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Doris and Herman Stratton in the 1930s before the robbery which left Herman, an innocent bystander, blind in one eye. The Farmers Bank Building can be seen at far right in this photo taken in the 1940s. In the center is Jesse Shaffer's tavern and to the right the recently vacated Woolworth's 5 & 10-cent and other local industries; wages at the Mullins Co. store. For severfl-l years, the ~alem Business .College conducted classes on the second floor of the alone during a two-week period totaled $83,000. Hart parked his car in front of the post office Woolworth building. In the 40s, the law firm of Henry Reese and Al Fitch liad offices in the and, accompanied by Vincent, went inside to the upper floors. counter to pick up the money which was wrapped in two packages. Back outside, Hart preceded Vin By Lois Firestone Salem police that he suspected an armed robbery cent down the steps, climbed into his car and was in progress. inserted the ignition key in the switch. Suddenly a RANK MANGUS WAS finishing up the last of There were other witnesses to the daring day man he'd never seen before opened the car door, the day's patients when loud shouts suddenly F light holdup which occurred that day, at 3:45 on shoved a revolver into his ribs and snatched the punchired the late afternoon stillness outside along the afternoon of November 5, 1935 - most of the key. Then he felt through Hart's pockets, searching the town's main street. Peering down from the dozen or more people milling around the intersec for a possible ':"eapon. window of his second floor office in the Salem's tion of Lincoln and State Street, though, were una At the same time, two men quietly sandwiched Pioneer building, the dentist stared disbelievably at themselves on either side of Vincent as he moved a stranger who was jamming a revolver into the ware of what was happening. Fewer still had seen the four bandits flee, although one persistent pair down the wide steps toward the Hart auto. Press ribs of the driver of a car parked in front of the ing guns against his body, one of them whispered, post office - he quickly recognized the victim as a chased after them for miles. What happened was this: Hart and Lee B. Vin "This is a holdup." Startled, Vincent dropped the well-known business man in town, W. L. Hart, the packages and, as one of the strangers quickly cashier of the Farmers National Bank. cent, the Farmers National assistant cashier, left the bank headed for the post office where $26,000 in stooped to pick them up, the other told Vincent to Then he saw three men scurry across North Lin "get back up the steps." coln toward another one standing by the door of payroll money had been delivered from the Feder al Reserve Bank in Pittsburgh. The delivery was an auto parked outside the Arbaugh furniture Turn to ROBBERY on page 4 store. Mangus dashed to the telephone and alerted only a partial payroll for the Mullins Co., Deming's In those days before TV By Dick Wootten In those pre-TV days of my youth, if I wasn't out playing marbles, cowboys and indians, swimming, camping or listening to Captain Midnight on the Philco, there was always the movies. To a kid back then there were two kinds of movies: Saturday cowboy movies and Sunday murder mysteries of the Boston Blackie or Charlie Chan type. The cowboy movies all seemed to be filmed in the same place (probably the back lot of Republic Studios). 1 recognized the same trees, the same trail, same boulders and same hideout of the bad guys. It was so familiar it was like being home. The mysteries had adults all dressed up, stand ing in rooms where they drank, smoked and talked. To me it was mostly talk I couldn't follow, but I knew if I stayed long enough there would be an exciting car chase at the end. I got to thinking about those days after reading through a recent Christmas gift. Two good friends gave me a nifty book titled "The Chronicle of the Movies," consisting of year-by-year accounts of Hollywood productions, gossip, and vital statistics from 1930 to 1991. By reading about movies that I only vaguely remember, I realized I was, in effect, re-examining my childhood. -For example, I remember seeing James Mason in a movie called the seventh something when I was 10. I remember the pleasure of walking out of that movie realizing that for the first time I understood the whole story. I felt suddenly grown up. My gift The Methodist Church can be seen in the background in this photograph of a section of South book informs me that that movie was "The Seventh Broadway in Salem in the early 1900s. Veil" of 1945 and it was considered an "enjoyable trashy melodrama." Silver took him on a ride of four miles in the coun try in his new Cadillac touring car. Strotter was So-much for a 10-year-old's taste. quite thrilled with his tour. The American Movie Channel on cable television STRATTON WAS INVENTOR provides another way to compare your memory of Frank Stratton, son of Mark and Mary Stratton, a movie with how it strikes you now. And there was born at East Goshen and educated at the are the great performers you missed because of Damascus Academy. He was the inventor of the your age. I just missed seeing Garbo on the screen. jump seat carriage which became very popular I vaguely remember seeing Carol Lombard's last prior to the automobile. He and his brother Charles built a factory in Salem to manufacture the pro film. Now you can see those performers again in a By Dale Shaffer kind of miraculous way unimagined before movies duct. When they outgrew the quarters, they went came along. to Buffalo and built a larger plant that prospered abundantly. We include in this issue the final dates in the Later, when carriages became obsolete, Frank lives of these performers who brightened our lives. STROTTER BROWN went to Detroit to work at manufacturing automo It's an interesting list and a reminder that fame is biles. He died in January of 1923 and was buried at ephemeral. During the Civil War, Strotter Brown ran away from slavery in Alabama. His mother had died. East Goshen Cemetery. His sons' names were Oliv Before settling in Salem, he lived at various places er, Willis and Albert. Rev. Isaac Stratton of Damas in the state. His home in Salem was on Elm cus was a brother. Avenue where he worked as a basket weaver and JOEL SHARP, MANUFACTURER raised corn and tobacco in considerable quantities. Joel Sharp was one of Salem's oldest nad best For a short time he was married to a woman from known residents when he died July 28, 1898. Born Pennsylvania. His final years were spent at the in Goshen Township Feb. 22, 1820, he was the son Columbiana County Infirmary outside Lisbon, and of Joel and Rebecca Terrill Sharp. The family, pion then at the home of Felix Williams where he died eers of Goshen Township, came from New Jersey on Jan. 21, 1913 at an estimated age of over 100. in 1806. The father was a carpenter and he died the A weekly historical journal His funeral was held at the AME Zion Church on year Joel was born. Published by the Salem News Jan. 24. Burial was at Hope Cemetery. At the age of 15 Joel left for Cleveland to find a Founded June 8, 1991 Members of his race raised money for a granite job. He worked for the Cuyahoga Steam Furnace I 161 N. Lincoln Ave. monument. It was designed with a basket carved Co. and in 1847 returned to Salem where he organ Salem, Ohio 44460 in it. Postcard photos of Strotter in