Turner – The Black and White Minstrels scored several hits at Odd Fellows Hall. Their jokes were funny and their songs took with the large audience, the members of which had gathered from far and near. A special car was run from Lewiston and Auburn, and all along the line the fun lovers and dancers among the young people took advantage of the opportunity offered. And they were not disappointed for from the “overture,” to the last waltz, they all enjoyed themselves.

50 years ago, 1957

• Quake-born tidal waves, raised by shock forces shot up from the ocean floor at close to the speed of sound, flooded Japanese fishing villages several hours after the seismic surge wrecked two villages in Hawaii. Twenty-six beach homes were destroyed on Kauai Island by the waves, caused by two massive under-the-ocean earthquakes near the Aleutians.

• Maine people smoked 10,046,000 packages of cigarettes in January this year, 16.1 percent more than in the same month in 1956, the Tobacco Tax Council said, Gross revenue to the state was $502,300.

25 years ago, 1982

• At least four tons of the banned pesticide DDT are improperly stored throughout Maine, a state official told a legislative committee. At its hearing, the committee heard suggestions ranging from construction of a regional storage site to shipping old and banned pesticides to Third World countries that “would be glad to get them.” The bill before the panel also would authorize a study to find ways to dispose of empty pesticide containers.

• River engineers are keeping a close watch on the Androscoggin because of the heavy snowfall of this winter and the possibility that a week of springlike weather accompanied by rain could trigger floods such as those of 1936.