Dec. 1, 1848: Edward E. Sturtevant, a Concord printer, writes to his parents in Keene: “The Shakers are having a trial before a Legislative committee, which excites some curiosity among the people of this town. . . . A petition is presented for a law against parents and guardians binding children to them, alleging that they (the children) are taught to disregard all friendship for father & mother & brothers & sisters – to know no God except the Elders of the Shaker Society – and accusing the Shakers of abusing them & killing them, &c.&c. The petitioners have brought forward some 20 who have been Shakers but left them who testify strongly in favor of the petitioners. It is amusing to hear these backsliders swear down the religion of Anna Lee.”
Dec. 1, 1989: In Concord for a speaking engagement, peace activist William Sloan Coffin makes a prediction. Once Americans realize that the fall of the Iron Curtain means military power is no longer the central prerequisite for governing, he says, they will turn to the Democratic Party.
Dec. 1, 1994: The early morning barks of a dog save the lives of six residents in a Merrimack Street apartment house destroyed by fire. The cause: overheated wiring within a bathroom wall.
Dec. 1, 1999: A Monitor poll finds that many Republican voters have a more favorable impression of Arizona Sen. John McCain than they do of Texas Gov. George W. Bush. Pollster Brad Coker’s conclusion: That trend could translate into an upset election.
Dec. 1, 2001: With a weekend of spontaneous and rehearsed music, the Concord Community Music School celebrates a milestone: the grand opening of a $1.5 million addition that more than doubles the space for the school.
Dec. 2, 1991: A fire consumes Souther’s Market on Liberty Street.
Dec. 3, 1847: For $1,000, Edward H. Rollins buys R.C. Osgood’s drugstore on Main Street opposite the State House. Rollins will become a leading Republican, and the back room of the store will be his political headquarters, where policies are crafted and candidates made.
Dec. 3, 1934: Orchestra leader Guy Lombardo plays to a sell-out audience at the Concord City Auditorium. The group arrived the night before and checked into the old Eagle Hotel. After an early afternoon press conference, Guy put together a touch football game on nearby Higgins Field.
Dec. 3, 1985: Louis Cartier walks into Concord High School with a loaded shotgun. After Cartier holds a student hostage and the police at bay, a police officer shoots and kills Cartier.
Dec. 3, 2002: The Chico Enterprise-Record, a California newspaper, reports that Andrew Mickel’s parents turned him in to the police after he called them and bragged about shooting a Red Bluff, Calif., police officer Nov. 19. Mickel was arrested a week later when he surrendered to the Concord police and FBI agents after a 2½-hour standoff at the Holiday Inn on North Main Street.
Dec. 5, 1866: The Monitor reports: “A man who had assisted to empty several bottles of wine afterward took a walk. The pavement was quite icy, and he exclaimed, ‘Very singular, whenever water freezes, it freezes with the slippery side up.’ ”
Dec. 5, 1908: Fire Chief William Green sets out for the movies at Phenix Hall, but even though the same show played at the nearby Opera House for more than a year, the Phenix is filled. There are plans to convert yet another building in the Durgin block into a theater. “Verily, the people are moving picture mad,” Mayor Charles Corning writes in his diary.
Dec. 5, 1999: A fire breaks out at South Congregational Church in Concord 45 minutes before a scheduled performance of Handel’s Messiah. After about 80 singers and musicians in formal attire gather on Pleasant Street, they head for nearby St. Paul’s Church, where about 200 people are treated to an impromptu rendition of the oratorio’s most famous section.
Dec. 5, 2001: The Concord High School wrestling team opens its season at Bishop Guertin, heading home with a 54-12 win.
Dec. 6, 2000: Gov. Jeanne Shaheen nominates James Duggan to the state Supreme Court. Duggan, 58, is a professor at Franklin Pierce Law Center and a criminal defense lawyer who has argued before the high court many times. Retiring Justice Sherman Horton says he’s pleased with the selection. “The whole court really respects him,” Horton says.
Dec. 6, 1991: The filing period opens for candidates in the 1992 New Hampshire presidential primary. First in line: the Rev. Billy Joe Clegg of Biloxi, Miss. “George Bush is a good president, but we need a great one,” he says.
Dec. 6, 1999: The Concord School Board agrees to increase the salaries of permanent substitute teachers and hire two more for the middle school and high school to share. School officials say that because of the strong economy they’ve had to scramble on occasion to find coverage.
Dec. 6, 2001: The New Hampshire Technical Institute has been accredited as a two-year community college by the New England Association of Schools and College’s Commission on Institutions of Higher Learning, the same group that assesses the University of New Hampshire and the state colleges in Keene and Plymouth, the Monitor reports. “This is one of the most significant moments in the history of NHTI,” said President Bill Simonton. “It will probably set the stage for the next 40 years of college.”
