New York – The first important result in the crusade planned by the State Department of Agriculture against violations of the pure food laws came today, when Andrew Walsh of Newark, N.J., in the court of special session, in Brooklyn, was sent to jail for three months for selling oleomargarine for butter. This was the first jail sentence imposed for violation of the agricultural law in more than two years, and the first conviction for violation of the oleomargarine act since the passage of the federal statute imposing a tax of 10 cents per pound.

50 Years Ago, 1955

A 10-year-old who shot his first porcupine near his uncle’s corn field because “I knowed what he was there for.” asked for a 50-cent bounty on the quill-pigs today. Gary Elwell, son of Rep. Elwell, D-Brooks, told the legislative Agriculture Committee: “Some times you shoot a 50-cent box of shells just to kill one.” Farmers and canners agreed with the boy that there should be a bounty and that it ought to be 50 instead of 25 cents. They said canning corn acreage in Maine has dropped off because the farmers can’t stand losses from porcupine damage. William Bailey of the Monmouth Canning Co. told the committee his company once offered a private 25-cent bounty without success.

25 Years Ago, 1980

The hunger strike which had continued into its seventh day at the Androscoggin County jail Monday afternoon, finally ended Monday night as the last two striking inmates ate dinner, Sheriff Normand O. Bureau said late Monday night. The strike, which had begun on Tuesday with about 20 of the 32 inmates refusing food, was being carried on by three inmates on Sunday, and two on Monday, according to officials. Chief Deputy Robert Soucy said that inmates’ demands included an increase in recreation time and television sets in their cells. He added that the inmates “won’t get anything until they play according to the rules. They (inmates) want everything they can get.”