100 years ago: 1925

“Five feet from the spot where the frozen, bullet-stricken body of David Cheney was found on the ice under House Bridge, Durham, last Jan. 29th, the .32-calibré automatic pistol with which he had been shot to death was discovered early Tuesday evening.

“This is an important factor in the case, as it positively ties Archie L’Itallien, alias Lambert, as being the murderer, and both Sheriff James Murray and County Attorney Benjamin L. Berman were jubilant Wednesday at the discovery.

“With the man’s fingerprints and photographs broadcast over the country and with the advent of warm weather, the officials hope to bring the fugitive to justice.

“An immediate checkup was begun and Mr. Epstein, proprietor of the loan shop where L’Itallien purchased the pistol, identified it as the one he had sold the fugitive on the afternoon the murder was committed. Numbers on the pistol checked perfectly with the records kept of the sale.”

50 years ago: 1975

“Lewiston Mayor John C. Orestis and U.S. Sen. Edmund S. Muskie are arranging an informal dinner meeting with area labor, industry and governmental leaders to discuss the possible local effects of lowering tariffs on imported shoes and textiles. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Ramada Inn at Lewiston.”

25 years ago: 2000

“LEWISTON — He died as he lived, quietly and alone, but John Emmet Callahan won’t soon be forgotten in the city he treasured along the banks of the Androscoggin.

“Callahan, a self-made millionaire who earned a fortune in the stock market, is the man behind the anonymous $2.5 million donation to St. Dominic Regional High School announced last fall. The donation remained anonymous until Callahan’s death on Jan. 26 at the age of 93.

“But Callahan is also the source of a $1 million donation to the Lewiston Public Library, also revealed after his death but never made public.

“And that was just the beginning: The remainder of his estate, valued in the millions, will be given to the Catholic Diocese of Maine to be used as the church wishes, according to an examination last week of Callahan’s will, filed in the county courthouse in Auburn. Callahan updated his will just days before his death in Miami Shores, Fla.

“‘He always said ‘My home is in Lewiston,”’ said Larry Raymond, Callahan’s Lewiston attorney and confidant for more than 20 years, ‘and he made me promise we’d do everything we could for Lewiston people.'”

The quoted material used in Looking Back is produced exactly as it originally appeared although misspellings and errors may be corrected.