Did you know?
Back on Jan. 28, 1959 there were probably a lot of skeptical newspaper readers who opened their editions of the Uniontown Morning Herald and read the headline: “Scientists See Man on The Moon in 10 Years.”
Such an optimistic prediction, especially when manned-space flight was still a few years away, may have seemed to be the stuff of science fiction. (Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gararin wouldn’t take his one hour, 48 minute flight into space until April of 1961)
As it turned out, the 50 “top” scientists who were quoted in that 1959 story were wrong – but only technically.
Neil Armstrong didn’t take “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” in 10 years. He actually took it 10 years, and 174 days after those scientists predicted he would do it. All-in-all, their prediction had been mighty accurate.
Those scientists made good on their prediction. However, another scientist, nearly a hundred years ago wasn’t quite as successful with what he thought would be a great technological advance.
According to the Feb. 1, 1913 edition of the Connellsville Daily Courier, “California Rival of Edison Invents Machine to Combine Talking and Motion Pictures.”
E.H. Amet of Berkley, Calif., was pictured that day, beside a machine that was supposed to be able to create talking movies.
His new device was said to be able to “combine a photographic film with a phonographic record,” to produce something we probably take for granted today – a talking motion picture.
Although the caption for that picture claimed “Thomas A. Edison has a rival,” Amet’s new invention never really caught on.
In fact, it wouldn’t be until 14 years later, in October of 1927, that the first commercially released “talkie” was released – The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson.
On the same Feb. 1, 1913 front page, it was reported that a Uniontown judge had made an unusual ruling based on a two century-old law.
“Law, 200 Years Old, Invoked To Save Joy Riders,” said the headline.
It was reported that during a lengthy court session, “Judge J.Q. Van Swearingen handed down two opinions, one of which is in one of the most novel cases ever before the local courts.”
Judge Van Swearingen overruled a judgment by a local justice of the peace, based on a law that had been enacted in 1705.
The defendant had been joy riding in Vanderbilt when he picked-up “two or three girls in his automobile and stopped at the blacksmith shop of John Woods.”
It was reported that the trio stayed from just before midnight until 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning, “acting disorderly, and using profane and vulgar language.”
The man was arrested and taken to the local justice of the peace, where he was fined $10.
That took place on Sept. 15, 1912.
But the hitch, according to Judge Van Swearingen, was that Sept. 15 was on a Sunday.
“The 4th section of the Act of October 14, 1705, prohibits the serving of a warrant on Sunday, except in cases of treason, felony, or breach of the peace, and makes a service in violation thereof absolutely void for any purpose,” the judge declared.
He concluded, “the judgment of the justice is reversed.”
In January of 1950, ANOTHER Roosevelt visited Fayette County.
That time, it was Theodore Roosevelt III, who spoke at the Uniontown Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet at the White Swan Hotel.
The grandson of the President Theodore Roosevelt was Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Commerce at the time.
Ironically, he was born in June of 1914. That was the same year his grandfather made a campaign swing through Uniontown, and celebrated his 56th birthday. That visit was on Oct. 14, 1914.
Unfortunately, according to the Morning Herald, Roosevelt wasn’t necessarily greeted with widespread approval in Fayette County.
“While Roosevelt seemed to be a great attraction, he was not enthusiastically received. There was little applause for him in Uniontown, and absolutely none in Connellsville. In fact the reception given him by the large crowd at Pennsylvania Station in Connellsville was so chilly that he signaled the train to start before he talked two minutes,” it was reported.
Of course, Teddy Roosevelt’s fifth cousin (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) made two Fayette County stops. He came as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy in June of 1919, and as the President – campaigning for re-election – in October of 1936.
F.D.R.’s wife, Eleanor, paid a Depression Era visit to the county in 1937.