davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
Music Program, At
p. z. A. Monday Night

The following music program un-
der direction of Miss Elma Alter
and Earl Lehman has been arranged
for meeting of the Parent-Teacher
association in the high school audi
torium, Monday night at 8 o'clock.
Christmas medley, Junior H. S.
orchestra.
How Joyful Are the Tidings,
Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,
Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Junior
High Chorus.
Girls trio-Ada Mae Oyer, Ruth
Diller, Dorothy Hardwick.
Cantata-Christ is Born. Soloists !:
Bonny Deeds, Ruth Ann Lee, Treva
Althaus, Margin Holtkamp, Bert
Niswander, Ralph Dunifon, Sam
Buhler.
Boys quartet - Lynn Carmack,
Bob Niswander, Roger Linden, Dean
Sommers.
Solo'-Twas the Night Before
Christmas, Ada Mae Oyer; Ruth
Diller, accompanist.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
TOWN ERECTS new
STREET MARKERS
AT INTERSECTIONS
Missing And Defaced Street
Signs Being Replaced
This Winter
Street Marker Project Ties In
With Replacement of City
Stop Signs

Replacement of Bluffton street
markers which have been defaced or
tom from their standards was start
ed this week by the village street
department in a campaign that will
again put the 14-year-old street
designation system in frst-class con-
dition.
New wooden markers with legibly
painted street designations will be
erected at intersections wherever the
older signs have been torn down or
defaced, Street Commissioner Lee
Coon announced.
Following the placement of new
markers wherever needed, old mark
ers now in need of a fresh coat of
paint will be taken down and re-
lettered.
The towns present street signs,
consisting of black lettering on white
painted wood, were erected in 1894
rs . WPA project. In the interven-
ing years, many markers have dis
appeared and in other cases the
lettering no longer is readable.
A program of street marker re-
placement was authorized last spring
by the town council, but work on the
project was delayed until this fall, so
that expense of the work might be
reduced by having the regular street
crew do the painting and lettering
on days when inclement weather
prohibited work outside.
Purchase of a steel stencil set for
use in the lettering program elimin-
ated the necessity of buying street
markers, and enables the town
street department to make its own
signs.
Erection of new street markers
ties in with a program of re-installa-
ton of STOP signs, inaugurated last
summer. Like the street designa-
tions many STOP signs disappeared
during war years and replacement
has been required.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
Grade School Xmas
Operettd On Friday

"The Magi's Gift" a Christmas
operetta, will be presented by pupils
of the Grade school in the high
school gymnasium, Friday night at
8 o'clock under direction of Miss
Elma Alter.
The scene is laid in medieval
England involving a tradition that
each year at Christmas, Caspar,
one of the wise men appears on
earth and bestows gifts and bless
ings
Appearing in the cast:
Watchman: Raymond Cummins.
Rich children of the manor: jean
nine Benroth, James Fisher, Sharon
Zimmerman, Janice Skidmore.
Good dame: Nora Preto.
Elsbeth: Little girl at the inn,
Wilma Jorg.
Innkeeper: Thorton Lauriat.
His son: Roger Reichenbach.
Crusader: Rex Alderman.
Mummers: Frank Chamberlain,
Robert Green, Paul Fritchie, Ronald
Lora, Barry Corson.
Mary: Sue Montgomery.
Shepherds: Dean Badertscher,
Robert Derringer, Maurice Mahoney.
Wise Men: Bret Triplett, Robert
Steiner, James Berry.
Angels: Irlene Gierman, Mary
Badertscher, Kay Clauss, Shirley
Galloway, Jean Ann Frick.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
Battle Against Polio
Ends With Death OF George Grismore

A three-months battle against bull
bar polio ended last Saturday morn
ing in Lima Memorial hospital with
the death of George A. Grismore,
16-year-old Bluffton High school
football player, who had been pa
tient there since being stricken last
September 10.
He was the son OF Mr.. and Mrs.
Allen Grismore, four miles north
west of town. His father is form
er Riehland township trustee.
Admitted to the Lima hospital on
September 10, the Bluffton area
youth was stricken by the disease
only a few days after school had
opened here. A junior, he was a
member of the football team and
active in other school activities.
In addition to his parents he is
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
BODY OF SOLDIER
KILLED IN FRANCE
COMING THURSDAY
Remains of George Burkholder
To Arrive Here In
Evening
Services VIII be at DiIler
Funeral Home Saturday
Afternoon