front of his ized a company to manufacture machinery. It was Phone (216) 332-4601 crude dwelling were sold to raise funds. Most of called Sharp, Davis & Bonsall. In January 1871 this Thomas E. Spargur the collecting was done by Stanley Mills and Frank company became the Buckeye Engine Co. He was I Howard. its president. at the time of his death. publisherI general manager :_:! Contributions were generous. A total of $30.85 was raised. The monument cost $16. Postcards Sharp was also instrumental in organizing the brought in $7.50. The pedestal cost $5 and price of Salem Wire Nail Co. He was its president when the the memorial was $2. Total expenditures were company was sold to the American Wire Co. in $30.15. The names of all contributors were pub 1897. He was also a longtime member of Salem Lois A. Firestone City Council. editor lished on the front page of the Salem News on March 8, 1913. He married Angeline Lee, daughter of Josiah and STROTTER'S FIRST RIDE Hanna Boone Lee of Salem in 1847. They had two On Sunday morning, Oct. 4, 1903, the aged Strot children, Frances and Herbert. Sharp died of heart •;:.;·:·:•:•:•:·;·;·;·;·:· .... ;·.·;• .... ;•.•.•:·.:·:;::;;;.:-:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:-:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·~·=·=·=·=·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:~: ter Brown took his first automobile ride. E. W. trouble in his home at 150 (563) Franklin Ave . scene painted on the outside and two isinglass CONTEMPORARY cylinders inside, one of which revolved to afford COLLECTIBLES motion to the scene. Of the 13 or more different designs offered by the company, the most well known are forest Fire, Niagara Falls and the now rare aquarium lamp, the By Linda Rosenkrantz base of which featured an underwater scene com Copley News Service plete with swimming fish. One of the most prolific manufacturers of the Hey man, remember lava lamps? Those psy genre was the Econolite Corp., which flourished chedelic symbols of a spacey time when it was from 1946 to 1962, producing some of the best groovy just to sit and watch the undulating pat quality lithographs the style has ever seen. terns of your light fixture? At first, Econolite aimed strictly for the juvenile Well, they're back. The lamps, if not the times. market - with revolving Mother Goose characters, Old ones are sought to accesso:rize :retro 1950s and carousels and trains. These were followed by the 1960s home style decor and new ones are being ubiquitous Niagara Falls and flickering forest fire manufactured to supplement that market. and a slightly risque Fountain of Youth, all made In point of fact, though, animated motion lamps, entirely of plastic. One of the later subjects was as they're known in the trade, are not strictly Hopalong Cassidy, a hot favorite now valued at speaking a phenomenon of the 1960s, having ori more than $250. gins dating back to the 1920s. The 1950s saw the introduction of a number of The earliest manufacturer is believed to have hybrid forms. There were mermaid clocks with been a Chicago firm called Scene in Action Corp., animated motion insets and other clocks with float which, under the direction of designer Albert ing fish in their bases, advertising lamps (Motorola, S~bath, went into production in 1926. Their pro Cook's Ale, etc.), revolving Christmas trees and totypical lamps consisted of a glass cylinder with a sets of revolving Christmas tree light shades. In the 1960s a firm called Optical Effects General Lee set example launched a line of swirling abstractions, dearly influenced by the pop art and psychedelic move But no lava lamp. ments. The infamous lava lamp was part of a "The Whole Pop Catalog," compiled by the Berk for Virginia churchgoers category of rotating cylinder lights called mood eley Pop Culture Project, the folks who put lamps (cousins of mood rings), in which the rising together the "Whole Earth Catalog'' 20 years ago HORTLY AFTER THE CLOSE of the Civil (Avon Books), does include a lava lamp, but this War, a black entered a fashionable church heat from the light bulb was used to spin a plastic S cylinder inside a stationary one. And, vioila: bub time it's a modem one, yours for just $14.95. in Richmond, Virginia one Sunday morning at the The massive volume is packed with both infor beginning of a communion service. When the time bling swirls of lava. RECENT REFERENCES mation and nostalgia - with sections on every came, he walked down~ the aisle and knelt at the thing from Abbott and Costello to Crayolas to yo altar. A rustle of shock and anger swept through "Animated Motion Lamps, a Price Guide" by Bill yos - including lots and lots of goodies to send the congregation. and Linda Montgomery (L-W Book Sales, Gas City, away for. At that moment a distinguished layman stood Ind.) is an excellent little illustrated guide to these Linda Rosenkrantz edited Auction magazine up, stepped forward to the altar and knelt beside lamps, with examples running from the 1920s to and authored five books, including "Auction his "colored" brother. Captured by his spirit, the the present. Antiques Annual." Write Collect, c/o Copley congregation followed. The layman who set the There is a brief rundown on the chief manufac News Service, PO Box 190, San Diego, CA example was Robert E. Lee. turers and reproductions of vintage catalog listings. 92112-0190. , ,------, ' PERSONAL CO S
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r------COUPON------, This is a FREE Public Seminar sponsored Your Funera1 Pre·Need Specialists 332- I by the Psychiatric Professional Group of I: Arbaugh-Pearce I . Fun era 4401 Salem and Salem Community Hospital. . reent!Jl!tt Home RayJ: Gmenisen $2.00 Off Due to limited seating, reservations are G 1617 East State Street : Any Prescription Filled : required and may be obtained by calling the public Relations department at Salem 1 With This Coupon 1 Community Hospital, 332-7227. ·1v~Ai------Hmr \ , '------' The three darted toward the waiting car and as they ran, Hart sprang into action. He jumped from his vehicle and shouted "It's a holdup!" The rob bers glanced back and half-turned, standing stock still for a moment - Hart later said for a split sec ond he was fearful they were going to shoot at him - then they jumped in the car and pulled away. Hart was furious over what had just happened, and, because his car key was gone, hailed a pass ing motorist, Russell Stallsmith, who hastily agreed to pursue the bandits. The two followed the geta way car out Lincoln Avenue and onto Fifth Street past the Junior High building, across Ellsworth and on to Jennings A venue. Here they turned north and traveled out the Goshen Road. They watched the gangsters' car recede in the distance, taking note of the direction the car was going, then stopped to put in a call to alert the police. As the Hart car turned off, the driver of a Buick sedan glided up to take its place behind the escap ing robbers. For 30-year-old Herman Stratton this; innocent move would have tragic consequences which would last his lifetime. Stratton had unknowingly been following the getaway car for several miles - he'd gone "uptown" from his home at 1183 North Ellsworth Ave. on a few errands, and then set out for an appointment with a prospective buyer. He had been working in the Deming's turbine department, but had taken a six-week leave of absence to mark et the driveway signal device he'd invented for use Doris and Hennan Stratton with Robert, 2, and Dolores, 4, in this photo taken in 1935 before by gas stations and other businesses: When a vehi cle was driven over a hose, a bell would ring. the Fanners National Bank robbery. As he was setting out for the Beloit interview with his client, he first noticed the car with the Cobbs, who had been stricken with pneumonia. directly at their faces. She said later that she knew bent license plate and four men inside when he Stratton recovered after two weeks but was blind instinctively something was awry and made "a nearly collided with them in front of the Fourth in his left eye the remainder of his life. mental note of their general appearance." Mrs. Street Junior High School. Their car headed past "The police gathered around his bed that night, Smith immediately went to the police station to the school, across Ellsworth A venue and on to Jen asking him questions about what had happened," detail her descriptions - unfortunately, they were nings Avenue, Stratton following. They turned Doris remembers. "It was the beginning of a identical to several known criminals in the police north, continuing out the Goshen Road to the traumatic period in his life, and it took him years records. County Line Road, crossing Route 14 and moving to get over it." The Strattons had been married on Among the other witnesses were Mrs. C. S. Hol on toward Beloit. They were nearing Eichler's Cor May 19, 1928 and at the time of the robbery had lis, wife of the manager of the Salem Wes tern ners, about 2Yi miles west of Route 14 when they two children, Dolores, 4, and Robert, 2. Grace was Union office, who was driving up when the bandit slowed down to turn on to Malmsberry Road, born in 1938, followed by David and Marilyn. car pulled away from the curb; and Don Mayhew Stratton's auto still behind. "A few months after the robbery, a federal agent of Salem who was standing in the doorway of a Suddenly the driver skidded to a stop and threw asked Herm to come to Cleveland to identify one nearby store. There was another, a young Salem open the door, snatched up a rifle and began aim of the robbers," Doris says. "They put him in a High School freshman, Louise McNicol who now, ing the scope directly at Stratton's still-moving booth with this man whom Herm recognized 57 years later, has written an account of the experi Buick. Three bullets rammed through the winds immediately. 'You were the one who was sitting ence which she's never forgotten, with the editing hield, one barely missing Stratton's jugular vein, on the edge of your seat in the car,' he told the help of Salem historian Dale Shaffer. Her story another whizzing through his hat and the third hit man. He denied it then, but later admitted it and appears on the next page of this issue. ting his left eye. was arrested. That day when Herm went to leave William A. Lippiatt of RD 4, Salem told highway Desperately trying to avoid the barrage of bul the man told him that 'Herman, you've treated me patrolmen A. E. Mercer and H. W. Grosglaw that lets, he rammed his foot on the brake and clutch nicer than any of these people.' the bandit car raced in front of his car when he and wrestled open the door, hurtling his body into "He knew then that the man knew his name and was stopped at a traffic light at the intersection. a ditch. The bandit jumped back into the car and was certain he'd come one day to get him," Doris Lippiatt said the license plate appeared to be Ken they left, leaving Stratton bloody and slumped in says. "Herm enjoyed playing the piano. One night tucky or Pennsylvania issue, although he couldn't agony. Later, authorities discovered the four men he had a dream that the man appeared at the win read the letters. Chief of Police Ralph Stoffer dis hadn't driven much further but had camped out in dow when he was playing and shot him in the puted that, pointing out that the plate had been a nearby woods that night. face. Eventually, he got over it... He never once turned up, thus giving the appearance of being A young teenager, Clifford Kirkman, was driv complained about his blindness or was bitter tow out-of-state plates. ing by and found the wounded Stratton. He helped ard the man who did it, although he was careful of Officials and bank authorities agreed on one him into his car and took him to the Sebring office his good eye." thing: the holdup had been carefully planned. The of Dr. E. C. Louthan. Louthan took one look at the Meanwhile, on the evening of November 5, the thieves knew the identities of the bank's messen injured and bleeding man and, aided by Kirkman, hunt for the payroll robbers intensified; by the next gers - and recognized Hart's vehicle - and had Ed Carnahan and Marshal Alva Tetlow of Sebring, day five separate agencies were looking for them mapped out an escape route. rushed him to the Salem City Hospital. Doris Strat - men from the U.S. Department of Justice, called Dismayed local officials were concerned about ton recalls her husband telling her that during the "G-Men," and the William J. Burns Detective police safety. George Baillie Sr. was the city service journey to Salem, Dr. Louthan said "I think he's Agency of Cleveland arrived in Salem, and the director in 1935 and suggested to City Council that gone." The barely conscious Stratton heard him Federal Reserve Insurance Company assigned a a bulletproof windshield be placed in the police and managed to say "No, I'm not." special task force to the case. department's new cruiser. Baillie also asked that a Physicians removed several pieces of metal from City police and higl'•,way patrolmen joined forces bulletproof window be placed "in the right door of Stratton's head although they hesitated to probe with those agencies to obtain possible clues to the the machine to afford additional protection in case the principal wound area, the left eye, which was identities of the four men. One witness questioned officers pulled alongside suspected bandits." destroyed. Doris Stratton stayed at his side during extensively was Lillian B. Smith of Aetna Street Eventually, all the gang was rounded up and the critical days that followed, at the same time who was crossing North Lincoln at the State Street convicted. They turned out to be part of a Chicago dealing with her two-year-old son Robert's mas intersection during the robbery. As the three men based ring which committed bank robberies toid operation and caring for her mother, Mary brushed Mrs. Smith aside, she turned and looked throughout the country. ~~~~~~ ~~!ft~~[gffz ~
CP After-school special for teen in 1935
By Louise McNicol Sayre dal one. MEMORABLE - AND UNUSUAL - ev Eight years later, on a Saturday afternoon in A ent happened to me in Salem on Nov. 4, 1_943, I heard a knock at the door. I opened it to 1935. After school on this late autumn afternoon, I fmd a tall well-dressed man standing there. He was pleased when several of my sophomore gave his _na~e, ~a~d ~e was from the FBI, and pre friends - I was only a freshman then - asked me sented ~1s identification. I very carefully read his to go with them to MacMillan's Book Store. One of credentials and looked at his picture. He said the girls needed a book for her French class. "Your mother gave me your address." I reasoned Following our visit to MacMillan's, the four of us that he probably had gotten the information from walked beside each other as we went back through my uncle at the post office. With some hesitation I town toward home. We looked to see what was invited him in and we talked briefly about the ro'b playing at the State Theatre, and as we proceeded bery scene. Apparently satisfied with the correct past the Grand Theatre and Grove Electric Co., we ness of my information, he told me he would be began walking, in pairs. There were a few more back within a few days. people downtown at this time of day, and one pair When he r~tumed the next week he again asked got slightly ahead of the other. me to tell him what I had seen. Occasionally he As we passed the post office driveway, I looked would refer to his papers and add a few notes. I ahead and saw three men in striped overalls run told him about seeing the license plate number and nii:g towards us carrying sawed-off shotguns, gave it to him. At first he said that it was a diffe pomted for everyone to see. Two of the men ran rent number, but then agreed that I was correct. up the post office steps in back of a man in a busi About two days later he and another agent ness suit who was carrying two small packages, returned to hear the story again. I answered their one under each arm. Then, with the two gunmen questions in detail and told them about the gun directly in back of the businessman, they came man searching the man from the bank. When asked. about the kind of guns used, I could only down the steps to the sidewalk. We all converged there at the same time, and the describe them. The agent told me not to be packages dropped to the left of my feet. Time alarmed, then opened his coat and pulled a pistol stood still. I looked at the businessman and the out of a shoulder holster. I described the guns as gunman, and again at the fallen packages. In this being much larger, and he concluded they they eternity of five to 10 seconds a multitude of were sawed-off shotguns. thoughts flashed through my mind. Who were the The next day another agent came with stacks of Louise McNicol Sayre as a teenager in this men wearing "milkmen" overalls? Who were the snapshots~ possibly two or. three hundred. They were ordmary everyday pictures like those any photo which appeared in the 1938 Salem High two men in the business suits? The first one had School yearbook. gotten into the car parked directly in front of the family would have. The agent went through them quickly, stopping whenever I wanted to take a bet steps. What of value was in those small packages? denly see men with guns running towards you. I wondered if I should pick up the two packages, ter look. Finally, it came down to two pictures - but I was unable to assess this sudden situation. one of a person who looked like the driver of the Your normal response, when possible, is to walk So, I walked_ around them, noticing the third gun getaway car, and one of the gunmen whom I had on and away from the situation. There is no doubt man to my nght by the car at the curb. I continued seen standing by the bank employee's car. I had to in my mind, however, that had the robbery not on across North Lincoln A venue to where the other explain my selections in detail, but was never told gone smoothly, guns would have been used. whether they were correct or not. two girls were waiting by Arbaugh's Furniture With the payroll in their possession, the gunmen Store. All of us looked back at the scene. I met again several times with these agents and was finally told that one day we would go to sped out of town. Their panic and fear of being A man then emerged from a car parked on caught turned to desperation, which soon brought North Lincoln Avenue, just up from the corner by Cleve~ai:id to look at a. line-up of suspects. It was not difficult at all to pick number 4 from the line tragedy to a young man from Salem who hap Arbaugh's store, and he walked toward the back of pened to be driving near Beloit. Thirty-year-old the car while looking at the robbery. When I saw up. Surprisingly, he then asked to talk with me. I agreed and he was escorted in. Both of us, of Herman Stratton, unaware of the robbery, was him reach for the license plate, I quickly read the driving behind the robbers. Unemployed at the one letter and four numbers before he bent the course, were older now, my age being 21. We looked at each other and he asked, ''Where was I?" time, he was on a sales call trying to sell a mechan plate upwards. He then returned to the driver's ical device he had patented. Without warning, the scat, and the three gunmen ran to the car, got in I replied, "You were by the car." This was the bank employee's car in front of the post office. robbers opened fire on him, hitting him in the and drove away. · head. Tragically, he lost the sight of his left eye, all We heard shouts of "Holdup!", and immediately He asked only one questicn, and perhaps this because he happened to be in the wrong place at several cars went in pursuit of the getaway car. was all he was permitted to ask. Or, my answer the wrong time - a victim of circumstance. One of the girls left us and we continued on to our may have clearly let him know that I had seen him homes. there. In any event, I went from that room to an Local citizens and his friends sponsored a drive What had happened was that four bandits had area where there were several other men from to raise funds for him, with donations being col robbed Lee B. Vincent and W.L. Hart, cashiers at Salem who also had viewed the line-up. We talked lected at the Farmers National Bank. Mr. Stratton the Farmers National Bank, in front of the old post for a few minutes and then left to go our separate remained in serious condition at the Salem City office. There was $26,000 in those packages that ways. Hospital for a week. He finally recovered but lost had fallen to the sidewalk. the sight of his left eye. (Herman Stratton was the I told my family and a neighbor about what had Sometime later I read in the newspaper that the husband of Doris Stratton and the father of David.) happened. That evening during dinner, my family man identified was sentenced to prison for a long As a result of the investigation, I gained much discussed the holdup, and I again told them about period of time. I ~ought to myself then that per haps I would write about the event sometime in respect for the FBI agents. They were kind to me seeing the license plate being turned up. My uncle, who worked in the post office, said he had heard a the next 50 years. Little did I realize the lasting and very. thorough in t~eir questioning. Over and effect this daring daylight robbery would have on over agam they questioned me on every little different number. The names of two other witnes detail. The robbery took place 56 years ago, but I ses to the holdup were mentioned - Mrs. Lillian me. The names of Hart, Vincent and Stratton would remain permanently in my mind. am.still amaz~d at how quickly and effortlessly the E. Smith and Charles Safreed. bram automatically records so much detailed infor State, local and federal law officers were imme How had four men planned this outdoor rob mation about an event happening before our eyes. diately involved in looking for the gang of bandits. ?ery? Had they practiced their steps, precision tim My memory of this one is as vivid as though it Salem's sub-station of the State Highway Patrol mg and getaway to an old abandoned barn? How happened last week. was located at 672 N. Lincoln Ave. in 1935. many times had they driven around town and This event was