“There she comes!” shouted some of the throng that waited the arrival of the “Ben Hur” train at eleven o’clock Thursday noon at the Upper Maine Central. Down the track slid a long train of eleven cars, five of them baggage.

The crowd surged forward to watch the theatrical people clear away for the hotels and then hurried up the embankment to see at better advantage the unloading of the livestock.

Work was rushed. Most of the troupe went to the De Witt, some to the Atwood and the rest scattered.

The big jiggers were on hand to carry down the scenery and stage trappings from the two end cars.

Next came the car with the trunks which was promptly unloaded by another set of men. Farther along, where the crowd was thickest, a few men were setting in place the gang-planks for the horses.

50 Years Ago, 1954

The constant rain of more than a week has caused havoc with the baseball diamond at St. Dominic High School’s field on Walnut Street.

Athletic Director Brother Odilon said last night that during the end of April the field had been leveled and a new loam placed on the “skinned” area which had been damaged by water running onto the field from Franklin Pasture during the winter. This water also deposited a deep coating of clay.

More than $150 was spent to make the field ready for the baseball season when the rains again came, said Brother Odilon.

The new storms washed away much of the work done last month and it is expected at least two days of warm, sunny weather will be needed to make the diamond usable again.

25 Years ago, 1979

Bates College officials remain mystified today as to why their campus security vehicle has accumulated $7,750 worth of parking fines from New York City, when the car never leaves the Lewiston campus. No firm answers have been formulated, but a lot of theories prevail.

The stir resulted from an Associated press article this morning relating the plans of Big Apple collection agencies to track down parking ticket scofflaws in New England. The city’s records show more than 618,000 unpaid parking tickets last year, totaling $27.7 million in fines.

But the red 1977 Volare station wagon, college officials claim, has never been anywhere near New York City, and they say they have a mileage log and gasoline receipts to prove it. Meanwhile, the deputy director of New York’s Parking Violation Bureau, Michael Zapantis, admits errors are possible, but the computer rarely makes this type of mistake.