100 Years Ago Today:. Jan 25, 1905
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by Brandon WoolumHuntington News Network Writer
Huntington (HNN) — Upon this, the coldest day of the year, and the day upon which the supply has been shortest, the indignation of the people of Huntington has been shown as never before in this connection.
After the failure of the gas last evening, when the connection was made with the new ten-inch main at Eighth Street, and when for a time there was plenty of gas, the people had commenced to believe that they were to be given a bountiful supply of fuel.
They lived in this happy dream state until after eight o’clock this morning, when the supply again gave out, and the pressure during the remainder of the day was so weak that the fires of the patrons of the company either burned way feebly, or as in many cases, refused, to burn at all.
And in this connection it would appear that the city of Huntington is the subject of discrimination in this manner.
The Advertiser has it upon the very best of authority that, after the final connection with the long promised new main had been made last evening, a ten-pound pressure of gas was turned into that main by the people at this end of the line, which kept the fires going. As soon as this was learned at the main offices in Ashland, however, the message came from Superintendent McCarthy of the company that the extra pressure should be cut off immediately the explanation given being that the line had not been blown out yet.
This it is that, while the gas pressure in Ashland and Catlettsburg is sufficient, here is wholly lacking. Ironton too, is reported as suffering from a shortage, although it is not so severe as in this city.
Industrial establishments, dependent upon the gas supply for fuel, have been forced to close down, mercantile establishments have been able to operate only under the most adverse circumstances, cold meals have been the rule rather than the exception, and everywhere, throughout the city and suburbs, there has been general suffering upon the part of the people.
Throughout the city, angry citizens have been threatening al sots of vengeance upon the gas company. Hundreds of citizens have agreed to sign a petition refusing to pay their gas bills for this month, on account of the failure of the supply, unless satisfactory reductions are made, and if the company cuts off their gas, to fight the manner through the courts. Others propose to bring individual actions for damages against the company, and almost any proposition to get even with the company that has caused such suffering finds many supporters.
The hardware stores have had a tremendous run upon coal and oil stoves the sale today being the largest in a long time.
— “All over the state at the various post offices two young men are working a clever game to defraud the money order department of post offices,” said a local postal official.
“They purchase money orders for fifty cents or other small amounts, have the orders forwarded in the name of one of the other of them to a nearby post office, and then raise the amounts to in cases as high as forty or fifty dollars.
“There are several post offices in the state which have been defrauded and I have been notified, but when I arrived I would find that the young men have gone on. Nearly all of the postmasters now have a description of them and as soon as they appear again there is a pretty fair chance that they will be in the tolls. The only trouble is that it is hardly probable they will show up again.
“The system they employ was to remove the ink from the face of the money orders with acid without in any way defacing the order. Then any sum can be written in the order. It would seem almost impossible that a crime as bold as the one he described could be worked but says it has been carried on with marked success by the two individuals.”
St. Petersburg, Russia — Women are begging for work in the cigarette factories, but the proprietors fear that their places of business will be wrecked by the strikers, if they are opened.
Governor General Trepoff is in supreme command today. He has absolute authority to preserve order. Over a hundred arrests were made during the night.
Maxim Gorky, the famous author and leader of the Reform Party, was arrested today at Riga. A notice has been posted on the factories giving twenty-four hours within which to return to work, and intimating that those who did not comply will be deported to the villages.