20-40-100 Years Ago -- March 20

Susan Guynn, The Frederick News-Post, Md.
·3 min read

Mar. 20—100 Years Ago

March 20, 1923

Failure to recognize her by her maiden name the woman whom he had deserted three weeks after marrying her through a matrimonial advertisement proved the downfall of Charles W. Davis, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., who went to the place to marry the woman who he had no suspicion was his former wife. He was arrested by a detective while penning a love letter to another woman and is being held on the charge of larceny, the charge being based upon taking money and jewelry from women he had previously married. The 73-year-old Lothario married many times, once in Thurmont.

While a vast throng looked on from the bridge above, two converts were baptized in the icy waters of the Potomac river in Brunswick on Sunday afternoon. Carrying a staff with which he felt his way over the bottom of the river, the preacher walked out into the water until it came under his arms. The converts followed him. Religious services were carried on on shore by members of the church, who sang and prayed. A large crowd of people from Brunswick and points in Maryland and nearby Virginia witnessed the ceremony as the converts were "ducked." It is said to have been the first of its kind in that vicinity for about two years.

It will be necessary for Americans to correct their physical defects if they are to compete successfully with the cheaper labor and longer hours of other countries, Guy A. Henry, General Director of the Eyesight Conservation Council of America, asserts in a statement on the economic aspect of poor vision. "Looking at this condition from a purely economic angle, one is appalled at the resulting waste of effort and the inefficiency of millions who daily contend with the handicap of faulty vision. "In one manufacturing establishment over 70 per cent were found with eye defects," he said. "As an example of inefficiency and resulting waste, 20 per cent of the inspectors in one large factory were found to be unable to see sufficiently well to detect defects in the product they were inspecting."

40 Years Ago

March 20, 1983

This date was a Sunday. The Frederick News-Post did not publish a Sunday edition at this time.

(Editor's Note: The News-Post does not have access to archives from 50 years ago for August 1972 through March 1973. The "50 Years Ago" summary will return April 1, 2023.)

20 Years Ago

March 20, 2003

A unarmed suspect breached the main gate at Fort Detrick and tried to gain information for a terrorist group. Or at least, that was the scenario for a Force Protection exercise conducted Wednesday to improve base personnel's response to emergency situations. Just as if it had been a real situation, Department of Defense (DOD) police officers and the Virginia National Guard used their skills to control the area and take down the "suspect."

ATLANTA — Health officials said Wednesday that 11 suspected cases of a mysterious flu-like illness have emerged in the United States, while on the other side of the world, medical investigators continue to puzzle over how the illness spread in a Hong Kong hotel. The CDC said the suspected U.S. cases are people who recently traveled to Asia and later developed fever and respiratory problems, matching definitions for the mystery illness, called "severe acute respiratory syndrome" or SARS. The illness ,for which there is no treatment, has caused 14 deaths, including five who died months earlier in an outbreak in China.