“Pages of history” features excerpts from The News Journal archives including The Morning News and the Evening Journal.
May 28, 1973, The Morning News
Resorts full despite drip
Wind, rain and cold don’t keep mailmen from their appointed rounds, and they don’t stop tourists from coming to Delaware’s seashore on a Memorial Day weekend.
Like lemmings who hear a mysterious call of nature, they began the trek Friday as drizzle and 30-to-35-mph winds swept across the beaches in 50-degree temperatures.
Earlier speculations that a gasoline shortage might be felt in the resort area were proved groundless.
Most rooms were taken. State park camping facilities reported a good crowd. The Seashore State Park was full by early Friday, but Cape Henlopen State Park was never quite full and on Sunday afternoon had only 110 of 160 spaces filled…
The boardwalk was mostly for the young people who walked up and down and stood around in groups….
May 30, 1972, The Morning News
Gunman kills 3, self, at N.C. political rally
A calm gunman “shooting at everything that moved” killed three persons, wounded eight others and then killed himself outside a shopping mall where Sen. B. Everett Jordan was campaigning yesterday in Raleigh, N.C.
Police discounted theories that it was an assassination attempt on the North Carolina Democratic senator who was shaking hands just inside the North Hills Shopping Center.
Two of the wounded were little girls.
Witnesses said the gunman, a neatly-dressed black man identified as Harvey Glenn McLeod, 23, opened fire just as Jordan stepped through the plate glass doors. He had been chatting with two women. One was killed and the other critically wounded. The doors were shattered.
Witnesses said the gunfire went on for about two minutes….
Police Chief Robert E. Goodwin said, “When the first siren was heard, witnesses said he turned the gun on himself.” The chief said the man was armed with a .22-caliber rifle which he had purchased a few hours earlier, and a revolver….
June 1, 1889, Evening Journal
An awful flood; Pennsylvania city entirely submerged
A telegraph operator in the Pennsylvania railroad signal tower at Sang Hollow, 12 miles below Johnstown, says that 75 dead bodies have floated past him down the river from Johnstown.
It is stated that the reservoir above Johnstown broke and the water deluged the town, sweeping away houses by scores and drowning probably hundreds of people.
Wires are down, and no communication can be had with Johnstown….
Pennsylvania railroad officials in Pittsburgh state that they have advices that over 200 dead bodies have been counted floating downstream at Johnstown….
Johnstown is described as wholly submerged, only two houses being entirely above the water line….
June 1, 2003, Sunday News Journal
Neighbors criticize Cherry Island landfill expansion
From busy I-495, few east Wilmington landmarks can compete with the massive Cherry Island Landfill, a hulking complex that buries 525,000 tons of waste yearly on a flank of the Delaware River.
In coming months, the state’s busiest landfill will loom large on the political landscape as well. Opponents of a proposed expansion are stepping up public objections, saying the state buries too much waste and should recycle more….
Delaware Solid Waste Authority managers say the $60 million project will reduce the risk of a waste-pile collapse and increase the landfill’s capacity by adding nearly 120 feet to its height limit….
Critics in nearby communities have called the site an eyesore and claimed dust, odors and constant truck traffic pose a threat to public health….
More on Cherry Island:New Castle Council blocks landfill height increase; now it’s Waste Management protesting
June 2, 1953, Wilmington Morning News
Britons scale Mt. Everest, world’s highest mountain
A British expedition has climbed hitherto unscaled Mt. Everest, the world’s highest peak, planting the Union Jack on the icy peak as a coronation “gift” for Queen Elizabeth II, Buckingham Palace announced June 1.
The conquering party of climbers, who succeeded where 10 previous formally organized expeditions had failed, was headed by Col. John Hunt. Two men of his party – New Zealander E.P. Hillary and a famous Sherpa tribesman guide, Tensing Bhutia – had reached the more than 29,000-foot-high summit May 29….
Word that the party, fighting the snows and icy blasts on the world’s rooftop, had achieved their goal in a third attempt within a month reached the palace last night….
Catch up on history:The News Journal archives, week of April 3
June 2, 1953, Journal-Every Evening
Elizabeth crowned in ancient pomp; Millions crowd streets of London to hail monarch
Britain crowned Elizabeth II today in a magnificent spectacle of ancient pomp and pageantry, before the wondering eyes of her little son Charles, heir to the throne.
The thunder of guns and the pealing of bells proclaimed to millions massed in London’s streets the formal accession of Elizabeth the queen, the first coronation of a woman since Victoria, 116 years ago.
Crowds massed 25 to 35 deep acclaimed the queen going from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey and coming home again. Only 7,500 persons were in the abbey, but millions more could see the 2.5-hour ceremony by television, for the first time.
The 27-year-old queen, who had looked drawn near the close of the long abbey ritual – and once near tears – flashed her smile. The queen’s husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, was beside her….
Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.