Body of George Burkholder, form
er Bluffton athlete who was killed in
action in France, will arrive here
from Columbus, Thursday night at
GAL o'clock on the Nickel Plate
train.
The remains will be taken to the
Paul Diller funeral home to await
funeral services there Saturday
afternoon at 2:3o o'clock. Rev. John
Steiner of Lima viii officiate and
burial will be in the Reformed Men
monte cemetery northwest of town.
Burkholder was aged p years
years when he met death with an
Army liason unit on a flying mission
at Charmes, France, September q,
1914. The body arrived in Columbus
last month.
He was born January 26, 1922 in
Richland township the son of Harvey
and Minnie (Balmer) Burkholder
residing three miles west of Bluff
ton. He was graduated from Bluff
ton high school in the class of 1910.
While in his second year at Bowl
ing Green State university he was
inducted into service March IT, 1943
and went overseas in April 1914.
Surviving are his parents, two
brothers James Of Blufton and
Robert of Ohio State university,
Columbus; two sisters Helen of Ohio
State university, Columbus and Mary
Jane at home and d grandmother
Mrs. Mary Balmer Of Bluffton.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
Riddles and Grownups Miss
Customary Yuletide Back
drop of Ice and Snow
Mild Weather Likened to Early
Winter of 1916, But Snow
Came Before Christmas

Despite the approach of the holi-
day, the usual Christmas setting of
snow and ice continued to evade the
Bluffton district this week, in a
continuation of mild weather remin-
iscent of spring, coupled with show
ers Tuesday night and Wednesday.
Except for last weeks skift of
snow which lasted for less than one
day, temperatures above the fifties
have prevailed here constantly since
early Novmber, date that ordin-
arily marks the onslaught of winter
in this area.
Riddles and grownups alike are
finding it difficult to realize that
Christmas is just around the corner
in a season in which the weather.
man persists in a refusal to let win
ter arrive, although motorists and
pedestrians alike have been thank
ful for the respite from traffic haz-
ards. which snow and ice customarily
bring.
Many weather observers are COM
pairing this season with that of two
years ago when mild temperatures
prevailed until just before Christ
mas, but they point to the pre-Yule-
tide snowfall of that season as an
indication that we may yet have a
wintry setting for the holidays.
In contrast to the mild weather
of November and so far in Decem-
Der, observers also point to heavy
snowfall and near-zero weather
which prevailed at this time four
years ago, when this area had one
of its most severe winters in history
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
With The Sick

John Garlinger, who was a surg
ical patient at Lima Memorial hos
pital has been removed to his home
on Geiger street.
Edward Hauenstein is q patient
in Bluffton hospital.
Melvin johnson of Malinta, form
erly of Bluffton Is convalescing in
the Napoleon hospital following a
hernia operation.
Ivan Geiger, athletic director at
Massachusetts Institute of Technol-
ogy, Boston, Bluffton native, is in a
Boston hospital for treatment for
gallstones.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
COLORFUL AND GAY
YULETIDE SEASON
USHERED IN HERE
Holiday Shopping At Peak As
Christmas Setting Takes
Form
OId-Fashioned Christmas With
Gay Lights Observed
This Year

Against a setting of traditional
color and gaiety, Bluffton's plans
for the Yuletide were taking tan
,gible form this week as all COM
.munity events geared themselves to
the observance next week of Amer
.ica's bestowed holiday season.
In the downtown district, Christ
mas ornamentation has taken the
form of festooned and holly-draped
boulevard light standards, with show
windows bright with Yuletide cheer
providing a fitting backdrop for the
outdoor decorations. Further adding
to the spirit of the season, holiday
lights, decorations and trees already
have made their appearance in
every residential area.
Heavily burdened postal workers
are struggling to keep abreast of
the heavy floods of Christmas mail,
although the heaviest volume is not
expected until the early part of
next week.
Windows at the post office, usuall-
1y closed on Saturday afternoon,
will be open this Saturday until 6
.. M, for the convenience of those
making Christmas mailings.
STORES OPEN EVENINGS
Shopping in local business estab-
1ishments is at its peak this week,
with some easing in trading expect
ed after the middle of next week.
Stores will be open Monday to
Thursday nights inclusive next week
to accommodate belated buyers.
Santa was overwhelmed by a mob
of eager youngsters when he arrived
at the Main and Cherry street in
tersection last Saturday afternoon,
to hold interviews with kiddies and
distribute favors. Before his ap-
pearance downtown he circled over
Bluffton in iow-fying airplane.
Opening the musical observance
of the Yuletide, Handel's celebrated
oratorio, "The Messiah" was pre-
sented last Sunday afternoon in the
Bluffton High school gymnasium by
the Bluffton College Choral society
CHRISTMAS PROGRAMS
Christmas pageants and programs
will mark services in churches of
the town and community, beginning
Sunday, with the last in the series
scheduled for Christmas eve, week
from Friday.
Bluffton grade school students will
present a Christmas operetta in the
high school auditorium, Friday
night of this week, for one of the
last public appearances of school
groups before they start Christmas
holiday recesses the latter part of
next week.
Much of the credit for the gay
Christmas atmosphere prevailing
here goes to the Bluffton Business
Mems association, which sponsored
the outdoor decorations downtown,
and arranged for Santa's visit last
Saturday afternoon.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16

