120 years ago, 1899

A miniature war erupted between neighboring boys. The children of Morgan J. Williams and his neighbor, J. Ausenhamer, were the opposing forces in a miniature war that had been waged for weeks, or perhaps months. The youngsters deployed stones and clubs during the hostilities, and it appeared that the Williams’ side was taking the worst of it. Mr. Williams went before Squire Webb and swore out a peace warrant against Mr. Ausenhamer. He stated that his neighbor’s sons, Carl and Emanuel, threw stones at his children each day.

Williams also stated that he repeatedly warned them and their parents of his intent to set the law on their parents if the attacks continued. His warnings were not heeded and he claimed that he might just as well have given the warning “to a stone wall.” Williams feared that his children would suffer a serious injury and asked to have the Ausenhamer boys placed under bond to keep the peace. The warrant was turned over to a constable with instructions to bring in the offenders.

110 years ago, 1909

A strange case had a very sad ending. Four-year-old John Vernon Spigler was stricken while at play and died 48 hours later. The young boy suffered from violent convulsions resulting from some kind of poison. He was playing in his family’s yard with his cousin when the seizures began. His cousin noticed John’s mouth twisting and asked him if he was ill, but he got no answer. Without uttering a word, the little lad fell to the ground. His mother rushed to his side and carried him indoors.

Several doctors were summoned to the house and worked with the suffering child for hours. The treatment eased the shaking for a while, but they found no cure. Everything possible was done for the boy, but there was nothing the doctors could do to stop the tragedy. The doctors believed that the victim must have eaten poison of some kind, noting that his symptoms were similar to those of strychnine poisoning. Mr. and Mrs. Spigler were at a loss to know where he could have obtained the poison and hoped that an autopsy would help determine the exact cause of death.

75 years ago, 1944

Cpl. Morris Polonsky, a graduate of South High, returned home to Youngstown on furlough after 2 1/2 years of service in England. Polonsky had nothing but high praise for the English people as a whole for the way in which they had stood up under the German bombs. Polonsky, an Air Corps clerk, said that he had some exciting times during his stay in England, but he preferred to look back on the actions and attitudes of the British people.

“I remember one incident clearly,” he said. “The town where I was stationed was undergoing a buzz-bomb attack. It was a new experience for me at the time, and when I heard the first explosion I headed to cover fast! But not the civilians. They sauntered along as unconcerned as if pop-guns were going off. They didn’t halt their pace nor so much as raise their eyes. They seemed to have the air about them that if ‘it’s going to get me, it’s going to get me’.” Polonsky was quick to add that he did not feel the same way. He recalled: “One time a bunch of us soldiers were in town when Nazi bombers came over. Crowded in a shelter, all of us were shaking in our boots. We were really scared. After that, though, we became accustomed to sounds in those shelters while under attack.” He added, “It strikes me as marvelous the way they have held up under the destruction and strain of war.”

40 years ago, 1979

Arkansas architect George Dombek exhibited several watercolor paintings inspired by the Youngstown area. Dombek came to Youngstown earlier that fall as a visiting artist to teach watercolor courses at Youngstown State University’s College of Fine and Performing Arts. Dombek’s work was based on photographs of “interesting scenes,” mostly of vanishing infrastructure and industrial sites. In Arkansas, he began taking pictures of mines and tipples after noticing that they were disappearing following their closures. His father was a longtime coal miner, and Dombek wanted to pay tribute to their endangered heritage through art.

During his tenure in Youngstown, Dombek was inspired by the local steel mills and other industrial scenes. His fascination led him to turn those vistas into watercolors. The show featured views of area steel mills, blast furnaces, chimneys and towers. He also displayed geometric drawing of fire escapes. Each piece reflected his architectural training with shaded lines and curves to add dimension.

• Compiled from Vindicator archvives by Traci Manning, curator of education at the Mahoning Valley Historical Society.