big news in Salem for several walked the downtown streets of Salem? One thing days, but then other news took its place on the they could not have predicted was the number of Louise McNicol Sayre was graduated front page. I was a freshman with new school pedestrians passing the post office at the time of from Salem High School in 1939 and today interests, and Thanksgiving was coming up; also th~ .holdup;. or what innocent person might be my 14th birthday was in mid-December. This day, dnvmg behmd them after their getaway. lives in Camden, South Carolina. however, would linger in my mind as a very spe- There is really no time for fear when you sud- By Dale E. Shaffer or cedar. It was struck with a maul of ironwood or the structure was called a corn crib. oak, and the shingle produced was called a BEETLE - A heavy maul used to strike iron or ITH THE PROGRESS and technological "shake." W developments of each generation, new wooden wedges to split rails. terms and phrases enter the vocabulary, while old RUGGLE - A drag-shoe or wagon brake. It was . CHAPMAN - A traveling merchant or peddler words infrequently used become obsolete. As a metal scoop that went under, and held back, the m the early 1800s. He sold almost everything, but words go out of sight they go out of mind and are rear _wheels. Operated by a hand lever, it kept a was known for his nutmeg. heavily laden wagon from rolling downhill over POKE - A wooden device of various designs, forgotten. the horses. Historically, however, many terms remain hung from the necks of animals to keep them from important. The people of every generation use COMMANDER - A large, iron-banded, jumping through fences. tools and instruments to fit the tasks of the times, wooden hammer (30 to 50 pounds) for pounding TRUNNELS - large wooden pins for fastening and those devices tell us much about the work together barn and bridge timbers. It was usually the framework of buildings and bridges together. habits and lifestyles of the people who use them. swung between the legs. Also called "tree nails." STILE - Steps on each side of a fence which CHAIN - A surveyor's linked measuring Take the word "quern," for example. You sel help a person get over the fence. dom hear the term anymore, yet it refers to an item device, 60 feet long. that was very important in early American house GRIKE - The narrow opening in a stone or SCULLERY - A room off the kitchen where holds. The "quern" was a simple hand mill, with wooden fence to allow people, but not farm ani vegetables were cleaned and pots and pans revolving miilstone, for grinding grain into meal mals, to get through. washed. and flour. Grain was poured through a hole in the FLAIL - A tool for threshing grain from the CAT AND CLAY - A construction method upper millstone while a "quern stick" was swung chaff by hand. It has a wooden handle, at the end using sticks and mud, often for chimneys. to turn the stone. of .which is a ~horter stick (called a swiple or SPILE - A spout for tapping maple sap from a Through the years, in the process of reading and swmgle) that swmgs freely. The floor in the center tree, and on which the sap pail was hung. writing historical articles and books on Salem and of the barn was used for threshing. DOGS - Metal clamping devices of many kinds early America, I have come across many terms and WHIPSAW - A two person saw, also called an for holding wood in place to be hewed, sawed or phrases that were in common use in the 1700s and open pit saw, for cutting planks from a log. The milled. 1800s. They describe early farm and household tiller man stood above the log and the box man ADZE OR ADZ - A tool with an arched blade tools, objects and methods important in pioneer beneath it. The latter wore a big hat for protection on the end of a stout handle, used for smoothing life. Today, about the only place you hear such against the shower of sawdust. the surface of a beam. The scoring marks you see on old beams were made by a broadaxe, not an te~s is in a museum, an antique shop or at an BARK SPUD - A tool used to strip bark from a auction. log to hasten drying of the timber. Oak bark was adze. Although obsolete, the terms often re-surface used for tanning hides. WATCH - The foundation of a church steeple, when dealing with old tools and artifacts, like CUTTER - A small sleigh with a seat. It was below the belfry and spire. those displayed at the Salem Historical Museum pulled by a horse, pony, goat or other animal. STONEBOAT - A reinforced runnerless sled, and the Columbiana Historical Museum. BY HOOK OR CROOK - A legal term forbid often pulled by oxen, for sliding heavy loads. Given below is a select listing of 40 old terms ding the tenant from cutting live trees, but allow PUMICE - Ground and crushed apples, ready that tell much about the lives of our ancestors. ing him to hook or pull down dead limbs for for the cider press. Also called "apple cheese." How many can you identify? firewood. SUMMER CLOTH - An all-purpose square of · ~R~E or FROW - A tool with a long, heavy, CRATCH - A raised crib building, open-slatted water tight canvas, folded to make knapsacks, with outward slanting sides, for storing whole ears kmfe-hke blade on a handle, used for splitting or Tum to PHRASES on page 11 "riving" wooden shingles from a bloc.k of dry pine of corn and grain bey:c.md water and rodents. Later, "Be As5Ured Of Excellent r:are For Your Loved One" 'Yesteryears can be found at the following locations:
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REBATE APPLIED OPEN TONIGHT UNTIL 9 P.M. FORD --¢>- LINCOLN --¢>- MERCURY miles away in what is now Saudi Arabia. The traveler's account of Palestine reads like a pilgrim's guide. "I visited Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus (on him be peace)," he wrote. In Hebron he inspected the tombs of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, prophets holy to Moslems, Christians and Jews; in Jerusalem he described the Mount of Olives and the church where the Holy Virgin was said to be buried. And he prayed at the Haram al-Sharif mosque, in his time the largest in the world, built on the ruins of Solomon's Temple. Clad in an "ihram," the seamless white doth of a pilgrim, Ibn Battuta and his companions arrived in the holy city of Mecca. There they beheld the cube-shaped Kaaba, which holds the black stone that Moslems believe was given to Abraham by the angel Gabriel. 'We presented ourselves forthwith at the Sanc tuary of God Most High and saw before our eyes the Kaaba (may Allah increase its veneration) sur The Home for Aged Women along Salem's Main Street at the turn of the century. Postcard cour rounded by companies that had come to pay hom age. We kissed the Holy Stone, drank water from tesy of Robert Hinton. the (sacred) wells of Zamzam, then took up lodg ing in a house near the Gate of Ibrahim," the faithful. was to greet the stars with a sage on a remote traveler wrote. mountaintop, to suffer the majesty of a turquoise "The Saudis have spent billions to keep up with horizon aboard an equatorial isle,; to seek spiritual Although many of the ceremonies, and the hos the growing tide of pilgrims," he writes. shelter with the pious throngs of Mecca, to breathe pitality shown by the Meccan hosts, have changed By the time Ibn Battuta visited Mecca, he was a the white winter winds of the Russian steppes or little over the centuries, Abercrombie writes, Ibn confirmed wanderer. A lifetime of travel followed, the spices of a Persian bazaar, to dine with kings or Battuta would have been stunned by the vast taking him as far east as the Empire of the Great share a crust with a passing nomad. changes brought on by the growing number of Khan, now China; as far north as Bulghar, now a pilgrims. ruin near Kazan, Russia; and as far west as West "More likely it was a quest for knowledge. One From his vantage point in a Royal Saudi Air Africa. never seduced by a foreign culture can never Force helicopter last year during his third pilgrim "lbn Battuta never dwells on what drove him appreciate the fetters of his own. Life, after all, is a age, Abercrombie gazed down on 2 million of the on," Abercrombie writes. "Curiosity? Perhaps it journey - a voyage of discovery." What a Pharmacy •ADJUSTABLE Was Meant To Be! .HANDL.EBARS A Restaurant In Store Hours 9:30-6 M-F, 9:30-1 Sat. •ONE.Wi LARG.E . FRONT. FENDER Offering Free Delivery and The Fullest Sense 0 STR.ONG STEEL· Fast Friendly Service 6Ilmberlanes ofSalent
