100 years ago, 1913
W.W. Merrow of the firm of Merrow Packing Company, Auburn, is thanking his lucky stars that he is alive to tell the course of the bullet which left the 38.70 caliber rifle accidentally going off in the hands of Frank Woodman, the butcher in the slaughtering room at the establishment on Hutchins street, on a recent afternoon. Mr. Woodman was preparing to kill an ox, and had just placed the slug in the rifle, when Mr. Merrow started to leave the room. As he went through the door, the gun exploded. The bullet hit the cement floor, glanced off and hit Mr. Merrow in the back. He said he felt a pricking, as tho a pin had come in contact with his flesh, and later when changing his shirt he found a blood stain and discovered that his flesh had been severely torn. He felt some pain later and he went to a doctor. The bullet was probed for but nothing was found. The doctor said that undoubtedly the bullet is lodged in the flesh near the side but unless he suffers pain it will do no harm, as the wound is healing nicely.
50 years ago, 1963
C.P LaBrecque, president of the Sabattus Pond Association, said state officials should take a look at Sabattus Pond where cottage owners have been waging an unsuccessful grass and weed clean-up campaign. He said, “I ask the state officials to stop trying to develop new recreational places out of reach of the state taxpayers and take care of what you already have.”
25 years ago, 1988
As Raymond Cailler says, it’s the end of an era. One of the last four drive-in movie theaters in Maine, and the only one left in the Twin Cities, the Auburn Drive-In, will be a memory for some and a forgotten tradition for others when it closes in two weeks. The last movie shown on the drive-in’s screen will be on July 24. Cailler, who has operated the theater for the past two years, has sold the drive-in but he won’t say who the buyer is or what will become of the land. The Auburn Drive-In began operation in 1950 and in its early years was called the Danville Drive-In. The Lewiston Drive-In closed in 1985, and one year later the Lisbon Drive-In folded.
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