100 YEARS AGO – 1908

One of the most valuable means of detecting criminals is used by Chester Police Department and other municipal departments in connection with other cities. Whenever a man wanted for a big crime escapes detection, his photograph is sent out to the other police departments and the officers in many cities are on the lookout for him.
Charged with stealing coal from railroad cars along the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, three foreigners were given a hearing before Alderman Carter of the 11th Ward and held for court. The men kicked about a ton of coal form a car at Front Street and Highland Avenue. Chester and were about to carry the fuel away in bags when they were detected by Constable Grace. The railroad has hired special officers to keep a sharp lookout for the purloiners of the fuel but the thieves are slick at their nefarious trade and manage to elude the officers of the law.

75 YEARS AGO – 1933

An Eddystone man was granted a divorce by Judge Albert Dutton MacDade after the man told the judge his wife left him, saying that she was going to return to her mother who lives in Savannah, Ga.An air of dignity permeated Chester Police Court as Magistrate Michael A. Honan disposed of the cases with dispatch and was not hampered by talkative spectators. He has banned hangers-on from the court and even police officers were barred from the courtroom unless they have to testify.

50 YEARS AGO – 1958

Mr. and Mrs. Henry R. Flannigan of 308 Lincoln Ave., Lansdowne, have returned from a cruise to Caribbean ports.It was roundup time for several hours in Brookhaven, Chester and Eddystone as a freedom-loving black shabby horse refused to surrender without putting up a good fight. The runaway, first spotted in Brookhaven, finally lost his freedom at the Baldwin-Lima- Hamilton Plant in Eddystone where guards closed a gate at the right time and had the horse fenced in. The horse is owned by Robert McCauley of Dutton Mill Road, Green Ridge, Aston.
Dr. Vernon Desenberger, president of the Sharon Hill Board of Health, reminds all food handlers in the borough that they are required by law to have their chests x-rayed.

25 YEARS AGO

Billy “Whiteshoes’’ Johnson of the Atlanta Falcons professional football team made a special appearance at the Agape Day Care Center in Marcus Hook and met with parents and children. Johnson grew up in the borough.Free computerized health risk analyses is available at the Granite Run Health Fair in Middletown, courtesy of Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park.

10 YEARS AGO – 1998

State police arrested a man and woman behind the Sentinel Motel on Route 202 in Chadds Ford and charged them with loitering and prowling. The man and women a were arrested at 2 a.m. and a search of their pickup truck revealed $1,000 in cash and a air rifle.-

- LEN CASTERLINE

To contact Len Casterline,

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