Sept. 1, 1782: The Rev. Timothy Walker, who has served as Concord’s Puritan minister from around the time of its settlement in 1730, collapses while preparing for a service and dies. He is 77 years old.
Sept. 1, 1939: Germany attacks Poland. The Concord Monitor’s lead editorial says: “We feel certain that try as hard as we may, we cannot stay out of the war if it is at all prolonged.”
Sept. 1, 2000: The high school football season kicks off with a couple of routs. Concord wallops Portsmouth, 42-0, while Kearsarge runs over Bow, 41-0.
Sept. 2, 1816: From Concord, where he is living in the North End, Samuel F.B. Morse writes to his parents that he is engaged to a local girl, Lucretia Walker. “Never, never was a human being so blest as I am,” he writes.
Sept. 2, 1947: Plans to install the city’s first parking meters downtown draw the ire of Concord residents. “I will make one pledge. I never will put 10 cents into a meter in order to shop. I will park my car over on Concord Plains and walk in first,” writes Charles H. Nixon in a letter to the editor.
Sept. 2, 2002: Concord police arrest a man they say kidnapped two teenagers at knifepoint at Wal-Mart on Loudon Road. James McLaughlin will be arraigned on two counts of kidnapping, one count of robbery, one count of felon in possession of a deadly weapon, and possession or a dangerous weapon while committing a violent crime.
Sept. 3, 1861: Thirty-one train cars carry the Third New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry Regiment out of the Concord station.
Sept. 3, 1914: Richard F. Upton is born in Bow. He will become a prominent Concord lawyer and speaker of the New Hampshire House. In 1949, concerned with light voter turnout in previous New Hampshire presidential primaries, he will initiate legislation to make the process more meaningful. Long before his death in 1996, he will be known as ‘the father of the state’s first-in-the-nation primary.’
Sept. 3, 1991: Democratic presidential candidate Paul Tsongas tells the Concord Rotary: “I basically pide the world up into Washington and the rest of us, so my view is not that different from yours.”
Sept. 3, 2001: A standoff closes Sewalls Falls Road and re-routes holiday traffic on Interstate 93. After 4½ hours, the police take a man into custody.
Sept. 3, 2002: Genevieve Scarfo, the former Cabletron employee who successfully sued Craig Benson for sexual discrimination, speaks at a campaign event for the first time to warn New Hampshire voters against electing Benson their next governor.
Sept. 4, 1775: Dr. Josiah Bartlett leaves his home in Kingston for the Continental Congress. He will arrive 11 days later and, with some breaks, serve for three years.
Sept. 4, 2002: Struggling for the lead in their close gubernatorial primary, Democrats Bev Hollingworth and Mark Fernald square off in their final televised debate. Each defends their plans for an income tax to pay for education.
Sept. 5, 1929: Amateur radio enthusiast Robert Byron of 15 Fayette St. in Concord talks for an hour with Robert E. Byrd’s South Pole expedition 12,000 miles away. He says the reception is remarkably clear. Two years earlier, Byrd spoke to a packed house at the City Auditorium. Byron’s radio exploits are well known in town. The year before, he was the first to inform the Germans by radio that the Bremen had reached Greenley Island in Canada, meaning that three German pilots had succeeded in making the first east-to-west transatlantic flight.
Sept. 5, 1987: The temperature falls to 34 degrees, a record low.
Sept. 5, 1990: During an editorial board meeting at the Monitor, U.S. Sen. Gordon Humphrey shares this assessment of a proposed state constitutional amendment to switch back from annual to biennial legislative sessions: “Legislators are busybodies. God love ’em, but God restrain ’em. And if God won’t restrain ’em, make the constitution do it.”
Sept. 5, 2002: In a prime-time televised debate, the three Republican candidates for governor, Craig Benson, Gordon Humphrey and Bruce Keough, hit all the themes their expensive, vigorous and often vicious campaign broached throughout the summer.
Sept. 6, 1842: The locomotive Amoskeag with a train of three passenger cars arrives in Concord at 6:45 p.m. The train, from Boston, is the first to come to the city’s new depot. “As the cars came in, the multitude raised cheering shout, and the cannon pealed forth its thunder to celebrate,” Bouton’s history will report. Many of the onlookers were taken for a joy-ride, to Bow.
Sept. 6, 1978: Attorney General Tom Rath says he has found no legal problems associated with an essay contest on Taiwan sponsored by Gov. Mel Thomson.
Sept. 6, 2000: Concord civic and business leaders tour the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel at Horseshoe Pond. The $10 million hotel and conference center “has been a gleam in so many eyes,” Concord Mayor Bill Veroneau says. “There’s no question this is going to be the highlight facility of the city.”
Sept. 7, 1791: A constitutional convention is called to order in Concord. In 36 days in session, it will propose the creation of the Executive Council, the sizes of the bicameral legislature and a change in the name of the state’s top elected official from “president” to “governor.” Voters will approve these changes in 1792.
Sept. 7, 1979: William Loeb tells a national television audience the United States needs “a family man” for president. He suggests Ronald Reagan, who he says is so honest he won’t even tint his hair. Reagan’s one drawback: He’s too nice. “He doesn’t always go for the throat the way I think he should,” says Loeb.
Sept. 7, 2002: Bishop Brady’s Green Giants win their season-opening game against Newport, 42-7. The game marks the debut of new coach Ed DePriest.