survived by two sisters, Bonnie Girls
more, at home; and Mrs. Vinton
Bucher, Pandora; and a brother,
Dale Grismore, Washington, D. C.
All Bluffton public school students
were dismissed Monday afternoon
for the funeral in Ebenezer Men
MONTE church, of which the youth
was a member. Rev. Howard Landis
officiated. Burial was IN the church
cemetery.
Although Bluffton escaped any
polio deaths in last summers cpl
demic, and there was only one case
in the village limits, Grismore's
death was the second for this COM
munity. Roderick Nonnamaker, of
three miles east of town, died in
October in the Lima hospital, after
being stricken only a few days
earlier.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
Postal Officials Warn Public To Mail
Greetings, Parcels AS Soon AS Possible

A critical last-minute jam in
handling holiday mail is looming
in Bluffton if too many persons con-
tinue to delay mailing their Christ
mas cards and packages, Postmaster
Ed r. Reichenbach pointed out this
week.
All Christmas cards for out-of-the
state delivery should have been in
the mail early this week, if delivery
before the holiday is to be assured.
Greetings for local delivery should
be in the mail at least a week be-
fore Christmas.
Advance indications show there
will be as many Christmas greet
ings to mail this year as in 1947, a
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16

year that was a record-breaker for
the post office department.
The war partially is to blame for
the big load of Yuletide mail, au-
thorities say. A lot of people were
uprooted from their homes, made
new friends and increased the
Christmas card load.
With the normal mail volume at
an all-time high, a heavy rush of
holiday mailing will greatly compI-i
cate post office mailing. This situa-
tion prevails on nationwide scale,
it was announced this week by the
Postmaster General, and early mail
ing is the only assurance that
Christmas greetings and packages
can be delivered before the Yuletide
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
FiUe From, Here
Get Service Pins

Five Bluffton men were among
those honored Monday night in a
service award presentation as one
of the features of a Christmas party
for employees of the Central Ohio
Light & Power company in Findlay.
Those from here receiving service
pins were:
C. V. Kuhn, Ben Schafer and
Herb Haller with Is years service
each and Frank Weinhold and Mer-
lin Nun II each with 10 years
service.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
BIuftOn Student
Is College Editor

jeanne Buhler, sophomore at
Bethel college, Newton, Kansas, has
been appointed associate editor of
the college student newspaper, The
Collegian. She was promoted from
news editor, a position she held
since enrolling last fall.
A daughter of Mr.. and Mrs. Ger
hard Buhler, she was a freshman
at Rluffton college last year and is
at Bethel this year as an exchange
student.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
Snowy Christmas Setting Missing
AS Spring-Like Weather Continues
Real Estate Tax
Collection Starts

December collection of Allen coun-
ty real estate taxes has been started
by the office of County Treasurer
Ray w. Barnett.
Statements are being prepared and
will be in the mails soon for taxes
now payable for the first half of
1948.
Deadline for payment of taxes
without penalty is set for February
10.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
Plar, EUdngeHstic
Campaign In January

Rev. Earl M. Jensen, evangelist
and radio speaker will be in charge
of a tri-county evangelistic cam
paign January 9 to 30, it was an
nounced the first of the week.
Meetings during the first half will
be held at st. John Mennonite
church and the last half in the high
school auditorium here. Walter
Treadway will be in charge of the
music.
Executive committee directing the
meetings is: Rev. Howard Landes,
chairman; Rev. Arnold Schmidt,
vice chairman; Rev. Frank Harder,
secretary; John Tosh, treasurer,
Clarence Diller, asst. treasurer.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
One-Act YuLetide
Play At COILege

