“Pages of history” features excerpts from The News Journal archives including the Wilmington Morning News, the Journal-Every Evening and the Evening Journal.
Nov. 28, 1925, Evening Journal
Train latest in deluxe service; 35 hours from N.Y. to Palm Beach
More convenience than ever before has been provided for winter travel between the North and South with the establishment of three deluxe trains between New York and Florida by the Seaboard Air Line Railway.
These new trains are known as the “Orange Blossom Specials,” and the first trip of one of these splendid Twentieth Century palaces on wheels was made last weekend. The train left New York last Saturday morning at 10 o’clock with 249 passengers on board….
At about the same time a similar special left West Palm Beach, Florida for the North….
The cars are finished in olive green with floral decorations. They are the last word in modern steel railroad car construction.
Fred Geissler, assistant passenger traffic manager, acted as host to the party of guests and passengers. He proved a delightful entertainer and was ever on the alert to direct little comforts to be done for the care of those in his charge….
The diner is a feature of the train. The very finest food stuffs are used for the table and at intervals during the day, refreshing orange juice is served….
The first “Orange Blossom Special” wheeled in on time at West Palm Beach just 35 hours after it left New York City. All the guests and the passengers declared it was the easiest riding railroad train they had ever traveled on….
More recent railroad news:Train strikes vehicle stuck on railway track in Newark on Wednesday evening
Nov. 30, 1942, Journal-Every Evening
Patron’s joke blamed for Boston night club fire that killed 477
Tragedy hung like a pall over Boston today in the wake of the disastrous fire which in the flash of an eye swept the fashionable Coconut Grove night club last Saturday night, causing a death toll of 477….
At least 185 persons were injured.
A prankster’s “joke” was believed to have been the cause of the tragedy. As official investigations got underway, a 16-year-old bus boy told police he inadvertently started the catastrophe by dropping a lighted match on an artificial palm tree while replacing an electric light bulb in the ceiling. The bulb had been removed as a gag by one of the merrymakers.
It was the worst fire disaster in America since the Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago in 1902 which cost 602 lives….
Dec. 1, 1993, The News Journal
School desegregation accord reached
The 15-year-old northern New Castle County desegregation order would be dissolved under a tentative settlement announced yesterday by state and city officials and the Coalition to Save Our Children.
Gov. Tom Carper and Paul R. Fine, president of the State Board of Education, said they hope more students eventually will be able to attend community schools.
But Wilmington Mayor James H. Sills Jr. said the agreement would ensure that city schools do not revert to being mostly black.
The agreement won’t be final until it is approved by U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson, the full state board, the four northern New Castle County school boards – Brandywine, Christina, Colonial and Red Clay Consolidated.
The state board and the four districts had asked U.S. District Court to declare them successfully desegregated and close the case. The coalition, representing blacks, objected that the original goals had never been met completely. The city joined the negotiations with the coalition to protect the interests of its students, both black and white….
City-suburban busing cannot end before the 1997-98 school year because of racial balance provisions….
The agreement gradually eases expectation for racial balance among schools….
Carper urged districts to follow the Red Clay Consolidated plan, permitting students to choose among schools.
Attorney General Charles M. Oberly III said districts might decide to assign students to schools closer to their homes because it will benefit them educationally. But there is “a very fine line” between that and violating the U.S. Constitution, he said….
Catch up on history:California quake, panic on Wall Street: News Journal archives, week of Oct. 16
Dec. 3, 1955, Journal-Every Evening
Georgia governor hanged in effigy over Sugar Bowl ban
Angry Georgia Tech students, in an all-night protest against a move to take Tech out of the Sugar Bowl, hanged Gov. Marvin Griffin in effigy all over Atlanta, broke into the State Capitol and staged a 2 a.m. demonstration at the governor’s mansion….
Griffin had raised the racial issue, calling for a ban on Georgia college teams playing teams that have Negro members. Pittsburgh has Bobby Girer, a Negro, on its team.
Chairman Robert O. Arnold called a meeting of the University System Board of Regents for 11:30 a.m. Monday to consider the issue….
Since he and Tech coach Bobby Dodd are to appear at the regents’ meeting, Tech president Blake Van Leer postponed a promised statement on the dispute….
Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.
