From our files

100 YEARS AGO
1913

Edward Parker, who lives  four miles northeast of Crab Orchard, while temporarily insane, went out to his barn, placed a stick of dynamite on the ground and then laid his head on it. This done, he applied a match to the dynamite blowing off his head, neck, right shoulder and arm, of which no part has been found.
Mrs. Parker, who was walking out to the barn to milk the cow, was knocked down, as was the cow, but neither of them were hurt.

Sheriff B.G. Fox has submitted a delinquent tax list of several hundred dogs, which have been assessed, although their owners have not paid the taxes on them. As provided by law, all of these dogs must be killed. It is possible that a “dog killing day” will be scheduled for their slaughter. When their owners realize their dogs are to be killed, it is probable that many owners will pay the taxes to save their pets.

The Danville fire department was called out to extinguish a small blaze at a home on Fourth Street. Ben Smith, who drives the fire horses, had locked up his large Collie dog on the second story of the fire department in order to break him from following the wagon. When the fire bell tapped, the dog began to yelp and howl in deep distress.
A door leading to the roof of the building had been left open so the dog ran out and across the roof to the top of Logan's Livery stable and there witnessed the firemen speeding down Fourth Street. The dog then ran back to the roof and jumped 20 feet to the street and reached the scene of the fire along with the firefighters. The fire did little damage, but the dog was considerably jarred.

Another broken sill was found in the Dix River bridge and was promptly repaired. Most bridges in this area were constructed before the appearance of automobiles and traction engines and therefore are not strong enough to bear up under the load. While the bridges are strong enough to support all kinds of horse-drawn vehicles, they are not stout enough for the heavy automobiles. It is very probable that many bridges will have to be re-constructed.

75 YEARS AGO

1938

Visiting Danville for the first time is "Madam,” who will be giving special readings from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at "The Maples" on Harrodsburg Road. Each reading costs 50 cents. Madam guarantees to promote your business, sell your products and change the condition of your entire life. This great seeress can change the conditions of your life with the ruling planets and forces until she accomplishes every hope and desire and ambition of your entire life.
Also this week Madam Melva, a palmist, is in Danville for the first time. She will ask no questions but will tell you of your friends, enemies or rivals. She gives never-failing advice on all matters of life, love, marriage, divorce, health and business changes. She will tell you the truth and many things you have never dreamed of. It is wise to consult a reader who can give you sound and reliable advise. She said she can lift you out of your sorrow and start you on the path of happiness. Madam Melva will be giving readings from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily and on Sundays. She is located across from Barnett's Store on Stanford Road in Danville. Her readings are 50 cents.

Ballistics in the scientific detection of crime played a prominent role in solving a case that appeared to be a double murder under mysterious circumstances in Lancaster. Sargent John Messmer, ballistics expert from the Louisville police department, ruled the deaths a suicide and accidental death following his investigation of the deaths of a 50-year-old Garrard County tenant farmer, whose body was found in an alley by Joe's Restaurant, alongside the wounded body of a 30-year-old Garrard County W.P.A. worker who died later from a bullet wound in the head at the Danville hospital.
Herbert Dorton, 35, had been held on manslaughter charges in connection with the deaths, but the ballistics found him innocent and he was freed.
Messmer reported that the first man who was shorter than the other, fired the bullet in suicide, with the bullet entering his head in the right ear and emerging over the left eyebrow. The bullet then entered the other man’s head near the center of his forehead, thus causing the fatal wound.

50 YEARS AGO

1963

Mayor Roy W. Arnold is studying what can be done to give Danville a new City Hall with all governmental facilities under one roof. Current plans seem to point toward establishing the new City Hall across the street west of the used car lot and involving three parcels of property.
More plans need to be made, but the council has taken the initial step by voting to authorize the mayor to grant an option to sell the present City Hall property on Main Street for $115,000 and to accept a nominal payment to support the option based on his own discretion.

A Kentucky farmhand was arrested in Sacramento, Calif. and jailed after a 13-year-old boy charged that the man forced him on a cross-country trip which started Nov. 10 in Lincoln County. The boy had gone to the sheriff's office and said he had run away from the man while they were in a drug store. While inspectors were listening to him, the man was in another room reporting that the boy was missing and was his son. Unaware of the missing person report, inspectors took the boy downtown to look for the man, who was spotted then arrested. The man had worked on the boy's parents' farm in Stanford.

25 YEARS AGO

1988

Central Kentucky officials haven't given up hope of a new dam on the Kentucky River, but their most pressing concern right now is who will operate the locks and dams already there. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers intends to divest itself of Locks 5-14 in October and Garrard County Judge-Executive Loyd Murphy said it is vital that the state assume ownership of the locks if the Corps follows through with the plan. Although Garrard County is dependent on the river for water, it would be financially unable to maintain even the one lock in its own county.

The State Department of Highways will begin acquiring rights of way this summer along Ky. 34's planned new road and bridge across Herrington Lake on the Boyle and Garrard counties' sides. The 64-year-old Chenault bridge will be kept open for local traffic.