Though bank cashiers have not complained of the circulation of counterfeit bills in Lewiston and Auburn and up to this time have not had any presented to them so far as known still according to the word passed around among the local merchants some 200 pieces of worthless paper have been distributed in the two cities. At Nealey & Miller’s grocery store the clerks have been warned about the counterfeit bills, in the meat room a notice has been displayed giving the number and date of the “queer” bill. The counterfeit is said to be an excellent likeness of the genuine save that it does not bear the usual letter before the number printed on the face of the note in blue.

50 Years Ago, 1956

• Five prisoners broke from their cell block into an adjoining garage at the Cumberland County Jail tonight and escaped in two stolen automobiles. State police attached to six troops throughout a wide surrounding area immediately threw up a network of road blocks. Troopers at Wells, Scarborough, Skowhegan, Thomaston and Orono and others assigned to patrol the Maine Turnpike between Kittery and Augusta were pressed into action.

• A new home for Auto Electronics Inc. is under construction opposite its present quarters at 37 Riverside Drive. The building will be of concrete block, 56 by 50 feet, with a 15-foot ceiling.

25 Years Ago, 1981

A petition is being circulated which would control pedestrian traffic on the railroad trestle bridge where last week’s fatal accident involving a teen-aged cyclist and Auburn police officer occurred.

But new board members of the Lewiston-Auburn Railroad Company failed to take any action Tuesday afternoon on closing the bridge to pedestrians or asking the present lessee to make it easier.

The bridge is frequently used by residents of both cities to cross the river and railroad officials have said that few trains now use it.

Copy the Story Link