West Jefferson in Days Gone By - series 126 by Charlie Miller
____July 18, 1930 – A hearing against Mayor Stutson has been postponed until August 18, 1930.
____August 21, 1930 – Charges against 82 year old Mayor Stutson of West Jefferson will not be received by Gov. Cooper, an agreement has been reached between those filing the charges and attorneys for Mr. Stutson.
____August 28, 1930 – The hardest hail storm that any of the old timers ever witnessed or heard of in West Jefferson fell Saturday noon. Hail was estimated at a 2-inch depth over the entire town.
____April 28, 1931 – Thomas Pearce, 94, a Civil War Veteran who served with Company A, 40th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was found dead Sunday morning at his home near West Jefferson. (Thos. Pearce was born in 1836, the son of Samuel T. Pearce, 1798-1885. Samuel Pearce was an early settler of Madison County.)
____April 28, 1931 – Ohio Bell To Buy Home Phone Company---A petition was filed with the PUCO to purchase the property of the West Jefferson Home Telephone Company. The West Jefferson Home Telephone Company was organized about 30 years ago by Messers Boyd, Pence, and Ligget to provide phone service for West Jefferson and surrounding areas. About 25 years ago, a competing concern, the Farmer’s Telephone Co., was formed, lines were constructed, and an exchange was maintained at West Jefferson, Resaca, and Hilliard. In 1915, West Jefferson seceded from the Resaca and Hilliard’s Farmer’s and entered into a contract with the West Jefferson Home Telephone Company. On July 1, 1915, the two exchanges were combined. Robert W. Boyd is President, and W. L. Cary is Secretary-Treasurer. Elmer Moore is the plant Chief, and Lillie Millikin is the Chief Operator.
____July 8, 1931 – The new reinforce concrete bridge to replace the present bridge over Little Darby Creek on E. Main Street, has an estimated cost of $28,083.30. The length of the improvement is 625 feet with a 32 foot roadbed and a 4.5 foot sidewalk. Date of completion is set for November 30, 1931.
____July 30, 1931- Matthew W. Stutson, 83, Mayor of West Jefferson, dies at his home at this place Sunday morning following an illness of cancer of the throat. (Little is known of Mr. Stutson; he was born in 1848 in West Jefferson; in 1870, he was a dry goods merchant and later ran a confectionery. On November 11, 1874, he married Mary Browning. By 1880, he was a widower. He had no survivors when he died, and close friends, the Biggert family, took care of his estate.)
____August 16, 1931 – Seven places were raided Tuesday night by dry officers with six dry hauls, and in the seventh, only a few bottles of home brew were found!