100 YEARS AGO Thursday, August 9, 1906

 For mechanical devices for speedy travelling, R. A. Riky of Shelburne still takes the lead. He introduced the first bicycle into the town, the old high front wheel variety, and also the first motor bicycle, and on Sunday last he and John R. Berwick arrived home from Windsor with an automobile capable of carrying four ordinary persons. The auto is a handsome Pope-Tribune light touring car manufactured in Hagerstown, Maryland. The two gentlemen report a delightful trip home with their purchase, without accident of any kind, although neither of them had any experience in running an automobile. They took the trip in easy stages, leaving Windsor Wednesday afternoon and running to Chatham; thence to St. Mary's; thence to Guelph, and from Guelph home, arriving Sunday afternoon. Having an auto in town will give the horses of the neighbourhood a good chance to "get acquainted."

 As the result apparently of an ungovernable fit of temper, a young lad named Wylie is now in the hands of the police charged with causing the death of a 13year-old girl named Swackhammer at her father's farm in Erin Township. Because the accused could not have his own way in regard to going to Acton, he appears to have taken down a shotgun and fired the contents into the body of the innocent daughter of the house. She died within 15 minutes. Peter Wylie, or Peter Wilson, as he is also known, is a Scotch lad who was brought to this country three years ago by Rev. Peter Wilson of Toronto. At the time of the tragedy he was working for Darius Kennedy. A short distance from the Kennedy farm is the Swackhammer homestead, and being neighbours, the two farmers exchanged help. Kennedy was to have helped Swackhammer Thursday last with the turnips, but was taken ill and Wylie was sent over to tell of the trouble. The lad appears to have changed the message and instead explained that he had been sent to help with the work. On Saturday night Wylie was to go back to Kennedy's and in the afternoon Mr. Swackhammer told him to assist with the chores. He refused to do so but going into a shed secured the stock of an old gun and while Stanley, one of Mr. Swackhammer's sons, was hitching up to drive to Acton, Wylie pointed the stock of the gun with a threat to shoot both lad and horse.

He later went to the woodshed where he found a shotgun and when the girl followed him and entered the door she received the full charge in the upper part of the body. Wylie contends that the shooting was accidental and he had no intention of doing harm to the girl.

75 YEARS AGO Thursday, August 13, 1931

 A coroner's inquest into the death of five-year-old Rachel Anna Geraldine Clarke, who was killed August 1st on Highway 10 in front of her parents' home in Melancthon has resulted in a verdict of accidental death. The jury found that the little girl came to her death by running out suddenly in front of a motor car driven by John B.Kerr of Toronto."We think that the driver might have slowed up more than he did when he saw children on both sides of the road. We also think that the guardians of the children should have taken more precaution, considering the heavy holiday traffic on the highway."

 Motorists who have driven over some of the fine new black top pavements of this province at night time and who have remarked while driving against the headlights of other vehicles that it is almost impossible to discern where the pavement ends and the shoulder begins, or even the location of the ditches, will be pleased to learn that the Deputy Minister of Highways, R. N. Smith,has decided to provide these pavements with a marginal coat of white paint, similar to the centre line strips on the King's Highways, at curves and on hills, in the interests of public safety.

50 YEARS AGO Wednesday, August 8, 1956

 Orangeville recorded its first traffic death in 15 years Saturday night. Killed when she was thrown to the road after a two-car crash at the junction of Highways 9 and 10 was Mary Lichti, 36, of St. Jacobs. Four other persons were injured, three of them seriously.

 Highways Minister James N. Allan reminded drivers that the August Civic Holiday weekend would be the first holiday weekend on which the new 55-mile-an-hour speed limit on Highway 400 has been in effect.

25 YEARS AGO Wednesday, August 12, 1981

 Full mail service will once again be the order of the day, with Monday night's announcement of a ratified contract with inside postal workers. The national strike, which lasted 42 days, ended Monday after a vote by members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers to accept a tentative agreement reached last Thursday. Orangeville Assistant Postmaster John Marshall said mail service should be back to normal by today. "It'll be a more or less normal situation by then."