Montrose – A startling accident occurred at the O’Neil boarding house, South Main Street, last night, which caused the death of Miss Elizabeth Jones, of Olyphant, Pa., an elderly lady who was boarding there. Miss Jones was not feeling well in the evening and had retired and it is thought had gotten up and lighted the lamp and in some way caught fire. Miss O’Neil, who was in a nearby room and hearing her screams, went to her assistance. The accident happened at 11:30 o’clock and death came at 7:30 this morning. Also Sparks Show drew an immense crowd here yesterday and gave an exceedingly pleasing and clean performance. The whole aggregation seems to be made up of artists, and the demeanor of all connected with the show in an executive capacity, appeared gentlemanly. It has been many years since Montrose has had a big circus, and she obeyed it.

Lenoxville – Curtis Allen and bride have returned from Atlantic City, where they have been spending several days, and have begun house-keeping on their farm.

Elk Lake – Messrs VanPelt Quackenbush, of Scranton and Edwin Fordham, of New York City, who have been stopping at the Quackenbush cottage here, returned home via Montrose on Monday.

Auburn Twp. – Mrs. William Wilkins and son, Raymond, of Coventry, England, visited her sister, Mrs. Lewis Lott, of Auburn, last week. Mr. Wilkins and little daughter also accompanied her across the Atlantic, but were detained at New York on account of the little girl coming down with measles.

Thompson – Miss Helen Weir is spending the week at Bungalo Park, Fiddle Lake, with her friend, Miss Ruth Stone.

Lynn – W. P. Sheldon left here for Franklin Forks where he has been engaged to teach school. Miss Mary Fisher is teaching our school and started in with a goodly number of pupils on Monday last. Winefred Smales is teaching the Lymanville school. Edith Sheldon has been engaged to teach the school at Black Walnut and left for that place on Monday last. Ralph Loomis is one of the students from this place who is attending the High School at Springville.

Susquehanna – Wm. Allpaugh, one of Susquehanna’s best known business men who has been identified with the interests of that place for nearly half a century, died Aug. 26, 1912, after two months’ illness. A month previous to his death hope of his recovery was abandoned. Mr. Allpaugh enlisted in the Union army when a boy of 16 years and served until the close. For two terms he was county auditor, finishing his second term about one year ago. He was a man highly regarded by all who knew him. Besides his wife he leaves one son, Charlton M. Allpaugh, member of the firm of the Ryan-Allpaugh Co., Susquehanna.

Watrous Corners – On August 25th a fine baby boy arrived at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Very.

East Bridgewater – Miss Kathryn O’Mara commenced her school Monday morning. This is her third term here, and they like her very much.

Hopbottom – A rare treat is in store for Hopbottom people. As the last number of the entertainment course conducted by the Shakespeare club, the Electric City Quartette and Minstrel Co. will appear in Masonic hall Sept. 13. Do not miss the best thing of its kind ever presented here. ALSO A suspicious looking party in an automobile driven by Charles Kellum left town Wednesday morning for Brooklyn, en route to Scranton. Listen for the wedding bells.

Birchardville – The 19th Reunion of Co. H, 143d Regt., Pa Volunteers, was held Aug. 23. The secretary reported three deaths, Walter Jenner, Jas. Dean and Ezra P. Lester. We were pleased to have with us our old friend, James Carmalt, a brother-in-law of Capt. Morris and Miss Caroline Morris, a daughter, and Samuel H. Sayre, a grand son of the late Capt. of Co. H, John C. Morris. Fifty years ago Co. H. was reorganized and on Sept. 2, 1862, Capt Morris, of Friendsville, left Montrose with 80 men for the war. One officer and 12 men joined the company in 1862; 36 recruits joined in 1863 and 13 more in 1864-65. Three men were killed in action, 1 officer and 20 men were wounded. One officer and 6 men died of wounds; 10 men were captured and 5 of them died in rebel prisons. There are now living 24 of the original 80 men and some of the recruits, but as these were from the lower part of the State we have lost track of them. Seven of the 24 were present: O. A. Baldwin, Samuel S. Baxter, Myron Bradshaw, A. S. Horton, James Strange, Stanley B. Warner, and Asa Warner, also four comrades from other regiments, H. C. Spafford, E. E. Fessenden, J. J. Ely and Ackley Walker.

Nicholson – Mrs. Catherine Cross, formerly of this place, has opened at Bayamon, Puerto Rico, the “Montrose Heights private school,” where all English branches will be taught.

Montrose Bible Conference – The conference of 1912 has been, by general consent, the best of the five conferences that have been held here. It was as successful financially as it was intellectually and spiritually. Considering the rain and the consequent reduction of the crowds on Sundays, the only days on which collections were taken, the offerings were remarkable. All the meetings were enthusiastic and full of hope for the future.

