50 years ago
OCTOBER 15, 1953
The eastbound Santa Fe Chief through Peabody Saturday evening struck and killed 44 head of John Berns' cattle which had wandered on the track through an open gate. The gate had been closed at 6 p.m. but it was found to be open when the accident happened at 10:30. How and why it was open still is a mystery. Damage was estimated at close to $10,000.
An important business announcement was made this week in the sale by Max Blackwelder and associates of their Marion Motors & Equipment Company building on East Main to Powell Motor Company, local Dodge and Plymouth dealers. The Marion Motors building is fairly new, being built in 1948. Powell Motor Company, one of the long established businesses in Marion, has been located for a number of years at the corner of First and Main streets.
Mrs. Ora Kelsey asked guests to a party Saturday afternoon to help her daughter Juanita celebrate her 12th birthday. Those invited were Naomi Stenzel, Karen Thole, Rosemary Ollenberger, LaVonda Hinz, Coleen Allen, Ethel Brunner, Deanna Kay Klenda, Clydeen Edmonds, Sharon Propp, Shirley Lucas, Frances Schafers, Donna Kelsey, Beverly Bredemeier, Marie Blankley, and Sue Haizlip.
Mrs. Donald Duke, Durham, was fortunate in missing injury in her home last week when blue plums which she was canning exploded. She had 12 quart jars in her electric oven when she was preparing dinner. She had stepped out of the house to throw some potato peelings to her chickens when she heard the explosion. The explosion blew the door off the stove. All the jars were blown to tiny bits with no piece larger than the end of one's finger. The glass bits were imbedded in the cabinet, table, chairs, and walls of the kitchen. The hot blue plum juice coated the entire kitchen as if it had been painted blue.
First in the Old Settler's Day rural school float division went to Youngtown with their "Horse and Buggy Doctor." Second was Morning Star's "Art Corn's Blacksmith Shop." Third was a tie between Pleasant View with the "First Schoolhouse" and New Hope with the "Husking Bee."
