died on Sunday afternoon from the injuries received. Costello was taken to the State Hospital at Ashland where he now hovers between life and death.
Costello is a member of the graduating class of Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia, and lives in Ashland. It is stated that he drank heavily during the past week and that while in that condition the men quarreled about some trivial matter and as is the general opinion in Centralia, Fetterman in the heat of excitement discharged the gun with the result above stated.
Charles Fetterman, a large, powerful fellow, aged 39 years, is confined in a cell on the upper tier in the county prison where he was seen yesterday, afternoon by the DAILY reporter. Both his eyes were blue and he presented a very maudlin appearance, due, as he says, to a little quarrel he had with several reckless characters Friday night. He appeared very anxious to talk and related every incident of the accident, as he calls it. He says that Costello, Griffith and he were in the dining room of the saloon and were drinking quite freely, but he stoutly denies having had a quarrel with the men who he claims were two of his fastest friends. While engaged in drinking, he took the double-barreled breech-loading gun and tried to extract a loaded shell but by some chance or other his finger touched the trigger and the gun was discharged, the shot striking both Costello and Griffith. Fetterman was seemingly oblivious of the fact that the men are dangerously wounded and in speaking with the reporter thought that it was unjust to have him imprisoned here while there was no one to take care of his business in Centralia.
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