100 YEARS AGO — 1919

As a result of the progressive action of the Perryville residents in getting enough money to pay for their share of the construction of the road and a new bridge over Chaplin River, Boyle Fiscal Court decided on the route through Danville to Perryville for the Federal Highway through the county. The people of Perryville were given only a few days in which to make up enough money to pay for their part of the road and in a few days’ time, reported that they had gone over the top.

 

From about 10 p.m. till near daylight, there was an almost continuous flight of wild geese over Danville on their way to Southern waters. The “honk, honk” of one flock would scarcely die away in the distance until another one could be heard approaching from the north. Upon hearing a strange noise in his yard late in the night, Dr. Dunlap went out to investigate and was surprised to find a large number of the birds, running about in confusion. This flock had evidently lost their leader and became confused by the electric lights. None were captured or killed, however, some hunters were out looking for them in the nearby fields early this morning.

 

On Oct. 31 it will be Hallowe’en, the night of nights for ghosts and goblins, and the small boy and some of the large boys, will be out for mischief. Gates should be chained and all movable and immovable articles outside the house should be brought inside. Police officers should be on guard and see that valuable property is not destroyed.

 

Mercer County Judge J.W. Davenport caught a man stealing a sack full of corn from his field and compelled him to get into his automobile and went to Harrodsburg to deliver the culprit to the officials. On North Main Street the thief jumped from the machine and made a break for freedom. There was pretty lively excitement as the people on the street started chasing the man, but he escaped by jumping the fences and running through private property. While the judge had seen the man often, he didn’t know his name and no one in the chase could identify him either.

 

75 YEARS AGO — 1944

 

Sergeant Billy Murphy Jr., Coast Artillery Corps, U.S. Army, and husband of the former Alene Devine of Perryville, has received a citation signed by Gen. Mark Clark and was awarded the Bronze Star for heroic achievement in action near Anzio, Italy on Feb. 23. The citation reads that during an intense enemy artillery barrage a solder was struck with an 88-mm dud shell and sustained a hip injury. Murphy left his shelter and made his way through shelling for about 40 yards and picked up the wounded soldier. Murphy helped him to a Jeep and told the driver to evacuate him to a hospital. Murphy is from Stanford and entered the military in 1941.

 

The Boyle County War Fund campaign lacks $9,000 of having achieved its assigned quota of $21,180.20 with only three days left. The War Fund ledger shows that the Lions Club has received pledges of $1,566 from residents west of Third Street; the Rotary Club has acquired $806 from residents east of Third Street; and the Kiwanis Club collected $303 from the county roads category.

 

An announcement that cash prizes will be given to the five city schools as an inducement to the collection of scrap paper was made. Waste paper gathered during two pick-ups weighed more than 87,000 pounds and were shipped to a War Production Board division Center. In an attempt to promote added interest in saving paper, which ranks with tin and fats as critically needed for the war effort, the school which gathers the most poundage of scrap paper will get $10; a $5 prize will go to the runner up and $2.50 will be given to the three other schools.

 

50 YEARS AGO — 1969

 

Mr. and Mrs. H.V. Pennington have announced the birth of a son, Henry Vincent Pennington III. The couple’s first child was born at Ephraim McDowell Memorial Hospital.

 

Mayor Eben Henson has extended a special invitation to leaders of all women’s groups in Danville to attend the regular city council meeting tomorrow night. Following the meeting, Henson will be available to answer questions from all club members concerning operations of the city and city-related projects. Different groups are invited from time to time to attend council meetings as a means of increasing citizen interest in local government. Ladies attending the meeting may also bring their husbands or escort.

 

Danville’s children collect $468.41 during the annual “Trick or Treat” collection for the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Sunday afternoon. The collections were conducted by children from the church schools and Sunday schools of 10 Danville churches.

 

“War of the Worlds,” acknowledged to be the most chilling radio drama ever produced, will be rebroadcast on Halloween at 7 p.m. by WHAS-FM Louisville. Many residents recall hearing the drama 30 years ago and remember near panic it caused in many communities. The rebroadcasts continue to make lively topics of conversation but listeners no longer confuse it with reality as they did when the Martians were first said to be invading this country.

 

25 YEARS AGO — 1994

 

The director of local facilities for the state Department of Corrections told Boyle Fiscal Court, “I’m letting you know tonight that this time next year if we have not seen real progress to address problems, we’ll send an order down putting a population cap on the jail.” Based on current jail population, a cap would cause Boyle not only to have to quit taking prisoners from Mercer but to ship Boyle County prisoners to other jails. Tuesday, the jail had 80 prisoners, and 26 of them were from Mercer County. A jail cap of prisoners would probably be limited to 46 inmates.

 

Volunteers from Doric Masonic Lodge, Timberland distribution center, Northpoint Training Center and Meadow Lane Cemetery Committee completed a cleanup project at Meadow Lane Cemetery off Cowan Street. James Hunn of Doric Lodge carried off tree branches cut down at the historic African-American cemetery. The Meadow Lane Cemetery Committee with help from the Danville-Boyle County Clean Community Commission, organized the cleanup effort. It took several weekends to complete the work.

 

The company that owns WRNZ-FM has made arrangements to buy WHIR-AM and its sister station, WMGE-FM. All three stations are based in Danville. Hometown Broadcasting Inc. WHIR was founded in 1947 and was one of the first radio stations in the state. WMGE began broadcasting in 1967. WRNZ began operations in 1988.