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Thumbing the Files for Dec. 19

100 years ago, 1913

New Hampshire was preparing to welcome a new law limiting working hours for women and minors to 55 hours a week. It was to go into effect on Jan. 1.

A spark from a locomotive set fire to the roof of a bakery building next to the Milford train depot. About five yards of shingles were burned but the blaze was extinguished without ringing in an alarm.

J.B. Ford, Jr., was thrown from a horse he was riding in Milford when a girth broke and the saddle slid. He struck the ground heavily and received a severe shaking up and bruises.

The Rev. John Henry Wilson gave his third annual reading from Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” at the Wilton Center Unitarian Church vestry.

70 years ago 1943

Mary Mahoney, 105, Milford’s oldest resident, died at the home of her son, Daniel Mahoney, Sr., on South Street after an illness of a few months. She had been born in the vicinity of Limerick, Ireland, in 1838.

Frank Long, 21, of Amherst, was killed in action in the South Pacific, according to a telegram from the Navy Department received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edward A. Long. He had enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1942.

Regional tire inspector Louis Davis spoke to tire inspectors of Milford, Wilton, Amherst and Lyndeborough about rubber conservation. He said the tire situation for passenger cars was favorable because synthetic rubber was being used successfully but would remain quite serious for trucks for at least three or four months.

The Latchis Theatre in Milford was showing “Honeymoon Lodge” with Harriet Hilliard, David Bruce, June Vincent and Ozzie Nelson and his orchestra.

Wilton’s Red Cross Committee was seeking cigarettes for kit bags for servicemen but would furnish other articles itself.

50 years ago, 1963

Nelson B. Mitchell, 49, of Wrentham, Mass., was accidentally suffocated while loading his truck at the Lorden Lumber Company sawdust bin in Milford. The huge pile of sawdust had become undermined and when the top gave way, Mitchell was buried except for one leg and his truck was almost covered.

The Harlem Ambassadors basketball team was to play the Wilton High and Milford High faculties at the Wilton High School gym.

The Town Hall Theatre in Wilton was showing “The List of Adrian Messenger” with George C. Scott and Dana Wynter.

Maryel Chabot and Brenda Gallant of Wilton represented Wilton High School and the Southern District YMCA at the meeting of the State YMCA Older Girls’ Conference Council in Concord.

Several Wilton women living alone were approached by a man posing as a furnace inspector. He told them how dirty their furnaces were and proceeded to say he and his men could fix that. It turned out to be a scam.

Hayward Farms was to supply 700 cups of ice cream for the Christmas parties at Garden Street and Jacques schools in Milford.

25 years ago, 1988

Milford Town Hall was officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Milford High School choral director Jim Sandahl led the school choir in its annual Christmas concert.

The Amherst School Board and the Amherst Education Association declared an impasse in contract talks, unable to reach agreement about salaries, insurance benefits, and contract language. The starting salary for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree was $18,750.

Brian Brown, 14, of Amherst, won a week in California after building a bike ramp for a contest sponsored by BMX Plus, a magazine for BMX bike enthusiasts.

The Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative School Board approved a proposal to convert the high school’s electric heat to an oil-fired hot water system.

Anita Ulich was named gymnastics coach at Milford Area Senior High.