Feb. 24, 1853: Concord’s “Old John” Virgin, a veteran of the War of 1812, is found frozen in his house on Sugar Ball. Virgin boasted all his life of having fought at Tippecanoe with William Henry Harrison. An invalid, he had “an ulcerous sore on one of his legs, which was very offensive,” according to a contemporary account. Virgin earned a pension of $96 a year and was determined to live on it. When he came to town, his “loud patriotic harangues always attracted attention.” He had no friends because he would have none; he lived alone and died alone. Only the sexton attended his funeral.
Feb. 24, 1942: With tires strictly rationed and therefore dear, the Monitor reports that a gang of tire thieves has been operating in Manchester and Concord. Raymond K. Perkins, the city solicitor, warns that he will seek the maximum penalty of one year in the county house of corrections for anyone convicted of stealing a tire.
Feb. 24, 1980: Tom Gerber, editor of the Concord Monitor, grumbles to the Washington Post about all the attention paid during the presidential primary to Union Leader publisher William Loeb: “We don’t get it because we’re decent. We do what the hell is right. We play the news straight. We keep our goddamn editorial opinions out of the news columns. We’re not crackpots, we’re professionals.”
Feb. 24, 1965: Citing high local taxes, the Concord City Council urges the Legislature to “provide a substantial additional source or sources of revenue to the city of Concord.” Decades later, Concord is still waiting.
Feb. 25, 1978: Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas comes to New Hampshire to explore the possibility of running for president in 1980. “I’m interested,” says Dole. “What I’ve got to find out is if anybody’s interested in me.”
Feb. 25, 1984: At a rally in Eagle Square on the Saturday before the presidential primary, Democratic Sen. John Glenn introduces a 14-year-old supporter whose dog was recently hit and killed by a car. Glenn tells the boy: “I know there’s no way you can possibly replace a trusted friend like Yoyo, but Corey, maybe we can help out just a little.” He presents Corey Smith with a black-and-tan puppy.
Feb. 26, 2000: Donna Sytek, the first female speaker of the New Hampshire House, informs her colleagues by letter that she will not run for a third term as speaker this fall. She cites her belief in voluntary term limits for legislators and her own health troubles as reasons for stepping down.
Feb. 26, 1942: The H.J. Heinz Co. runs a large ad in the Monitor telling readers: “Blame Hitler, Hirohito, and Benito! . . . Don’t Blame Your Grocer.” The problem? Because of the shortage of sugar and other commodities, many of Heinz’s 57 varieties may be missing from the shelves.
Feb. 26, 1973: The Concord city manager proposes increasing downtown parking fines from $1 to $2.
Feb. 27, 2000: Trucks full of steel beams arrive in Concord, the first shipment of materials for new seating to be installed at Memorial Field. The construction project comes in preparation for the Babe Ruth World Series, to be played in Concord in August.
Feb. 27, 1733: The Massachusetts General Court creates a new township to be called Rumford (earlier known as Penny-Cook, later as Concord).
Feb. 28, 2003: Two men have been charged with brutally beating a McDonald’s night janitor earlier in the month, the Monitor reports. Mitchell J. Edward, 20, of Elkins Street in Franklin, and Travis Turcotte, 23, of South State Street in Concord, were arraigned on several charges related to the early-morning robbery at the Fisherville Road McDonald’s.
Feb. 28, 1930: A special legislative session convened for the purpose of enacting tax reform ends with no changes. One newspaper headline: “Futile session comes to an end.” (Up for consideration this day: a state income tax.)
Feb. 28, 1894: At Sewalls Falls, George and Charles Page of the Page Belting Co. open the second hydroelectric dam of its kind in the United States. The powerhouse is equipped with four 2,300-volt, 225-kilowatt generators driven by leather belts from reaction-wheel water turbines. Sewalls Falls will generate power until 1968.
Feb. 28, 1984: Democratic voters weather an ice storm to give Colorado Sen. Gary Hart an upset victory in the New Hampshire primary. Hart takes 37 percent of the vote to 28 for former vice president Walter Mondale. Says Hart: “Many people, including the front-runner, thought the campaign would be over tonight. The campaign begins tonight!” President Reagan wins the Republican primary with 65,033 votes. His nearest GOP competitor: Harold Stassen at 1,543.
