100 Years Ago, 1925: Harry “Goose” Howard, 25, of 826 E. Eighth St., who was arrested on Jan. 18 as a member of the “Hotfoot” gang, which assaulted two Chester policemen, was released on Saturday afternoon under $2,000 bail through a habeas corpus proceeding held before Judge Johnson. The release of Howard leaves only four of the alleged members of the gang still in the Delaware County jail. The gangsters will be tried at the June term of court for the attack.
75 Years Ago, 1950: Swarthmore Borough Council received a green light Wednesday night to use its best judgement in planning the restoration of borough hall, badly damaged by fire two weeks ago. More than 400 presidents of the borough, attending a town meeting in the high school auditorium, gave council a vote of confidence after reviewing several alternative proposals developed since the fire. Sentiment of a number of residents for an over-all town plan was tempered by the immediate necessity of securing accommodations for borough services.
50 Years Ago, 1975: Delaware County District Atty Stephen J. McEwen Jr. is scuttling his fledgling program under which first-time drunk drivers would not be prosecuted if they participated in a rehabilitation clinic. McEwen announced Jan. 14 that he was setting up the program because the court had refused to place drunk drivers under its Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program (ARD) for which even drug users may qualify.
25 Years Ago, 2000: Local, state and insurance company fire investigators have determined that a unique set of circumstances sparked an accidental fire that gutted the historic Ingleneuk Tea House in Swarthmore on March 18. A small, uninsulated, unheated void space above the kitchen is where the fire is believed to have originated, county Fire Marshal Phil Layton said last night. According to investigators, the blaze was caused by a process called pyrophoric carbonization, which occurs when wood or paper is exposed to prolonged periods of moderate or high heat, but less than ignition temperatures. Over time, the heat required to start a fire drops.
10 Years Ago, 2015: The positive influence of a Strath Haven Middle School music instructor will be recognized during an upcoming university graduation ceremony on the other side of the country. Teacher Henry Pearlberg has been asked by former student Nick Cheung to speak at the honors luncheon for Stanford University’s School of Engineering on June 14. Cheung, whose mother, Jennifer, is a former Wallingford-Swarthmore School Board president, is a senior at the highly respected Palo Alto, Calif., school.
— COLIN AINSWORTH
