100 YEARS AGO — 1920

 

Two barrels of whiskey were found buried in a stable on the farm of Walter Reed, on the cross road between the Perryville and Lebanon pikes, five miles west of Danville. Several prominent men of Boyle and Mercer counties have been placed under arrest for stealing the liquor. United States Prohibition Officer H.R. Saufley of Stanford was in Danville and had overheard some men talking on the street. One of them said that several barrels of whiskey were buried on the farm of Mr. Reed. Saufley immediately got busy and now there are five men under arrest and two barrels of whiskey are stored in Sheriff Farris’ office at the courthouse. All of the men arrested are among the most prominent citizens of this area. The barrels were stolen from the D.L. Moore Distillery at VanArsdall in Mercer County the night of Aug. 24. There were 12 barrels that were stolen that night and were valued at about $40,000. The other barrels will be located and more arrests will be made.

 

Three more barrels were found buried in a tobacco bed on the farm of Collins Moore, of Lincoln County five miles from Danville. Officers knew one of the men arrested earlier was a friend of Moore so visited his farm. They noticed fresh truck tire tracks that followed a cow path through a cornfield for about one-half mile to a tobacco bed. Here all officers posted took long sticks, sharpened at the ends and made a complete survey of the ground. Two barrels were discovered two feet under the dirt in one spot and another about a quarter of a mile away. Officers believe another barrel is in a cellar in Danville and that the men had been drawing from it for their own personal use before their arrest.

 

Another sensation sprung in Boyle County when it was announced that the Junction City post office and several stores there had been robbed overnight. At the post office only one dollar was taken because the rest of the money had been put away. In the other stores, the only things taken were cigars and lemon extracts. The robbers were evidently looking for money, and finding none, gave up their job.

 

Boyle Post of the American Legion will gather information from former servicemen in the county to be used by the War Department in the awarding of Victory Medals to all who saw service on this side or overseas. All service men are entitled to wear the Victory Medal which will designate, by means of clasps, the nature of the service, Major Operations, Battles, Engagements, Defensive sectors and countries in which one served. The Boyle Post plans to get Victory Medals for all men of the county, regardless of whether they belong to American Legion, and to present them at the monster Armistice Day celebration to be held in Danville on Nov. 11.

 

75 YEARS AGO — 1945

 

The next regular meeting of a recently-organized group of Herrington Lake camp owners will be held next week at Forbes Camp. At a preliminary session held Aug. 6 at Forbes Camp to discuss sanitary conditions at camps, progress was made toward forming the organization which has all the earmarks of becoming an association which will mean business for the entire lake area. All members agreed that according to investigations and inspections, changes and improvements are necessary to correct insanitary conditions at each camp.

 

Two German prisoners of war who escaped shortly before midnight Friday from the Hustonville Road labor camp, were returned there not long afterward by city patrolmen Al Bunnell and R.H. Byington, after the officers captured them in an attempted break-in at Hollywood Cafe on South Second Street. The owner of the business called the police. The prisoners had been brought to Boyle County to aid farmers in harvesting the tobacco crop. The prisoners escaped the POW camp, which is located at the end of South Fourth Street by climbing a fence while their guard was asleep. The guard was still sleeping when the officers returned the German prisoners and had to be awakened.

 

The funeral for Professor John W. Bate, 91, was held at Bate auditorium this afternoon. He was the colored educator and principal emeritus of Bate colored school, who died Saturday, Sept. 8 at his home at 509 Russell Street. The oldest living graduate of Berea College at the time of his death, Prof. Bate was for 53 years connected with the city and county school systems of Danville and Boyle County. He retired in 1942 from the principalship of Bate High School which was built in 1912 and named for him. Born in Louisville in 1854, Prof. Bate entered Berea College in 1872 and worked his way through its academy and college classes until he received his bachelor of arts degree in 1881. Ten years later he was awarded his master of arts degree. Prof. Bate’s entire life thereafter was devoted exclusively to work in the education of Negroes in Danville and Boyle County where he became outstandingly beloved and respected among the citizenry. 

 

50 YEARS AGO — 1970

 

William Gravely Jr., 1970 graduate of Danville High School and now a member of the University of Kentucky Wildcat Band, received the highest honor available to freshmen band members when he was voted the Number One Freshman in the band following a week of UK Band Camp. Young Gravely specializes in the lower brass instruments and while at DHS was awarded the first chair position in the All-State Band Tuba Section three years in a row.

 

Sgt. Robert Lee Jackson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Grant Jackson, of Proctor Street, has returned home from a second tour of duty in Vietnam with the U.S. Army. He has spent a total of 18 months in Vietnam. Following a  30-day leave, Jackson will report to one of the U.S. ARmy posts in the United States. Jackson enlisted in the Army in August of 1968 and will receive his discharge in August of 1971.

 

The Danville Police Department made 92 arrests during August and obtained 70 convictions, as compared with 134 arrests and 83 convictions in August last year.

 

Danville’s first Adult Learning Laboratory is now open to the public from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday on the second Floor of Danville High School in room 207. It is anticipated that many of the students will use the lab and its materials to prepare for the GED. Other students may also use the lab to pursue other basic education improvements. Hardware at the lab includes record players, film strip projector, tape recorders, cassette tape players, headphones, a tachistoscope and a controlled reader.

 

25 YEARS AGO — 1995

 

Cecil R. Cohen, 70, a former Danville City Commissioner and Black community leader, has died after a long illness. Cohen served two terms on the city commission. With his first election, Cohen became the first Black to serve on the city panel in decades. “Mr. Cohen was a great community leader, not just of the Black community but of all the community,” said Norman Bartleson, president of the Danville chapter of the NAACP. Cohen pushed for the annexation of the Duncan Hill area and for city water lines to be brought there. He also led the effort to bring a swimming pool to the Bate-Wood Homes  apartment complex. City Commissioner Bunny Davis said Cohen left a “wonderful legacy of public service that all commissioners, black and white, should follow.”

 

The election for county offices is three years away, but it is already certain that the 1998 ballot in Boyle County will be missing two very familiar Democratic names. County Clerk John B. Nichols and County Attorney George M. McClure III have announced they will not run for reelection.

 

Authorities in helicopters spotted more than 1,600 marijuana plants in Casey and Mercer counties and another 101 plants in Boyle County. Most of the marijuana was cut and burned by local law enforcement.

 

Bottom feeders have been added to the staff of the city of Danville. A bill from Whiskers Fish Farm for $400 caught the eye of the city commission. The bill was for the purchase of grass carp and fingerling catfish which were put in the sewage lagoon on Stanford Road. The fish are supposed to eat the algae that has formed there.