EAST FAREWELL
NEWS
Thursday, July 21,
1960 Vol. C786
LOCAL
NEWS
ONE MAN’S TRASH IS ANOTHER
MAN’S TREASURE
East
Farewell – Local junk dealer, Gus Pollard, has been collecting, buying and
selling junk in East Farewell as long as anyone can remember. His shop on
Lakeshore Drive is small but packed with shelves full of all kinds of
interesting, sort of rare and almost always unique stuff that he has either
collected or purchased from local farms and estates of former tycoons from the
Mighty Keystone Railroad who would summer in East Farewell in the early part of
the century. Many of the estates or “summer cottages” as they were called by
the owners, have been sold off, renovated into hotels or just demolished with
the land broken up and sold to new residents. Gus would wait for each estate to
come up for sale and inspection. Invariably, there would be an estate sale
before the sale or demolition and he would spring into action and scour the
premises to find anything valuable, interesting or in his eye just cool. He has
pulled out staircases and bannisters, lots of doors, loads of pictures, china,
silverware and knick-knacks and put them on display for sale in his shop. Most
everyone in town has visited his shop in search of that one piece of junk that they
could not live without and most cases they have been able to find it.
Gus was on hand for the estate sale
of the famous Hampshire estate. Louis Hampshire was president of the Mighty
Keystone Railroad in its early, formative years, 1918-1928. Sid and Lou Lendel
worked for Hampshire as surveyors and line planners and were the first ones to
envision East Farewell as a foundry town to supply rails and iron for the
massive westward expansion of the railroad. The beautiful and pristine Lake
Charles attracted many to the new town for summer respite once the town was
established. Among the vacationers was Louis Hampshire who built a luxurious
estate right on the shore of Lake Charles. Hampshire would spend his summers in
town and became a fixture around town until his untimely passing from a cancer
in 1929. His estate was passed on to his wife Marguerite who summered there
with her children and their extended families. Marguerite’s passing in 1951 led
the far flung family members to finally sell the estate in late 1958. The
estate sale was very well attended many came just to see the inside of the
massive home that was a prominent site on the lake shore. Gus was one of the
first in line.
He was able to go through house and
as an experienced picker he was able to tag a collection of objects the he knew
would have some value in his shop. One item he tagged was a portrait of Louis
Hampshire. Gus took the painting back to his shop and proceeded to remove the
portrait from the frame. He thought the frame was worth more than the painting.
He had paid $10.00 for the portrait and frame. Once he had the portrait out of
the frame he noticed something attached to the back of the painting. It turns
out Louis Hampshire was a history buff. Attached to the back of his portrait
was an original broadside of the Declaration of Independence! A stunned Pollard
submitted the artifact to the Library of Congress for authentication and last
week was informed that it was indeed a true copy, one of only a handful known
to still exist. While Gus is very proud of his invaluable acquisition, he has
said he has plans to donate it to the Library of Congress. “Something that
important has to be shared by everyone. After all, it really belongs to
everyone when you think about it,” said Pollard at a hastily called news
conference after the notification.
Everyday Gus walks down Main Street
and turns on Lakeshore Drive he walks up to his shop and opens the door for
business. These days he seems to have a little more pep in his step and every
July 4th he has a photocopy of his unexpected and fortunate find
posted in his window.
Gus Pollard shows off his
incredible find
SPORTS
TRAVELERS EXTEND THEIR STREAK OVER THE ANGLERS
East Farewell – The Travelers continued their
winning ways on Saturday night as they bested the Riverview Anglers, 6-3. It
was a solid win for the Travelers as they looked good in every department.
Their hitting was strong and consistent with both Johnny Cloos and Mitch
Maxwell both homering to drive in the Travelers runs, Cloos in the third,
driving in Francis and Watson, and Maxwell in the seventh, and driving in
Dimero and Brown. The pitching was also strong as Danny Lane was able to strike
out six, walk four and only allow three runs scattered throughout the game. The
Travelers committed no errors and were able to complete a double play to close
off a late Anglers threat in the eighth. “This was a good, strong win for the team. We
are starting to hit our stride it seems. This is a good time to be on the
upswing,” said manager Sam Fowler after the game.
The
Travelers are still at home next week when they will host the Youngstown
Steelers. The Steelers are currently tied with the Travelers in the standings
but the Travelers are on the upswing and the Steelers are slipping backward,
having lost their last two games. Due to the scheduled annual Bar-B-Que Cookoff
the game begins at 7:30 at Travelers Stadium.
NATIONAL NEWS
KENNEDY WINS DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION, CHOOSES
JOHNSON AS RUNNING MATE – KENNEDY WILL START CAMPAIGN IN HAWAII & ALASKA –
CONGO DECLARES WAR WITH BELGIUM, APPEALS TO UN
In
Los Angeles - John Fitzgerald Kennedy of Massachusetts is acclaimed the
Democratic candidate for President. A thunderous applause roared from the
crowd. “We will carry the fight to the people in the fall and we shall win”.
“The world is changing. The old era is ending.
The old ways will not do.” “I hope that no American will waste his franchise by
voting either for me or against me solely on account of my religious
affiliation,” said Kennedy when accepting the nomination.
Kennedy
chooses Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas as his running mate. Johnson responded
in a speech, “My fellow Americans, in
all humility and with deepest gratitude, I thank you for your action and I
congratulate you on your action last night. As an American, as a Democrat, as a
warm, good friend, I am prepared to stand beside and stand behind the next
President of the United States, Jack Kennedy!
Sen.
Kennedy chooses Hawaii and Alaska as starting points for a Presidential
campaign which he said will take him to “every section of our country.” The
campaign start will be around September 4.
In
a radio broadcast, Premier Patrice Lumumba declares that the Republic
of Congo is at war with Belgium. Premier Khrushchev warns the West to keep
hands off the Congo, repeating the charge that the faltering new nation is a
target of imperialist aggression. The Premier declared the Soviet Union would
take resolute countermeasures if this continues. Several days later, the
Congolese government issues an ultimatum to the United Nations to clear all
Belgian troops from the republic of the Congo within 72 hours. The Eisenhower
administration says it will keep Sen. Kennedy apprised of foreign policy
developments during the campaign, this way, either candidate will be current on
the cold war with Russia. The information will become available in a series of
secret meetings and on certain terms, which Kennedy accepted.
Many, many
thanks to www.mrpopculture.com for
contributing to this section of the East Farewell News.
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