Remember When: Sewickley Herald headlines from 1928

Melanie Linn Gutowski | Thursday, October 12, 2023 7:00 a.m.

“Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania,” John W. Jordan

Captain John Clark Anderson (1828-1928) bore more than a passing resemblance to his cousin and lifelong friend, Buffalo Bill Cody.

In the news this week 95 years ago:

• The Herald celebrated the life and mourned the death of Captain John Clark Anderson at age 100. Born in Leetsdale in 1828, he started out farming his parents’ land before going west at age 21 to seek gold in California for two years. Sometime in the 1850s, he connected with his famous cousin, Buffalo Bill Cody, in Wyoming, and the two formed a close lifelong friendship. Cody even visited Anderson at his Sewickley home several times over the years. Anderson had always had a “boyhood ambition to become a river pilot,” a dream he realized as an adult when he piloted steamboats on the Ohio and Cumberland rivers for 35 years.

During the Civil War, Anderson worked in the service of the Union Forces, though he was not formally enlisted. He piloted steamboats that were used as transports in some of the military operations on the western rivers, “sometimes running the gauntlet of rebel bullets,” according to the Herald. In his later years, he returned to his Sewickley farmland, where he lived until his death in October 1928.

• Sewickley Police Chief Winrick warned against “anyone caught at … malicious mischief” on Halloween, promising a night in jail “for the ones that carry their deprecations too far.”

Specific examples of prohibited behavior from years past included “dumping garbage on the street, carrying off gates, furniture, etc., and defacing fences, automobiles and windows.”

“Chief Winrick has been criticised (sic) for enforcing the law too strictly, but never for failing to go through with what he starts,” the Herald wrote. “Hallowe’eners will do well to note this.”

• The Sewickley Theatre —“Only the Best and Latest Pictures Shown”— advertised coming attractions, including “The Cameraman” starring Buster Keaton and Marceline Day, and “Our Dancing Daughters,” starring Joan Crawford and Johnny Mack Brown. Tickets for these silent films were $.30/adult and $.10/child for first floor seats, and $.35/person in the balcony.