When I spend time in the Lancaster Newspapers archive, I see lots of old court stories reporting that convicted criminals were sent to serve their terms in the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.

The fortress-like prison near Fairmount Park opened as a solitary-confinement experiment 1829 and closed in 1971. It reopened as a historic site in 1994. I checked it out a couple of years ago, and can highly recommend the tour (the audio narration on our headsets was provided by actor Steve Buscemi).

You can see lots of spartan cells as well as Al Capone’s lushly decorated quarters, walk the prison yard, and stand on a center hub, from which one guard could look down all of the prison’s cell blocks, which are laid out like the spokes of a wagon wheel.

The historic site is famous for its Halloween events, and also hosts some really interesting art installations. When I visited, there was an automated percussion system set up in one of the cell blocks to mimic the cacophony sounds you might hear in a prison. As you walked down the corridor, you heard the sound of a tin cup tapping loudly in one cell, a door clanking shut in another cell, etc.

The prison also has an excellent Web site, with lots of information and photographs.

In addition to Capone, Eastern State’s famous inmates were bank robber Willie Sutton, and Lancaster County’s own horse-stealing Joe Buzzard, youngest of five Welsh Mountain brothers, all of whom spent time at the prison in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

One note if you decide to visit: Children under 7 are not admitted.

After the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Pennsylvania developed its tightly controlled “state store” system of alcohol sales under “dry” Gov. Gifford Pinchot, who was more famous as a conservationist than a booze regulator.

Lancaster County’s first state-owned liquor stores opened in 1934 after hundreds of applicants took tests to compete for jobs as managers and clerks. The state sought to set high standards for employees, as the article below indicates.

Employees were expected to be sober, cheerful, industrious, non-smoking, bare-headed and tightlipped with any reporters seeking information. The article below, published in the New Era on Dec. 30, 1933, spells it all out.

Today, employees are still expected to be of “good moral character” and must pass a Civil Service exam and criminal background check. If you want to compare the job description in 1934 with the one in 2009, read the details posted on the LCB’s Web site for those applying for the position of Liquor Store Clerk 1. Note that clerks are still expected to keep the shop tidy, clean the windows and shovel the snow.

On June 2, 1941, Life magazine published a feature article about Sunday school at First Presbyterian Church in Lancaster.

Accompanying the article were eight photographs by famed photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt.

Now, those photos and 19 others that Eisenstaedt took on that assignment are available for review and purchase, thanks to a project to digitize a huge number of published and unpublished Life magazine images.

The new Life magazine photo archive is available on the Google Image Search.
A search for “Lancaster, Pa.” turns up 65 photos, including the 27 from First Presbyterian, three dozen of local farm life and one from Richard M. Nixon’s November 1960 campaign stop here.

Following are summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Lancaster New Era. They are researched and compiled by New Era staffer Tim Buckwalter. This column appears in the New Era each Monday. Full versions of the articles are available on microfilm at the Lancaster County Library, 125 N. Duke St.

25 years ago

PAINT BLAZE: A Sunday morning fire caused an estimated $300,000 damage to the building and inventory at Lancaster Paint & Glass Co., 235 N. Prince St. The fire caused hundreds of paint cans and 55-gallon drums to explode. “Aerosol cans were flying out windows and bouncing off our equipment,” said a deputy fire chief. “One went through a window at K&W Tire across the street.” The cause of the fire was under investigation. (Jan. 9-11, 1984)

RETIREMENTS: Hundreds of local residents turned out in Mount Joy and Manheim to say “thank you” to two men who had served them faithfully over the years. In Mount Joy, more than 300 people attended a reception honoring Dr. David Eugene Schlosser, 66, (left) who had retired from his practice at 304 E. Main St. after 38 years. In Manheim, about 400 people brought gifts and gratitude to a surprise party for retiring Ray Loercher, 59, (right) a popular postman, storyteller and good Samaritan. (Jan. 9, 1984)

HEATING COSTS: A New Era analysis found that natural gas had lost its edge locally as the cheapest way to heat a home. It cost $638 to heat a 2,000-square-foot home with natural gas for a year, with the thermostat at 68 degrees and the price of gas at $7.50 per thousand cubic feet. Heating the same space with oil cost $654 a year, at a price of $1.06 a gallon. Other heating methods, from cheapest to most expensive, were wood, $352 (at $95 per cord), coal, $409 (at $106 per ton); and electric heat pump, $501 (at 5.8 cents per kilowatt hour). (Jan. 10, 1984)

50 years ago

STEAKSHOP COWBOYS:  Police said seven young men who committed 32 area burglaries over six months were “steakshop cowboys” who admitted they stole “only to have a good time.” The gang members congregated at a downtown steak shop, where they drank Cokes, munched on steak sandwiches, played pinball and planned raiding parties. (Jan. 7, 1959)

