Oct. 31, 1783: New Hampshire’s Constitution is written. It includes, among other provisions, a prohibition on Dartmouth faculty in the Legislature.
Oct. 31, 1944: Elizabeth Hager is born. In the 1980s, Hager will become the city’s first female mayor. She will serve many years as a city councilor and state representative and run unsuccessfully for governor in 1992.
Nov. 1, 1791: A New Hampshire law against “profane cursing and swearing” takes effect. Fines: 8 shillings for first offense, 16 for second convictions, 24 for subsequent penalties. If the convict can’t pay: public whippings of not more than 10 lashes.
Nov. 1, 1819: A new animal law takes effect in Concord: “whereas the inhabitants of Concord and travelers with teams and loaded sleighs are frequently annoyed by cows and sheep running at large, therefore hereafter no cow or sheep shall be permitted to run at-large in the Main Street . . . or within half a mile to the west of Main Street.”
Nov. 1, 1842: The New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane opens in Concord. One of the first patients: a man from Tuftonboro who prays and preaches on the subject of the Second Coming for four hours each morning and remains quiet the rest of the day.
Nov. 1, 1845: Thomas Potter of Concord falls 34 feet from a chestnut tree without fracturing a limb. Twenty-four years earlier, he fell the same distance from the same tree.
Nov. 1, 2001: An anthrax scare closes Boscawen Elementary School, forcing students to wait at Merrimack Valley High School until parents can pick them up. The scare turns out to be a false alarm.
Nov. 2, 1986: Vermonter Barry Stem makes public his plan to develop a world-class golf course, 246 single-family homes and 164 duplex condominiums on 840 acres of Concord’s Broken Ground. It won’t happen.
Nov. 3, 1908: Concord elects Democrat Charles French as its new mayor. At midnight, a cheering crowd carries him through the city streets. Outgoing Mayor Charles Corning, who did not seek re-election, disapproves of his successor. The result will bring about “a veritable misfortune unless French reforms his loud manners & modifies his coarse & nasty speech,” Corning writes in his diary.
Nov. 3, 1947: John G. Winant, former governor and former U.S. ambassador to Great Britain, commits suicide in Concord.
Nov. 3, 2003: Seven candidates show up at the secretary of state’s office in Concord, marking the first day that presidential candidates are able to file papers to enter January’s primary. The only one whose name carries any cachet in Washington is Dick Gephardt, who makes a lunchtime appearance between campaign stops.
Nov. 4, 1947: Concord voters apparently aren’t in the mood to have fun this Election Day. By wide margins, they reject plans to construct a man-made lake and to permit high school sports and recreational bowling on Sundays.
Nov. 4, 2002: Three dozen South Enders turn out to meet with city councilors about a few neighborhood hot topics: the Northwest Bypass, the Richmond Co. shopping center and the Interstate 93 expansion.
Nov. 4, 2003: After a four-year hiatus from Concord’s city hall, Allenstown Police Chief and former councilor Jim McGonigle wins a seat with 1,788 votes citywide, the highest of the three candidates running for councilor-at-large.
Nov. 5, 1991: While acting as a commentator on the local cable channel as the city election results are being counted, Concord Mayor Jim MacKay learns that he has been defeated for re-election to the city council.
Nov. 5, 2001: After a property tax increase of 18 percent over last year in Bow, town clerk Jill Hadaway is inundated with complaints.
Nov. 6, 1900: Concord Mayor Nat Martin, a local lawyer who made his name closing saloons, is defeated for re-election. He angered voters by trying to have it both ways – busting some backroom bars under the state’s 45-year-old Prohibition statute while permitting other “clubs” to serve liquor.
Nov. 6, 1907: By a count of 2,281 to 2,034, Concord voters decide to stop licensing saloons and ban them. Manchester, Nashua and Portsmouth vote to continue licensing. Franklin, Laconia and Keene join Concord in prohibiting them. The measures will take effect May 1, 1908.
Nov. 6, 1947: The Monitor’s editorial writer expresses disbelief at voters’ rejection of a plan to build a man-made lake. “The Concord Lake proposal had been developed out of the soundest methods of government administration now known. Known advantages of the plan far outweighed disadvantages. In spite of all this, Concord said ‘No.’ ”
Nov. 6, 2001: Mike Donovan beats Jim O’Neill in Concord’s mayoral election in a sweep of all 10 wards. The tally is 3,537 to 2,126.
Nov. 6, 2002: Wet, heavy snow takes down tree branches and power lines, leaving thousands of people across the state without electricity. The slushy weather gives many schoolkids their first snow day of the year. According to the National Weather Service, Concord receives 1½ inches of snow. Some area towns, like Alton and Henniker, receive more than 5 inches.
Nov. 6, 2003: The Monitor reports that the murder trial of Gary Sampson is under way in U.S. District Court in Boston. Sampson pleaded guilty to stabbing two Massachusetts men to death and strangling Robert “Eli” Whitney of Penacook in 2001. The jury will decide whether Sampson should get the death penalty.