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/",~ 1973 Merle Oberon, 23 Nov., stroke _fti' Stars ·'-...!:~. Edward G. Robinson, 26 Feb., cancer Joan Blondell, 25 Nov., leukemia r.~,"'-··1 "-·--·· '"-;f?!.1 Continued from page 12 :J.E§~-- Noel Coward, 26 March, heart attack 1980 Lex Barker, .11 April, heart attack Alfred Hitchcock, 29 April, heart attack 1f~"-... /fJ'' Betty Grable, 2 July, cancer Peter Sellers, 24 July, heart attack Veronica Lake, 7 July, hepatitis Steve McQueen, 7 Nov., cancer ------' Mae West, 22 Nov. . 1966 Robert Ryan, 11 July, cancer George Raft, 24 Nov., leukemia Hedda Hopper, 1 Feb., pneumonia Jack Hawkins, 18 July, cancer John Ford, 31 Aug., cancer Rachel Roberts, 26 Nov., barbituate overdose Buster Keaton, 1 Feb., cancer Raoul Walsh, 31 Dec., heart attack · Montgomery Clift, 23 July, heart attack Anna Magnani, 26 Sept.,cancer Laurence Harvey, 25 Nov., cancer 1981 Francis X. Bushman, 23 Aug., heart problem Bobby Darin, 20 Dec., heart ailment Clifton Webb, 13 Oct., heart attack Rene Clair, 15 March Sam Goldwyn, 31 Jan., stroke Melvyn Douglas, 4 Aug., heart ailment Walt Disney, 15 Dec., heart attack Bud Abbott, 24 April, cancer William Wyler, 27 July, heart attack 1967 Agnes Moorhead, 30 April, cancer Ann Sheridan, 21 Jan., cancer 1974 Vera-Ellen, 30 Aug., cancer Martine Carol, 6 Feb., heart attack William Brennan, 21 Sept., emphysema Ann. Harding, 1 sept. Claude Rains, 30 May, intestinal hemorrhage Vittorio De Sica, 13 Nov., cancer Robert Montgomer, 27 sept., cancer Spencer Tracy, 10 June, heart attack Jack Benny, 26 Dec., cancer Gloria Grahame, 5 Oct., cancer Jayne Mansfield, 29 June, car crash 1975 William Holden, 16 Oct., accident Vivien Leigh, 8 July, tuberculosis George Stevens, 8 March, heart attack Natalie Wood, 29 Nov., drowned Basil Rathoone, 21 July, heart attack Susan Hayward, 14 March, brain tumor 1982 Paul Muni, 25 Aug., heart trouble Mary Ure, 3 April, accidental overdose Stanley Holloway, 30 Jan. Charles Bickford, 9 Nov., pneumonia Frederic March, 14 April, cancer Eleanor Powell, 11 Feb., cancer 1968 Richard Conte, 15 April, heart attack John Belushi, 5 March, drugs and alcohol Mae Marsh, 13 Feb., heart attack Rod Serling, 28 June, surgery complications Romy Schneider, 29 May, cardiac arest Fay Bainter, 16 April William Wellman, 12 Dec., leukemia Henry Fonda, 12 Aug., heart ailment Dorothy Gish, 4 June, pneumonia William Lundigan, 21 Dec. Grace Kelly, 14 sept., car accident caused by Dan Duryea, 7 June, cancer 1976 cerebral hemorrhage Kay Francis, 22 Aug., cancer Paul Robeson, 23 Jan., stroke Jacques Tati, 5 Nov., pulmonary embolism Franchot Tone, 18 Sept., cancer Sal Mineo, 12 Feb., stabbed to death Marty Feldman, 2 Dec., heart attack Lee Tracy, 18 Oct., cancer Busby Berkeley, 13 March 1983 Ramon Navaro, 30 Oct., murdered Adolph Zukor, 10 June George Cukor, 24 Jan., stroke Talullah Bankhead, 12 Dec., pneumonia Stanley Baker, 28 June, cancer Gloria Swanson, 4 April, heart ailment 1969 Fritz Lang, 2 April Delores del Rio, 11 April Boris Karloff, 2 Feb., respiratory disease Alistair Sim, 19 Aug., cancer Buster Crabbe, 23 April, heart failure Thelma Ritter, 5 Feb., heart attack Jean Cabin, 15 Nov., heart attack Norma Shearer, 12 June, pneumonia Eric Portman, 7 Feb., heart ailment Rosalind Russell, 28 Nov., cancer Luis Bunuel, 29 June, cirrhosis of the liver John Boles, 27 Feb., heart attack 1977 David Niven, 29 July, motor neurone disease Sonja Henie, 13 Oct., leukemia Groucho Marx, 1 Jan., pneumonia Ralph Richardson, 10 Oct., digestive ailment Josef von Sternberg, 22 Dec., heart attack Peter Finch, 14 Jan., heart attack Pat O'Brien, 15 Oct., heart attack following 1970 Eddie "Rochester'' Anderson, heart attack surgery Cathy O'Donnell, 11 April Joan Crawford, 11 May, heart attack Robert Aldrich, 5 Dec., kidney failure Anita Louise, 25 April, stroke Elvis Presley, 16 Aug., .heart attack William Demarest, 28 Dec., heart attack Billie Burke, 14 May Stephen Boyd, 19 Aug., heart attack 1984 Francis Farmer, 1 Aug., cancer Zero Mostel, 8 Sept., heart attack Johnny Weissmuller, 20 Jan., lung blockage Edward Everett Horton, 29 Sept., cancer Bing Crosby, 14 Oct., heart attack Ethel Merman, 15 Feb. Charles Ruggles, 23 Dec., cancer Charlie Chaplin, 25 Dec. William Powell, 5 March 1971 Howard Hawks, 26 Dec., complications follow Diana Dors, 4 May, cancer Harold Lloyd, 8 March, cancer ing fall Flora Robson, 7 July Bebe Daniels, 16 March, cerebral hemorrhage 1978 Richard Burton, 5 Aug., brain hemorrhage Edmund Lowe, 22 April, heart ailment Charlotte Greenwood, 18 Jan. Janet Gaynor, 14 sept., pneumonia after car crash Glenda Farrell, 1 May Jack Oakie, 23 Jan., heart attack Richard Basehart, 17 Sept., stroke Audie Murphy, 28 May, plane crash Oscar Homolka, 27 Jan., pneumonia Walter Pidgeon, 26 Sept. Van Heflin, 23 July, heart attack Charles Boyer, 2 June, suicide Francois Truffaut, 21 Oct., cancer Spring Byington, 7 Sept., heart attack Jack L. Warner, 9 Aug., heart inflamation Oskar Werner, 23 Oct., heart attack Pier Angeli, 10 Sept., barbituate overdose Robert Shaw, 28 Aug., heart attack Sam Peckinpah,, 28 dee., heart attack 1972 Dan Dailey, 16 Oct., anemia 1985 Maurice Chevalier, 1 Jan., heart attack Gig Young, 19 Oct., suicide Louis Hayward, 21 Feb., cancer Marilyn Maxwell, 20 March, heart attack 1979 Michael Redgrave, 2 March, Parkinson's disease Jean Renoir, 12 Feb., heart ailment Louise BrooKs, 8 Aug., heart attack Brian Donlevy, 5 April, cancer Mary Pickford, 29 May, stroke Simone Signoret, 30 Sept., cancer George Sanders, 25 April, barbituate overdose Jim Hutton, 2 June, cancer Rock Hudson, 2 Oct., AIDS Brandon de Wilde, 6 July, road accident John Wayne, 11 June, cancer Yul Brynner, 10 Oct., cancer Akin Tamiroff, 17 Sept. Michael Wilding, 8 July, complications after fall Miriam Hopkins, 9 Oct., heart attack Jean Seberg, 8 Sept., barbituate overdose Leo G. Carroll, 16 Oct. Grade Fields, 27 Sept., pneumonia Tum to next page ~- Yes-t:eryears Afonioy, J!JtUUlTg ~ 1992
