When the new slang dictionary is made up the appended note to the word “break” may read something like this: “Obsolete, formerly used in speaking of a breaking and entering of a house or other building, also used in the same manner in legal forms. See Rap.” “Rap” is the word, “Break has been discarded at the police station and when you speak of a break there they look at you with a “Where have you been?” air of pity and ask if you have reference to a rap. “Rap” is brand new and was brought to Lewiston by a piker who came from New York and Connecticut. On account of its brevity and being especially applicable to this class of crime it has readily caught on and doubtless will be retained for all time.

50 Years Ago, 1956

NEW YORK – One of the world’s great luxury liners, split open in a collision at sea, sank today after a massive rescue operation that saved nearly all the 1,709 aboard. There were eight known dead. Hundreds of others, many of them Americans homebound from Europe, were injured. In a miracle of seamanship, they were taken aboard other vessels. The collision sent to the bottom Italy’s pride of the sea, the 30,000-ton Andrea Doria with her elaborate furnishings and collection of modern Italian art. The Andrea Doria and another transatlantic steamer, Sweden’s 12,600-ton Stockholm, collided in fog and darkness last night.

25 Years Ago, 1981

Colorful hot air balloons are distracting Augusta drivers, and although balloonists say they only hear screeching tires – not crunching metal – from below, city officials are concerned. City Councilor Alden L. Ingraham said he was driving across one of Augusta’s bridges last week when a balloon was passing overhead. Drivers were watching the balloon instead of where they were going, and practically bumping into each other, said Ingraham.