Scranton & Binghamton Railway Co. – with 75 men at work near Nicholson, is rushing matters to extend its line to that town by the middle of September. Only a quarter of a mile of grading remains to be completed and that is not very heavy. It is said that after Nicholson is reached work will progress faster. Very little more than surface grading will be done on the stretch between Nicholson and Montrose. Another announcement is that after Nicholson is passed the work may be divided into sections all along the line. Thousands of people between Scranton and Binghamton are anxious to see this road completed.

Chestnut Tree Blight – Arrangements have been completed with the Pennsylvania Chestnut Tree Blight Commission for the placing of an exhibition at the Mansfield Fair. The chestnut bark disease has already killed nearly all the chestnut trees on Long Island and around New York city, and is doing immense damage to the timber around Philadelphia, and throughout eastern Pennsylvania. The State Blight Commission, through its representatives, is making every effort to control this disease and save the valuable chestnut timber in the counties of Pennsylvania, especially where very little blight has yet appeared. The Commission has recently issued an interesting book which is an exhaustive report of their work in detecting and destroying the first symptoms of the disease.

I met Joe Nolan sometime in 1999 when I began work as an assistant district attorney in Susquehanna County. At that point, Joe was closing in on three decades of work as a police officer in Forest City Borough while I was floundering around the criminal justice system like a toddler splashing around in a swimming pool for the first time. From Joe's perspective, I am certain that he had been through countless young attorneys who cut their litigator teeth in the criminal justice courtroom - and I suspect that he was not relishing the prospect of having to train another legal puppy. From my perspective, I was not initially sure how to take Joe - he had a tough exterior that made a daunting first impression. He was not a vociferous talker - but he did listen to my incessant ramblings and always had good advice that would put me on the right track. While he struck me as a man who did not suffer fools, he did endure this young fool and taught me a great deal about good police work in a small town environment. It did not take me long to gain a strong respect and admiration for Joe - for his work, his integrity and his dedication.

It seems that good crime fighting stories often involve a tandem - Batman and Robin, Starsky and Hutch, Turner and Hooch - and Forest City had its own dynamic duo. Joe Nolan worked all those years alongside his friend and partner, Chief of Police Paul Lukus. I was blessed to have seen them work together - it was something special and rare - and I suspect that many law enforcement officers spend their entire careers never getting the chance to have a partnership like Nolan and Lukus. Two local boys who both served their country in the military who came home to the little Borough of Forest City to continue protecting and serving those they loved. In Susquehanna County, it is unlikely that we will ever see another police partnership like Lukus and Nolan again - not with municipalities shying away from hiring full-time police officers and opting instead for a stable of part-time officers who are forced to piece together police work across multiple jurisdictions to make a living wage for their families. Forest City made a commitment to Joe and Paul - and they repaid that commitment through their dedicated service over an amazing span of nearly four decades together.

Several years back, Joe began to have health problems that led to difficulties with his legs and after much medical muddling it was discovered that he had ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease. In his late 50s, Joe was forced out of the Forest City Police the same way Gehrig was forced from the Yankees' lineup - a slow and debilitating disease that destroyed his central nervous system. About a year ago, the entire community of Forest City had the opportunity to honor Joe as their citizen of the year, and last week, that little community had a chance to say good-bye to their own local legend - a giant and a hero - as Joe lost his battle with ALS on Friday, August 24, 2012.

A few weeks prior to his passing, I had a chance to visit with him at his residence. I am not sure what made me take the trip down to Forest City that day - serendipity must have played a part in it. Confined to his chair and having lost most of his mobility, he was still the Joe that I remembered. He still used this facial expression that was something between a smile and a frown where half of his mouth would start to smile while the other half seemed to remain perfectly still. He used that look with me countless times – as if to express his amusement with me along with his wonderment that I still did not get it. He also had a look where he would raise his eyebrows a little bit and look over his glasses at me in an assessing way – and I suspect that more than a few motorists in Forest City remember that one. Despite his pain and suffering, he still had a dry sense of humor, and he was still able to bob his head back a little bit coupled with a short laugh.

We had a short discussion about police work and I asked him if he thought we were going in the right direction – or whether things worked better back when they were far simpler. His answer was exactly what I expected – he was an old school officer who knew that small town police work was as much about investigating crime and arresting bad guys as it was about building relationships within that small community. I told him that he should work on a memoir and he said that he had actually thought about it. I cannot even begin to wonder at the stories that Joe had earned over those nearly 4 decades as a police officer in Forest City Borough – but I wish that I could have heard every single one of them.

But then again, the residents of Forest City had the privilege of living those stories out with Joe – and it really is an American story about a man who loved his town, loved his people, and dedicated his life serving and protecting others. Joe was a Marine – and there is no doubt he lived by the Marine Motto: Semper Fidelis, which is Latin for “Always Faithful,” and that is what Joe gave to his country and to his little Borough.

Please submit any questions, concerns, or comments to Susquehanna County District Attorney’s Office, P.O. Box 218, Montrose, Pennsylvania 18801 or at our website www.SusquehannaCounty-DA.org or discuss this and all articles at http://dadesk.blogspot.com/.