Day in history for December 15, 2003

1853 -- 150 years ago

There is no game offered for sale in our markets. What has become of all the deer, turkey, geese, duck, quail and rabbits we used to have in abundance? Where are all the hunters this season?

1878 -- 125 years ago

Whether to allow saloons in the town will be the fight at the next Milan election.

1903 -- 100 years ago

Comedian Walter Jones is playing in ``The Sleepy King'' on the Illinois Theater stage.

1928 -- 75 years ago

Three prisoners choked and gagged Sheriff Charles Nash at Cambridge. A posse of 75 citizens captured two of the men after wounding one of them.

1953 -- 50 years ago

Fire and water damage to the Scott Hotel in Bettendorf will probably run to $20,000 or more according to a preliminary estimate following an early morning blaze. While the principal fire damage was confined to the Subway Tap and Grill located on the ground floor, smoke damage was extensive throughout the building. Herman Vesole of Rock Island, one of the owners of Scott Hotel Inc., said that the entire building will have to be completely rebuilt and equipped.

1978 -- 25 years ago

``Schumann's Surprise Shirley,'' a racing pigeon owned by LaVerne Schumann of Davenport, will be one of 10 pigeons on the U.S. team at World Pigeon Olympiad in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in January. ``Shirley,'' a black velvet hen, was chosen for the Standard Class Team during a recent show in St. Louis.

Back: Available days in December 2003