By John Barrat Smithsonian News Service ICROSCOPES, BOTTLED chemicals and M electronic gadgetry line the shelves of this sprav.:ling laboratory in Suitland, Maryland, near ~ash~n~ton,. D. C. where a priceless 18th century ml pamtmg is about to meet its doom. Deliberately dropped from a height of three feet, the canvas ~rumples pathetically in its frame. A second paint mg, exposed to excess changes in heat and humidi ty, has developed disfiguring cracks in its surface. A third is vibrated so violently that it nearly comes apart. In the name of science, Dr. Marion Mecklenburg has sacrificed untold numbers of paintings in his office at the Smithsonian's Conservation Analytical Laboratory. Yet no multimillion dollar van Goghs or Rembrandts litter the floor. These artworks are precise fakes, electronic clones that exist only on a computer screen. Using a high tech computer prog ram, Mecklenberg exposes his simulated master pieces to a gauntlet of imaginary disasters, analyz ing how they fail and fall apart. As one of the few structural engineers at work in the art world, Mecklenburg scrutinizes the mechanical properties of paintings using many of the same techniques other engineers might use to test the strength of the Brooklyn Bridge or the frame of a 747 jet airliner. His specialty is learning how the delicate layers of paint, varnish and glue that cover antique canvases can swell, shrink, stretch or crack - particularly while an art work is being shipped over long distances. Smithsonian News Service Illustration courtesy of Ross M. Merril "For decades, a feeling of apprehension and fear has surrounded the issue of transporting valuable Safely transporting artworks is an age-old problem, as this 1866 illustration of workers moving artworks," Mecklenburg explains, "mainly l;>ecause paintings into London's National Gallery show. Today, entire art collections are commonly so much about it was unknown. In recent years, moved worldwide by train, plane, boat and van. Scientists are now carefully studying the scientific investigation has proven most of these damaging structural effects that moving can have on painting. fears to be unfounded. Modem shipping tech niques and equipment can now virtually guarantee a safe journey for artworks." This is good news include the Smithsonian Institution, the Canadian dwide are scheduled to attend. "This conference considering the rare artworks present change Conservation Institute in Ottawa, the National Gal will mark the first at whlch mechanics as a scientif- hands or are loaned out for exhibitions. Blockbus lery of Art in Washington, D. C., and the Tate Gal ter exhibitions often requiring moving whole col lery in London. Art conservators and movers worl- Tum to next page ~ lections of art around the globe. To improve understanding of the critical issues Sergio Leone, 30 April, heart attack involved in packing and shipping works of art and ,,.tJ~bl.. Gilda Radner, 20 May, cancer · .··s~ C.f/(N Laurence Olivier, 11 July to improve packing methods around the :world, ··1t~ Continued from page 13 ;g<: Mecklenburg has helped organize an international --;,,.,~·~'J.S-.if Bette Davis, 7 Oct., cancer ~1·• . 0-(.;:?' Comel Wilde, 16 Oct., leukemia conference in September at the Queens Conference John Payne, 6 Dec., heart attack Center in London. Sponsors of the conference 0rson Welles, 10 Oct., heart attack 1990 Phil Silvers, 1 Nov. Terry-Thomas, Jan. 8, Parkinson's disease Anne Baxter, 4 Dec., cerebral hemorrhage Barbara Stanwyck, Jan. 20, heart failure 1986 Ava Gardner, Jan. 25, pneumonia Ray Milland, 10 March, cancer Greta Garbo, April 15, cardiac arrest Robert Preston, 21 March, cancer Paulette Goddard, April 23, heart failure James Cagney, 30 March Charles Farrell, May 6, cardiac arrest Otto Preminger, 23 April, cancer Jim Henson, May 16, streptococcus pneumonia Broderick Crawford, 26 April Sammy Davis Jr., May 16, throat cancer Anna Neagle, 3 June Jill Ireland, May 18, cancer Blanche ·Sweet, 6 July Rex Harrison, June 2, cancer Vincente Minnelli, 21 July Howard Duff; July 8, heart attack Sterling Hayden, 30 Sept., cancer Irene Dunne, Sept. 4, heart failure Cary Grant, 29 Nov., stroke Joel McCrea, Oct. 20, pulmonary complications 1987 Mary Martin, Nov. 4, ca~cer Trevor Howard, 7 Jan., bronchitis Mike Mazurki, Dec. 9. Danny Kaye, 3 March, heart attack Eve Arden, Nov. 12, heart failure Rita Hayworth, 14 May, Alzheimer's disease Robert Cummings, Dec. 2, kidney failure Fred Astair, 22 June, pneumonia Joan Bennett, Dec. 7, cardiac arrest Pola Negri, 1 Aug. 1991 At the Smithsonian's Conservation Analytical John Huston, 28, emphysema Danny Thomas, Feb. 6, heart attack Laboratory, Dr. Charles Tumosa (left) and Dr. Lee Marvin, 29 Aug., heart attack Ralph Bellamy, Nov. 21, lung ailments Marion Mecklenburg discuss the computer Bob Fosse, 23 Sept., heart attack Jerzy Kosinski, May 3, suicide generated image of a painting which has been 1988 Lee Remick, July 2, cancer. John Houseman, 31 Oct. Colleen Dewhurst, Aug. 22, cancer dropped on its upper right hand corner. John Carradine, 27 Nov. Frank Capra, Sept. 3 Through computer modeling, a painting can be 1989 Fred MacMurry,- Nov. 5, pneumonia subject to any number of conditions which John Cassavetes, 3 Feb., cirrhosis of the liver Gene Tierney, Nov. 7, emphysema might be encountered in transit. Lucille Ball, 26 April, heart attack Yves Montand, Nov. 9, stroke Yesteryears ~~~~~~~,~~~ Afrmiay, January 20, 1992_j~::J~'~~~-$~~ any number of paint layers. the thickness ot the paint is a critical factor in computer modeling. To test the accuracy of his computer models, Mecklen burg is working with scientists at the Canadian Conservation Institute in Ottawa. In their laborat ory, actual test paintings corresponding to the Smithsonian's computer models are built and then ic discipline will have been introduced to the inter- subjected to abuse. "The margin of error between national world of art," Mecklenburg says. - the computer modeling and tests done with actual For a structural engineer such as Mecklenburg, paintings is very small," he say. paintings are little more than moderately complex Surprisingly, Mecklenburg has learned that structures made of well-known organic materials paintings are able to withstand quite well a conse - namely vegetable-oil paints, flax and/ or cotton quence of transportation that has long worried art canvases and wooden frames. "One can be quite conservators - vibrations caused by trucks, trains specific in defining the strength, stiffness and flexi and airplanes. In fact, "vibration is not really a big bility of these materials," he explains. "So specific, issue because most paintings are so light," he says. in fact, their properties can be quantified by mathe To damage a painting in his computer model, matical equations and calculated by computer. Mecklenburg had to subject it to vibrations many "By creating a dat~ base of the mechanical prop times greater than a painting would experience erties of these materials, we can predict very pre under normal conditions. "A vibration must be cisely how a painting will respond to changes in continuous and of a specific frequency to cause humidity, temperature, shock and vibration - the damage," he says. "Trucks, trains and airplanes do main hazards artworks face while in transit," he not provide such frequencies for long enough per adds. Until now, however, no one has ever iods to be of any harm." In addition, crack patterns attempted to create such a resource, a time developed by vibrating computer models have consuming task that requires testing the same never been duplicated on actual paintings. materials as they age - over decades and even "Because the transportation of a painting is an centuries. engineering, not a chemical problem, it has only "Oil paintings are alive and forever reacting to recently become the subject of intensive study," their