Past Pages for Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017

150 Years Ago

Episcopal Mite Society: The Fancy Dress Ball will take place at the Pavilion. The statement that said “dresses are optional” doesn’t mean that you can go in the costume of an Idaho lawyer, in just a shirt collar and pistol belt. It is meant to convey the idea that you can disguise yourself as a gentleman or rig up in your accustomed toggery. So you are dressed, that’s all.

130 Years Ago

All sorts: The lottery bill has passed the House. No one is interested in defeating it, except the New Orleans Lottery Company.

A Boston clergyman says, “The toboggan slide is the broad road that leads to hell.” If this is so, the ice and snow must be well melted off the lower end of the chute.

110 Years Ago

The devil: The Dixey Lyceum Bureau will send a sample of the “Cyclone” Southers here. The subject of his lecture is “If I Were the Devil,” and he appears in full Satanic costume. To be held at the Opera House — Admission 75 cents.

70 Years Ago

272-year-old manuscript: The last will and testament of William Fish of London, penned on July 8, 1675, has been presented to the Nevada State Library by F. Dan, 15 E. 40th St., New York City. The will is on parchment 19 1/2 inches by 25 inches and written by the Englishman, who described himself as a “citizen and leather seller of London.” E.C.D. Marriage, state librarian, sent a thank you for the important gift.

50 Years Ago

Advertisement: “Austin’s Market — Free delivery, standing rib roast 89 cents a pound, wieners, 73 cents a pound; canned peas three for 59 cents, potatoes four for 59 cents; pet instant dry milk, 12 quart, 99 cents, pint cottage cheese, 33 cents, potatoes, 10 pound bag, 49 cents, avocados 10 cents each ...”

20 Years Ago

Photo caption: Then and now — The old photograph of the Carson City Mint, now the Nevada State Museum, 600 N. Carson St., was taken in June 1870 and was one of numerous documents, coins, newspapers and other materials placed in the cornerstone of the Nevada Capitol Building. When the Capitol was restored in the late 1970s, the cornerstone was opened the contents were displayed. They were returned to the cornerstone when the Capitol’s restoration was finished in the early 1980s.

Sue Ballew is the daughter of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.