From the Archives - 1929 Tillsonburg News
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Tillsonburg News - August 1929
Civic Holiday
Taking place on the (Lake Lisgar) high school campus, a softball tournament was arranged with prizes amounting to $25. Massey-Harris defeated Goshen 22-6 in the final and received $15.
Lake Lisgar events included a swimming race for boys under-15, men's race, fancy diving (open to all girls), girls swim race, and canoe tilting.
A three-mile race included Toronto schoolmaster swimmer Stanley Hodgkinson and American amateur 'Young' Walter. Percy Heyd, a Tillsonburg boy, also competed in the 12-swimmer marathon race. Heyd was disqualified at the 1927 Wrigley Swim in Toronto for assisting an exhausted swimmer.
Miss Jewel Cheatwood, 19, who trains in Toronto, had a powerful hand stroke, swimming with apparent ease and beautifully rhythmic movement. She was leading in all four laps of the three-mile course and completed the race in 1 hour and 3 minutes, smiling and looking extremely fit. Miss Cheatwood competed in the 1927 Wrigley marathon, remaining in the water 10 hours, and in 1928 she was able to finish the 10-mile course.
Second prize was captured by Percy Heyd, in 1 hour and 9 minutes. Stanley Hodgkinson was third one minute later. Both powerful swimmers, it is doubtful they exerted all of their ability. Gerald Elder, a Tillsonburg High School student, received much applause when he finished fourth.
In Canoe Sink, it was Ed Friend 1st, C. Hewer 2nd. And Canoe Tilt, Bob Brown.
The day's sport was sponsored by the Lake Lisgar Improvement Club.
Hospital Notes
Tillsonburg Soldiers' Memorial Hospital for July: 36 admissions, 8 births, 32 discharges, 2 deaths, 21 operations. Average number of patients per day – 16.
Highway No. 3 opens
The new highway from Windsor to Niagara Falls will be opened on August 9. The paved road was finished last Saturday.
Boy Reported Lost
Mr. and Mrs. Mannel Winter, residing near Fairground, are distracted over the mysterious disappearance of their 12-year-old son, Leonard, on the evening of July 17. The boy was working on a farm for Arthur Donnelly, east of Tillsonburg, and on the evening of July 17 went across the road to the farm of A. Nobbys, a tobacco grower, in quest of a job, and so far as is known, has never been seen by anyone since that time.
There was no known cause for the boy to run away. He was a very conscientious young farm worker, content to stay at home. His parents are fearful that something out of the ordinary has occurred.
Dead Man Vanishes on No. 3 Highway
Provincial police are somewhat puzzled over the affair of a dead man who refused to stay dead and who apparently wandered away.
Two Tillsonburg men were returning early yesterday morning from a trip to Simcoe when, in the vicinity of Delhi on No. 3 highway, they encountered what they believed was a body lying rigid on the side of the road.
After due consideration they decided to stop the car and return to the scene of the catastrophe. Whereupon they found the body of a man stretched out at the side of the road with his head lying directly on the highway.
Taking careful note of his attire, they sped on their way post-haste to Tillsonburg where they communicated in great alarm the news of their gruesome find. Three officers set out about 1:30 in the morning to investigate. For a long time they scoured the highways and byways in the vicinity of Delhi. No effort was spared to locate the 'dead' man but their efforts were of no avail.
The dead man had vanished.
Fire and Lightning
Fire Sunday evening destroyed the large barn of Philip Kirwin in Dereham township, just east of Mount Elgin, and consumed the entire season's crop of hay. The cause was attributed to lightning.
About seven o'clock, after the milking had been completed, and the family had just finished their evening meal, a crackling noise was heard in the direction of the barn. Thinking it was another rainfall, someone just happened to glance out and discovered the barn to be in flames. Scores of neighbours were on hand in good time and did all they could to help. The large barn was doomed from the first, and no effort could have been made to save it. Good work was done in saving the hog pen, the garage, and the milk house.
During the same storm, the house and barn of Raymond Young, south Broadway, was struck by lightning. The buildings, fortunately, did not take fire. The bolt struck the back of the residence first and then following the clothesline wire entered the barn.
About one o'clock Sunday morning fire was discovered in E.P. Carroll's garage at the rear of his home on Bidwell Street. The fire laddies made a quick response but nothing could be done to save the building. Besides the garage a passenger car and truck were destroyed. Cause is unknown.
In Clear Creek, a fire, thought to be due to spontaneous combustion, occurred Wednesday night when the large barn and implement shed belonging to Roy Overbaugh burned to the ground. The season's crop of hay and all the farm implements were destroyed. Imperfectly cured sweet clover is supposed to be the cause.
Sad Drowning Accident
Death came very suddenly to 30-year-old Rev. A. Harold Carr, pastor of the Baptist Church, last Monday morning while bathing in Lake Lisgar, heart failure being the cause. He had gone with his wife and children to enjoy a swim in the lake, and at the time of the seizure was swimming with his eldest child on his back. The little girl was taken ashore, but all means of resuscitation failed to bring back the life of the beloved husband, son and pastor.
Harold was born in Puerto de la Luz, Grand Canary, Aug. 16, 1899 where his parents spent eight years as missionaries.
Drinking and Driving
Radio ad, Toronto Chief of Police: "So far as the police are concerned, we will not tolerate for one moment a motor driver who is under the influence of liquor. It is not my place to actually say whether a man is drunk or sober, but I will go this far, and say that if you have taken a single drink of alcoholic stimulant, stay away from the steering gear of a motor car or truck. The police are constantly on the lookout for those under the influence of liquor driving motor vehicles, and we want every motor driver to be in his right senses."
Rink Wrecked
The roof on the outdoor electric ice rink, which for several years (almost two decades) has been a sporting centre during the winter months, and was condemned a few months ago, buckled and crashed last Thursday due to high winds, and is now a complete wreck. No one was injured in the crash.
Motor Insurance Hikes
Strenuous objections are being made against large and sudden increases in Canadian automobile insurance rates. A new scale will see rates increase 25 to 50 per cent. The reason for the increase is that under existing conditions the motor insurance business is unprofitable and Canadian rates are lower than those prevailing in the United States.
To illustrate, owners of six-cylinder, four-wheel brake coaches now paying (annually) $69 gross will have to pay $117.25.
The higher rates may encourage a section of the public, which is not much inclined to insure anyways, to refuse to pay the premiums demanded.