York really is the center of the universe, especially when you consider its place in historical events. Local historian June Lloyd looks at how things have converged on our hometown, past and present.
An Earlier View of Market and Beaver Streets by William Wagner with National House on Left.
I recently wrote about a rowdy York citizen swinging a Civil War cavalry sword around a local cigar store in 1877.
Click here to read about the sword incident.
That York Gazette article referred to even more excitement the previous week in the same neighborhood at Market and Beaver Streets.
I recently wrote about a Confederate sword that a farmer plowed up near Hanover in 1882, nearly 20 years after it had fallen in a skirmish there.
Click here to read about sword on Forney farm.
There were probably a lot of swords around York County in the years after the Civil War, brought home as souvenirs of that dreadful conflict.
Drinking and weapons of any kind shouldn’t go together, as we can see in the following article from the October 30, 1877 Gazette. (The anonymous reporter had a rather droll sense of humor--a 19th century Mike Argento?)
York Mayor Ephraim Hugentugler had his hands full in the fall of 1917. He hauled many locals into his police court for furnishing liquor to soldiers stationed at the temporary training camp at Gettysburg. The soldiers also got themselves arrested for drunkenness or being disorderly, a charge that sometimes meant consorting with the local young women.
Excuses flew liberally: The Gazette reported that one soldier got off with just a $10 fine by explaining that "he never drank before and that the booze went to his head and he did not know what he was doing."
A 24-year-old soldier "caught spooning" with a 13-year-old girl in Penn Park said he didn't know she was under 18 because "he did not ask her age." The mayor didn't quite believe a group of women, aged 15 to 24, rounded up at Penn Common when many of them said they couldn't get away from the soldiers. "Huggy" told the girls they should be home after nine and "declared that if they are not permitted to take their soldier friends home to entertain them, they certainly will not be allowed to do so on the streets and public parks."
The Mayor and Police Chief Kottcamp were both upset when the U.S. District Judge Witmer, who had jurisdiction over the liquor furnishing cases, let seven of what Hugentugler called the "worst characters in York" off with a warning. Hugentugler decided to take matters into his own hands. See my Sunday News column below:
One hundred fifty years ago Yorkers were just as eager to spend their money on snack and drinks as they are today, as shown in a sampling of ads from the Gazette:
Christian Pfahler caught your eye with the large letters “L. I. P.” You had to read further to find it referred to his “Liquor, Ice and Pop business, at the old stand of Charles Hay, No. 44 South George Street, York, Pa. His stock of Liquors are of the CHOICEST BRANDS, AND VARIETY.”
The favorable character of the last season has enabled him to secure a full supply of Ice of the very best quality, which can be had at his residence or will be delivered as heretofore.
The ad continues:
