WAY BACK WHEN

(The Spirit is pleased to share with our readers vignettes of life in the 19th century as originally reported in past issues of the newspapers. These reproduced stories include their original headlines.)

May 1, 1895

The Brookville Candy Factory

F.A. Weaver, proprietor of the Brookville Candy Factory, was in town on Friday in the interest of that establishment. He had a fine line of samples with him and they compare favorably with the best made anywhere in the country. The candies made by the Brookville factory are all fresh, as but a very small quantity is kept in stock at one time. The capacity of the factory is six hundred pounds a day and from the superior quality of the product this amount is easily disposed of. If our dealers want something nice and fresh in this line they should do business with the factory at the county seat.

May 8, 1895

Commencement Exercises

The fourth annual commencement exercises of the Punxsutawney public school was held in the English Lutheran church on Friday evening. The Salutatory was by Edgar McAfee, and was a very creditable performance. There were twenty-four members in the graduating class — five boys and nineteen girls. The program throughout was a varied one and those who witnessed the performances of the various participants were highly pleased with the exercises.

May 8, 1895

A Narrow Escape

Presence of mind in the hour of danger is a mighty nice thing, and the possession of this quality probably saved Michael Murphy from serious injury, if not death, on Thursday night. Mr. Murphy is a brakeman on the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg railway, and while assisting in shifting cars in the Punxsutawney yards, his left foot was caught between the guard and main rails. In a second he realized his inability to extricate it and signaled the engineer to stop. This was done promptly. A few seconds and the hapless brakeman would have been under the wheels. As it was, his left foot was broken and the soft tissues on the plantar surface torn loose. While the injury is a painful one the young man is lucky in escaping with nothing more serious. Dr. John Grube gave the necessary surgical attention.