Nine out of 10 known victims were male, often boys, and about half of those killed in the river were 18 or younger.
Steve Collins
Columnist
Steve Collins became an opinion columnist for the Maine Trust for Local News in April of 2025. A journalist since 1987, Steve has worked for daily newspapers in New York, Connecticut and Maine and served as the State House reporter for the Sun Journal since 2016. The Maine Press Association named him Maine's Journalist of the Year in 2022. Among his other awards are the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2016 Ethics in Journalism Award, the I.F. Stone Whistle-Blower Award in 2015 and the Bob Wallack Community Journalism Award from the New England Newspaper & Press Association. Steve is a founder and board president of Youth Journalism International, a charity that teaches students around the globe about news writing, media literacy and issues of the day. His wife, Jackie Majerus, serves as its executive director. Born in Massachusetts, he grew up in a military family that took him to Norway, Ohio and Virginia, where he earned a degree in history from the University of Virginia. He and Jackie live in Auburn. They have two adult children, two collies and not enough time.
Posted in175th anniversary
Chapter 10: The inquest, day one
Their first decision was to bar the crowd outside from squeezing into the room, keeping those inside to a minimum — the coroner, Androscoggin County Attorney George Wing, the witnesses and the press. It seems that Frank Dingley, the Lewiston Evening Journal’s intrepid editor, was always allowed to see whatever he wanted.
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Posted in175th anniversary, bPlus
A heat wave in 1911 brought misery and death to Maine and beyond
Find our full archive of newspaper content at sunjournal.com/archives With thermometers across Maine pushing 110 degrees in July 1911, it’s no wonder that the baggage handler for the Maine Central Railroad in Livermore Falls collapsed on the job one afternoon. So, too, did Bert Clark, the blacksmith just down the street. A handful of workers […]
Posted inAndroscoggin County, Lewiston-Auburn
Swift action saves life of 8-year-old on Bear Pond Beach in Turner
A young girl is alive today because bystanders acted quickly after she began drowning Thursday.
Posted inAndroscoggin County
Motorcyclist injured Wednesday is home from hospital
POLAND — A 73-year-old motorcyclist from Auburn, injured Wednesday afternoon in a crash in Poland, was released later the same day from Central Maine Medical Center after receiving treatment. Deputy Connor Pinkham of the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office said Peter Dingley received chest injuries in the crash. Dingley was riding a Ducati motorcycle, Pinkham said, […]
Posted inAndroscoggin County
Eight-year-old girl rescued from Bear Pond in Turner
The girl got into trouble while swimming and was pulled to the beach. She is expected to recover.
Posted in175th anniversary
Chapter 9: The life and times of James Lowell
James Lowell served in Company G, which never saw active fighting, but didn’t have it easy. Among the places its men guarded were the Seneca Quarries in western Maryland, where the stone for the original Smithsonian building came from.
Posted inAndroscoggin County, Election 2022, Franklin, News, Oxford Hills
Ed Rabasco Jr. secures ballot spot for district attorney election
Poland Democrat earned more than three times the needed write-ins during the June primary and will run against GOP contender Neil McLean in November for the Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties DA post.
Posted inElection 2022, Maine, News, Politics
Bruce Poliquin and Jared Golden in dead heat in fundraising race in Maine’s 2nd
Independent Tiffany Bond has spent $1,100 so far while the major party candidates each have $2.3 million in their coffers
Posted inNews, Oxford Hills
Teen ends up smelling like a rose after helping a skunk
Confronted by a skunk in the road with a cup stuck over its head, a teen rushed to help