A one-act Christmas play with a
Biblical setting will be presented by
Bluffton college speech students at a
chapel meeting this Thursday.
In the cast are Mary Jane Burk-
holder, Marilyn Burkholder, Mary
Lou Rich, Onnalee McClintock and
Don Yaussey. William Burbick is
directing the production.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
The Story Behind The
Fire Lands

Did you ever wonder why Ohio's
oroginaI settlers migrated from old
and we'll settled districts into q
wilderness filled with Indians, wolves
and almost every danger and gladly
braved death, deprivation and hard
ship that they might remain there
hoping for peace and plenty later
on? What sort of people were they,
who would do a thing like that and
why did they do it?
Well, it wasn't what you think
just to wrest a new home out of the
wilderness and grow up with a new
country. They were not pioneers
they were refugees who fled from
attack, persecution, death and ex-
termination.
Such was your own great-grand-
father six times removed, if he were
among the first who came into Ohio.
Most of the first ones came from
Connecticut, a few from Pennsyl-
vania and most of the few, from
Westmoreland County.
Did you ever hear of the Ohio
Fire Lands, set apart by Connecti-
cut from the Western Reserve in
1892 as a donation to sufferers from
fire during the Revolutionary War
-781 square miles or 100000 acres
cut off the Reserve before it was
opened for sales and settlement
The bloody and horrible story be-
hind the Ohio Fire Lands seldom has
been told and is little known. Most
of the blood shed soaked Pennsyl-
vania soil because 1t was there that
most of the tragedy took place. All
because Connecticut, during the rev
olution, tried to start a couple of
colonies on Pennsylvania ground.
The ruckus, known as the Penna-
mite Wars, were a series of family
affairs, little wars within big one
and sprang from the British Crown
having given some of Pennsylvania
to both William Penn and The Com.
monWealth of Connecticut,
Connecticut Company
The Connecticut Susquehanna
Oand) Company, $40 persons, later
swelled to 1900, in 1854 purchased
for 1000 pounds, New York money,
from the Indians of the Six Nations,
the land in the Wyoming valley and
in 1862 formed settlement of about
200 persons about a mile above
Wilkes-Bar on a strip q miles
long and about three miles wide, shut
in by mountains 1000 feet high.
Then came both white and Indian
efforts to expell the Connecticut in
vaders into PENIS Woods. The
Delaware Indians demanded the
settlers expulsion, their chief,
Teedyuscung, declaring that Chief
Joseph Brant, of the Six Nations,
had sold his tribal lands down
river" and that the Delawares had
gotten nothing for them.
Soon after that he was burned
up in his cabin, presumably by some
of the Six Nations, but the blame
was fixed on the settlers in the Wy
oming valley. The night of October
Is, 1852, they fell on the settlement
and killed 20. The rest fled. That
was the first massacre at Wyoming
Settlers Return
By 1869 the settlers We're back
again In February, that year, the
company sent 10 armed men ant
promised 200 more there to protect
the settlement. Col. Zebulon Butler
was commandant. In the interim the
Penns had induced the Six Nations
to repudiate their sale to the Con.
necticut men and when Butler anc
his men arrived there they found
Continued on page p
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
Attend Nurses
Camping Ceremony

Mr.. and Mrs. Harold Beals at
tended the Gaping ceremony for 54
students of st. Rita's hospital school
of nursing at Lima, Sunday evening
in McAuley auditorium. Their daugh-
ter Peggy received her cap at that
time.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
Lane To Address
WaynesfeId Club

E. S. Lape of Bluffton will be the
principal speaker at dinner meet
ing of the Lions club in Waynesfield
this Wednesday night. He will
speak on his trip to Hawaii in the
sprinp of 1947 and illustrate the ad-
dress with pictures taken at that
time.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
Enan,dnueEs Church
Christmas Program

Zone Holy Night" a Christmas
service of carol singing and panto-
mime will be presented by the young
people of Enmanuel's Reformed
church Sunday evening at 8 o'clock.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
Births

The following births at Bluffton
hospital:
Mr.. and Mrs. Carson Hackworth,
Dunkirk, a girl, Birdie, Thursday.
Mr.. and Mrs. Kimmel Marshall,
Bluffton, boy, Bruce Neil, Sunday.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
BLUFFTON MARKETS
Wednesday Morning