March 1, 2003: The drooping economy has claimed another victim, the Monitor reports. Thanks to an increase in layoffs, rising rents and astronomical fuel prices, food pantries in the area are facing some of their worst supply shortages in years. “Overall there seems to be an increased demand, probably for a variety of reasons,” said Randy Emerson, the director of the Community Action Program, the state’s federal emergency food assistance program.
March 1, 2002: Jury selection starts in the murder trial of Dwayne Thompson, the man accused of killing his longtime roommate and downtown Concord fixture, Robert Provencher.
March 1, 1923: Two Concord newspapers, the Evening Monitor and the New Hampshire Patriot, merge. They will operate as the Concord Daily Monitor and New Hampshire Patriot under Editor James M. Langley, Dartmouth graduate and World War I veteran. Circulation by the mid-’20s will exceed 5,000.
March 1, 1973: Gov. Mel Thomson says he will veto any effort to remove “Live Free or Die” from the state’s license plates. Rep. Jack Chandler of Warner agrees. “Those who don’t like the motto should get out of New Hampshire and live in Massachusetts,” he says.
March 1, 1930: The Granite Monthly reports on a special session of the Legislature which apparently accomplished little. “The proposed income tax was the rock on which the session crashed. The income tax was never popular, although it passed the House. . . . A variety of reasons accounted for that action by the lower branch, including the old legislative custom of passing the buck to the Senate, the proverbial hard-boiled branch of the Legislature.”
March 1, 1876: Concord’s North Church, at North State and Chapel streets, is consecrated for worship. The church was built on the site of the previous church, which burned to the ground in June 1873. The cost of the new church: $50,883.86.
March 1, 1972: State Sen. Richard Leonard, a Nashua Democrat, criticizes William Loeb from the Senate floor for publishing a “the Canuck letter,” a slur on French-Canadians falsely attributed to presidential candidate Edmund Muskie. Leonard says “the tirades of Bill Loeb (are) nothing more than the extreme abuse of power by a self-centered man holding the reins of a newspaper monopoly.”
March 1, 1849: New Hampshireman Benjamin Brown French, longtime federal official, bids farewell to President James K. Polk and shakes hands with the incoming president, Gen. Zachary Taylor. Of Taylor, he writes: “I . . . made up my mind at once that he was an honest-hearted, happy old man, who would, if he could have his own way, do his duty faithfully and impartially. He will not, I fear, be permitted to have his own way.”
March 1, 1860: During the afternoon, Abraham Lincoln addresses a large crowd at the Phenix Hotel in Concord. He speaks to an even larger one in the evening in Manchester. The mayor of Manchester introduces him as “the next president of the United States.” Lincoln’s appearances follow a trip to see his son, Robert, at Phillips Exeter Academy.
March 1, 1926: The Granite Monthly magazine reports: “The completion of the Concord Monitor-Patriot poll on Prohibition showed an overwhelming victory for the Drys. The totals: Prohibition is right: 1,022. Prohibition is wrong: 152. For modification: 347.
March 2, 1848: On the eve of gubernatorial elections, the New Hampshire Patriot, the state’s leading Democratic newspaper, announces imminent peace with Mexico and says the fruits of war redound to the credit of President James K. Polk.
March 2, 1960: Mayor Charles Johnson of Concord appeals to the Capitol Theatre not to show the movie Jack the Ripper. Johnson hasn’t seen the film but has heard from more than a dozen callers to city hall that it contains scenes of violence and horror. Two days before the movie is scheduled to open, theater manager Theresa Cantin agrees to cancel it.
March 2, 1968: Seven hundred fifty students, most of them from out of state, begin a weekend canvass of New Hampshire on behalf of Minnesota Sen. Eugene McCarthy. All are neatly dressed, and many of the boys have shaved and cut their hair to “get clean for Gene.” McCarthy, a peace candidate, is challenging President Lyndon B. Johnson in the presidential primary, which is 10 days away.