DELAYED IN CUBA: Two Lancaster women returned home after their winter vacation was disrupted and extended three days by the Cuban revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power. They had been scheduled to fly home on Jan. 1, but their flight was canceled and they had to remain in their hotel. “We heard that (President Fulgencio) Batista had left the country but we didn’t know why,” said one of the women. “On Sunday, we heard a plane overhead and we rushed to our rooms, threw things into suitcases and ran to the airport. Ninety of us flew out of Cuba on a plane chartered by the American Embassy.” (Jan. 9, 1959) [Read more →]

Here’s a holiday cartoon that greeted readers of the New Era 100 years ago, on Jan. 1, 1909:

If you still haven’t made up your mind about New Year’s resolutions, or are just looking for some ways to mark the holiday or avoid problems in 2009, here are a few ideas from the Dec. 30, 1933, New Era.

Following are summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Lancaster New Era. They are researched and compiled by New Era staffer Tim Buckwalter. This column appears in the New Era each Monday. Full versions of the articles are available on microfilm at the Lancaster County Library, 125 N. Duke St.

25 years ago

MARKER MISSION: A group of history-minded Manheim teenagers collected $30 to help pay the cost of correcting local historical markers that identified Lancaster as the “oldest inland town” in America. Local historians agreed that the six markers, which were based on a history written years earlier, were incorrect because there were at least 35 New England towns older than Lancaster. State officials said it would cost several thousand dollars to correct the markers. (Dec. 31, 1983)

TIRE VANDALS: A special detail of city police was assigned to find vandals who slashed 90 tires on about 30 vehicles parked on Lancaster Township streets west of Abbeyville Road. The spree came less than three weeks after 54 tires were slashed on 15 vehicles east of Abbeyville Road. (Jan. 3, 1984)

50 years ago

ISLAND OWNER: Stewart Huston of Coatesville bought up tiny Holy Island in Scotland’s Firth of Clyde, and created a stir by proposing to change its name to St. Molaise, in honor of the Celtic monk from Ireland who colonized it around the 6th century. (Dec. 29, 1958)

LOOT RETURNED: A nervous, masked teenage bandit armed with a black automatic pistol took $296 in a holdup at Cauler’s grocery, 239 Fairview Ave., at 9:50 on a Monday evening. The next day, the guilt-ridden robber put nearly all of the money in an envelope and mailed it from New Holland to the city police station. (Dec. 30 and 31, 1958) [Read more →]

One hundred years ago, in December 1908, the U.S. economy was rebounding from the “Panic of 1907,” in which the stock market had fallen 50 percent from its peak in 1906.

The nation was still in recession in early 1908, but was recovering by the end of the year. That’s the context for this cartoon, which was published in the New Era on Dec. 23, 1908. Things, at that point, were looking brighter for the U.S. economy.

Sadly, the same cannot be said for December 2008, as it appears things will likely get worse before they get better. Perhaps the cartoon will be more fitting for Christmas 2009.

Following are summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Lancaster New Era. They are researched and compiled by New Era staffer Tim Buckwalter. This column appears in the New Era each Monday. Full versions of the articles are available on microfilm at the Lancaster County Library, 125 N. Duke St.

25 years ago

SENATE BID: State Rep. Gibson Armstrong (left) of Refton announced his candidacy for the 13th District state Senate seat just days after Sen. Richard A. Snyder announced he would not seek reelection in 1984. Armstrong said that, if elected to the Senate, he would focus on completion of the shelved Route 23 relocation highway; construction of a bypass around Millersville; and a “sweat-equity” mortgage program to help young people with limited resources buy their first home. (Dec. 22, 1983) (Armstrong later won the primary and the general election, and represented the 13th District for 24 years until his retirement last month).

SANTA FREED: Thanks to the jolly judgment and surprisingly good singing of five Lancaster County judges, Santa Claus was ruled mentally competent and released in time to deliver toys to all good girls and boys. The trial marked the second time in two years that Santa — who traded accusations of poor hygiene with one judge and was handcuffed by a deputy sheriff — had to defend himself against bah-humbuggers. The year before, he was freed from charges of illegally entering private homes. (Dec. 23, 1983)

WHITE CHRISTMAS: A three-inch snowfall, which weather forecasters “didn’t see until it was here,” gave Lancaster County the White Christmas that children and the young at heart had been hoping for. The storm was followed by Arctic cold and gusting winds that made it feel like it was 20 to 30 degrees below zero. (Dec. 24, 1983)

50 years ago

OFFICER CLEARED: The county’s district attorney exonerated a city policeman who shot and killed an armed man in the 500 block of Mercer Avenue. The officer fired four times after the man refused repeated orders to halt and drop his gun, authorities said. The officer had responded to the scene after the man fired three wild shots at his common-law wife, who was not injured. (Dec. 26, 1958) [Read more →]

Here’s a little hundred-year-old humor for a cold, rainy Friday. Still worth a chuckle after all those years, I’d say.

This cartoon was published in the New Era on Jan. 9, 1909.