Grain (bushel prices) - Wheat
1920; corn s1.25; oats 7Sc; soys
$2.36.
Poultry-Heavy hens, 34c; leghorn
hens 2Sc; heavy springers 40c.
Butterfat-63c.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
Style In Santa Clauses Changes
For Better In Public Appearances
f2gys1GlISz
l,zess;S:5esSJs1le!5T

EDITORS NoTE-Thfs u one
of q series of articles to appear
IN the Bhtfton Net0s dealing
nth early Ohio history. Others
soiu appear IN Forthcoming
issues.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-12-16
CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

Christmas program at Pleasant
Hill church, December % at 7:45
p. m.
Evening star., 1948-09-30
ITO Traffic Tickets
Adjusted for Drivers
In Capital Last Week

A Northwest Washington real es-
tate broker, who left his car parked
in a commercial parking area in
front of his place of business to
investigate possible intruders in the
building, was among 1l0 persons for
whom traffic tickets we're adjusted
last week.
He is Frank M. Doyle, 5631 Mac
Arthur boulevard NV. who told
police he parked in violation of
regulations for only a few min
utes' because he thought some one
had broken into a building he was
remodeling at 1242 Twentieth
street NV.
A few days before, he explained,
the building had been illegally en-
tered and complete set of car
penter's tools stolen. When he saw
the front door of the building open
last Wednesday, he parked his car
and went in to investigate.
Inside, he found only mechanic
in his employ who had arrived
early for work. He left the build
ing and found the parking ticket,
he told Third Precinct police. His
ticket was cancelled.
Others who received traffic ticket
adjustments last week included a
State Department Official who park
ed his automobile in an official park
ing space without exhibiting his
parking permit; 50-year-old woman
who told police she could not move
her car from an illegal spot because
she had broken her leg, and mer-
chant who received a ticket while
unloading vegetables for church
picnic.
A breakdown of adjustments fol-
lows: First precinct, 8 warnings, l
cancellation; second, 6 warnings;
third, warnings, cancellation;
fourth, warnings; fifth, 6 warn
ings; sixth, warnings; seventh, 7
warnings, l cancellation; eighth, 10
warnings; ninth, warning; tenth,
8 warnings; eleventh, warnings, 81
cancellations; twelfth, warnings;
thirteenth, warnings, 1 cancella-
ton; fourteenth, 2 warnings, and
Traffic Division, II warnings, 2 can
cellations.
Evening star., 1948-09-30

County Federation of Republican
Women.
Approximately 100 persons attend
ed the affair on the farm of Anders
r. Lofstrand, jr., near Rockville.
Mr.. Lofstrand Is chairman of the
county's all-Repubhcan delegation
to the General Assembly.
Mr.. Beall made his prediction in
defending the record of the Eight
ieth Congress.
He devoted most of his talk to a
discussion of the Taft-Hartley law
Evening star., 1948-09-30
BealI Sees Meat Price Cut
With Bumper Grain Crops

Representative Beall, Republican,
of Maryland yesterday predicted a
substantial" reduction in meat
prices soon as a result of bumper
wheat and corn crops.
Mr.. Beall, who represents the 9Th
district, spoke at a public rally
sponsored by the Montgomery
Evening star., 1948-09-30

which he described as save labor
bill.
Other speakers included Miss
Bertha Adkins, Republican national
committeewoman for Maryland. and
Mrs. Leona Rush, member of the
county's legislative delegation.
Evening star., 1948-09-30
Lodqe Chupter to lnstuII

'Twenty-three new officers of the
Silver Spring Chapter, Order of De-
Molay, will be installed at 8 pm
tomorrow in a public ceremony at
Montgomery Blair High School.
Evening star., 1948-09-30

ministry of education show. of
these, 6,S42 were grammar schools I
263 secondary; 294 professionals 30
teachers seminaries and 337 nhx-s
Sery schools. A I
Evening star., 1948-09-30
Schools Wrecked

WARSAW, (P-The German de-
stroyed 1921 school buildings during
the war, figures released by the
The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume] (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1939-1992, 1948-05-28

Miss Ann S. Petluck, Director Of Migra.
ton Service of United Service for New
Americans, recently returned from a
special session in Switzerland Of the
IRO advisory committee on the reset.
clement of DIP specialists. The com.
mit,ee discussed plans for the emigra'
ton of DIP engineers, doctors. and other
professionals to various countries.
Many refugee professionals have al.
ready immigrated to the U. S. A. with
the aid of United Service, whose work
is supported by the $3.50, 1000, 1000 cam
paign of the United Jewish Appeal for
1913.