125 years ago, 1895

For days the Youngstown Vindicator ran with coverage about a controversial law that shut area saloons during the Canfield Fair. Youngstown Police Chief McDowell and Anti-Saloon League President John McCurdy met for hours to discuss the proposal with neither side giving in. McDowell stated that he needed to meet with Prosecutor Kennedy before making his decision. The two went back and forth about finding a suitable attorney to aid in their debate.

McCurdy noted, “I would much prefer to leave this to a good, reliable attorney. What better advice would one want than ex-Prosecutor Roger’s opinion, of which I have told you? I don’t care particularly about what the prosecutor says. Although he advised his associates to not sell the beer privilege at the fairgrounds, thus doing exactly right. I now understand he says there will be no fair hereafter should local saloons be closed. And in regard to the city solicitor, he is as little posted about law as a man could be, and his opinions amount to less than nothing.”

Prosecutor Kennedy stated the city saloons could be closed during the fair but doubted that anyone in a position to do so would care enough to go through with the closure.

No beer-selling privileges at the fair were sold, resulting in no beer sales during the fair week. As a result, many saloon owners assumed that their businesses would remain open during the fair’s run, but that was not the result. The Anti-Saloon League employed several detectives to watch local saloons to ensure that they were closed, or at least not selling alcohol.

A few days into the coverage of this debate found the saloons closed. “A walk up and down Federal Street today was a most disconsolate and discouraging journey for a man who had a thirst to satisfy.” Some of the saloon owners were quite upset while others used the time to take a short vacation. A few remained open, selling only “non-intoxicating or what is more commonly known as soft drinks.” A particularly annoyed saloon owner sold what he called McCurdy beer, ginger ale named for the Anti-Saloon League president.

McCurdy was interviewed as the fair got underway and noted that no one was arrested for drunkenness and that it was well attended. He was openly frustrated that several saloon owners defied their orders to close and even more frustrated that Youngstown Mayor Miller seemed to support those saloon owners in their efforts. McCurdy continued to push for the prosecution for those defiant owners, but it seemed that most city officials were apathetic about the broken laws.

100 years ago, 1920

Taken directly from the Youngstown Vindicator:

“Safe Wrecked in North Jackson Post Office”

Cracksmen get about $350 in postal receipts — leave no clews (sic). Burglars blew the safe in the post office at North Jackson sometime during last night, Postmaster A. Jones found when he opened the door at 7:30 this morning. Post Office Inspector George Pate was notified and with Sheriff Ben Morris went to the scene immediately.

“According to reports received by Inspector Pate, the stamps and what money the safe contained were taken. It was stated, when the sheriff and Inspector Pate were notified of the safe-blowing, that the robbers had succeeded in getting away without leaving a clew (sic). The fact that the place had been entered and the safe cracked was not known until Mr. Jones went to open up for business this morning.

“The robbers got between $300 and $350 in postal receipts (around $4,500 in 2020). Postmaster Jones conducted a general store in connection with the post office but could not estimate his loss as all the money he had in his own safe and all records were taken. Mr. Jones seemed dazed by the shock of the robbery when Inspector George Pate interviewed him and could make no coherent statement regarding his personal loss.

“Two men were seen parking an automobile in the shadow of a church near the post office, between 12 and 1 o’clock this morning and it is thought they were the robbers. The safe was practically blown to pieces. It is thought the robbery was committed by professional cracksmen.”

40 years ago, 1980

Martin J. Heade’s “Salt Marsha Hay” was lent to the Vatican for an exhibit. The oil painting, a piece in the Butler Institute of American Art’s permanent collection, was requested by the Vatican Museum in Rome for an exhibit titled “The Mirror of Creation.” The Friends of American Art in Religion, headquartered in New York City, organized the exhibit and chose the piece for display. The exhibit was said to be the first of its kind at the Vatican and was assembled to highlight and “reflect religious or mystical feeling for nature in so much of our 19th and 20th century art.”

• Compiled from the archives of the Youngstown Vindicator by Traci Manning, MVHS curator of education.