19th century Moriah — Selective memory

Selective memory could make it difficult to enforce the temperance law in Moriah.

“Our saloon keepers have all been summoned before a grand jury at Elizabethtown for breach of the excise law. Several of our boys have also been subpoenaed as witnesses,” the Mineville correspondent reported in the Ticonderoga Sentinel on Dec. 13, 1878. “And what is strange, not one of them has ever drank a glass of liquor, never saw any liquor sold or drank, never was intoxicated in all his life, never offered to see a lamp post safe home, never carried a pint bottle in his boot leg, never said his prayers on the door step at two o’clock in the morning, nor slept all night on the warm side of a telegraph pole. They seem to have subpoenaed the wrong witnesses.”

In other 19th century Moriah news collected from historic newspapers of the region:

• “Since the wages have been reduced at the mine, a great many apparently strong, healthy men have been attacked by the Colorado fever,” the Mineville correspondent reported in the Ticonderoga Sentinel on Feb. 21, 1879.
• “Operations in the O’Neil shaft have been delayed, awaiting the arrival of machinery,” the Mineville correspondent reported in the Ticonderoga Sentinel on Dec. 13, 1878.
• “George DeLano, who has moved into the Acome house, is building a new wheelwright shop,” the Mineville correspondent reported in the Ticonderoga Sentinel on Dec. 20, 1878.
• “Matthew McDermott has a stock of new cutters for sale at his manufactory on Main Street,” the Mineville correspondent reported in the Ticonderoga Sentinel on Dec. 20, 1878. “They are built of the very best material, and the workmanship will show for itself.”
• “G. W. Shearer is selling boots and shoes at cost,” the Mineville correspondent reported in the Ticonderoga Sentinel on Feb. 14, 1879.
• “Our new sexton is said to be afraid of ghosts. Hereafter, our pious pedals will vibrate to nothing but pedal music,” the Mineville correspondent reported in the Ticonderoga Sentinel on Feb. 21, 1879.
• “The Bay State Iron Co. have purchased a large quantity of Fisher Hill ore to be used in their furnaces at Port Henry. That must mean business,” the Mineville correspondent reported in the Ticonderoga Sentinel on Feb. 21, 1879.
• “The debt of the Baptist Church of about $11,100 has been reduced to about $65,” the Moriah Center correspondent reported in the Ticonderoga Sentinel on Feb. 28, 1879.

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