environment," Mecklenburg says. "There is Mecklenburg says. /1 Art conservators have tradi never a time you can say they are at rest." Absorp Smithsonian News Service Photo courtesy of Marion Mecklenburg tionally focused on how paintings deteriorate tion of humidity can cause a painting to swell. A chemically over long periods of time." Much work drop in humidity can make it shrink. A painting This detail of an oil painting is an extreme has also recently been done on the design of spe will respond to the slightest change in its environ example of how paintings crack from fluctua cial cases and packing materials to protect art ment and can take between 24 to 48 hours to reach tions in temperature and humidity. Cracks works in transit. equilibrium again. Jostling and vibration also pre shown here originated in the layer of glue To date, most of Mecklenburg's work has cen sents a potential risk to delicate artworks. between the paint and the canvas. tered on 18th and 19th century American paint For his data base on the strength and elasticity of ings, which are fairly uniform in structure and different types of artist's paints - linseed or saf such as paint and glue. He discovered that the glue materials. Modern art, he says, is a whole new ball flower oil with a variety of pigments - a section layer was the primary culprit. game. "Today, artists glue heavy objects to their of the Smithsonian's Conservation Analytical "At low temperature and/ or low humidity, canvases, which make the paintings more suscepti Laboratory is set up as a kind of torture chamber. paints and glues behave in an extremely brittle or ble to vibration," he says. "They also use materials In small sealed containers, Mecklenburg stretches glassy manner," Mecklenburg says. "They lose not commonly found in an art studio." strips of dry and semi-dry paint under varying their ability to deform without breaking but gain a Nonetheless, if he can find out exactly what temperatures and humidities to their breaking remarkably high strength. Conversely, at high materials an artist used, no matter how bizarre the points. He may stretch them slowly over months temperature and humidity, paints and glues turn piece, a computer model of it -can be made. With or subject them to quick trauma, as might be elastic and rubbery." that, fewer unpleasant surprises await these travel expected if a painting were dropped. He has tested Depending upon the artist, a painting can have ing artworks on the road. the properties of artist's glue, a base material known as gesso and canvases as well. All data are carefully recorded and then entered into his com puter data base. hat Abllut Understanding how paintings are damaged by heat and cold, humidity and vibration requires an appreciation of their structures and how they Turnip Seed? change in time. ''When an artist first applies wet 'This 1s the season an.cl paint to a canvas, the canvas forms the support of we have a good supply ot the painting," Mecklenburg explains. After many Landretn's best variety. The years, however, the paint dries thoroughly, and becomes stiff and strong. "In time, the paint layer Money becomes the structural support of the painting and FRANK. F:. TR.Il\ifBLE assumes a great deal of stress." Changes in temper Rellab!e Druggist Speedway ature and humidity greatly aggravate old stress ON THJ!l: ~QUA~. areas and can create new ones. To . compl.icate matters, oil paintings normally Big sums or little contam a thm layer of glue between the paint and sums safely and the canvas, which an artist applies to prevent the oil from the paint from soaking into the canvas. easily sent by "Glue and oil paints react differently to changes in humiodity, expanding and shrinking at different rates," Mecklenburg says. As a result, stress also POf-.l WESTERN develops petween the paint and glue layer. When the stress exceeds the breaking point of the paint, UN I 0 N the paint cracks. Full information at any Many early American paintings share very simi ALL THE FAMll Y Western Union Office. lar patterns of crack from being kept in unstable The cost is small, the environments, Mecklenburg says. For decades, it service quick and sure. was assumed this cracking was caused by shrink Pay As You Wea.r ing and swelling of the canvas. When Mecklenburg ran computer modeling experiments simulating a shrinking and swelling canvas, however, the crack lhe Peoples Stare pattern indicated by the computer did not match THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH CO. the pattern of cracks on the actual paintings. This 140 East Main St. led him to take a closer look at the other layers Ad From the Past ']l'"es-teryears; 'Monday, January 20, 1992 in the Northeastern United States. It would prob ably sell for $365 to $385 in good condition. Q. The enclosed mark is on the back of a porce AflGJ'IQlIB lain mantel dock with chimes. It is decorated with flowers, even on the dial. It is about 8 ~~-OR--- inches high and 10 inches wide. Please tell me what you can about the origin cJUNQUE and value of my clock. A. This would be called a Gouda clock; it was made by the Pazuid factory in Gouda, Holland in By James McCollam the early 1900s. It would probably sell for $800 to Copley News Service $900 in good condition. Q. Enclosed pictures are of a chair that was Q. What is the value of a china tumbler com given to us about 40 years ago. The rocking action memorating the Silver Jubilee of King George V is controlled by coil springs on both sides. That is of England? It is marked "Aynsley, England." about all I can tell you. I hope you will be able to A. This was made by Aynsley & Co. in Longton, shed some insight as to its vintage and value. England, in 1935 on the occasion of the 25th A. This platform rocker was made in the late anniversary of the coronation of King George V. It 1800s by one of several manufacturers of furniture would currently sell in the $50 to $60 range. Q. Please tell me what you can about my Park er "Duofold Sr." mechanical pencil. It is brick red in color and appears to be larger in diameter than the average pencil. A. This was known as the "Big Brother" mechan ical pencil. They were popular in the 1920s and are currently selling for us to $150 in good condition. Q. I have an automobile license plate with the slogan "I like Ike & Dick" with their pictures at each end. It is in very good condition. Please eva luate for me. A. This license plate was used in the 1952 pres idential campaign. It might sell in the $265 to $285 range. BOOK REVIEW "Warman's Americana & Collectibles, Fifth Edition" edited by Harry L. Rinker (Wallace This platform was made in the late 1800s in Homestead Imprint of the Chilton Book Co.) is an excellent rrice guide with detailed and accurate the northeastern United States. listings o information with hundreds of illustra addressed envelope and $1 per item (limit one tions. It fills the gap between "Warman's Antiques item per request) to James G. McCollam, PO Box and Their Prices" and contemporary collectibles. 1087, Notre Dame, IN 46556. AH questions will be Send your questions about antiques with pic answered but published pictures cannot be tures, a detailed description, a stamped, self returned.
eceive 26 eeks ryears $ F r Just Don't miss a single issue of Yesteryears, Historical Journal printed weekly at the Salem News. ~------1 'Yesteryears oraer :Form I Enclose Check For $13
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