Time Machine: Back in 1936 ...
Font size: [A] [A] [A]
- This was Labor Day, and the observance was quiet in the Shamokin Area, where only four minor traffic accidents had been reported over the long holiday.
- Hundreds of Catholics from the area were planning to head for Abbotstown in Adams County, where Bishop George Leech of the Harrisburg Diocese was expected to preside over some 5,000 people at Silver Jubilee ceremonies for the Paradise Protectory, the orphanage for the diocese.
- Earl Humphrey was the head of an organization called the Independent Anthracite Miners and Truckers, which represented so-called bootleg miners. Humphrey was in Shamokin to meet with the organization lawyer, Harold Bonno, to see what action to take about a situation which had arisen in New York City. There, an assistant D.A., John McDermott, had zeroed in on trucks carrying bootleg coal, seizing everyone the city could find. Humphrey said McDermott was in cahoots with coal dealers and mine operators and that if the seizures continued, the Coal Region would bar all trucks coming from New York City, no matter what they were carrying. Dealers and operators considered the threat an empty one, which turned out to be the case. Humphrey said he was scheduling conferences on the matter with Pennsylvania Gov. George Earle, New York Gov. Herbert Lehman and New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.
- The Labor Day weekend marked the opening of the new Mount Carmel to Locust Summit road, which had been under construction for over a year and had been plagued by continuing work stoppage.





Be the first to comment on this article!