Past Pages

130 Years Ago

Barbers Beware: A Bodeite came into a Carson barber shop. The officiating artist compressed his neck in towels and said, "You are a little nervous ... Allow me to say that our 'Capillary Elixer' ... calms the mind and restores the whole nervous system ... What do you do for nervousness in Bodie?" The man looked up and replied ... "we usually go out and kill a barber or two..."

120 Years Ago

The Gazette has a ghost story: On the 27th of each month the ghost of a murdered man walks along the track of the N.C. & O. R. R. two miles from town ... It is the apparition of a man about five feet, seven inches and his face is covered with a heavy beard. He does not walk on the ground but skims through the air and appears to be covered with a white sheet - deep gashes in the flesh where blood flows and a dagger can be seen sticking in the apparitions's heart. Renoites will probably run an excursion train there next month.

70 Years Ago

Miss Mildred Bray has filed her declaration of candidacy for the office of superintendent of public instruction for Nevada. She has held the office for five years after her appointment by Gov. Richard Kirman. Miss Bray's father was superintendent of public instruction from 1910 to 1919 ... During her term she has sponsored the WPA library project, stimulated establishment of national defense training, promoted hot school lunches...

50 Years Ago

Mystery planet: The first attempt to explore Venus failed, and a second shot is planned to the mystery planet within a month, a new rocket, a 103 foot Atlas-Agena probe named Mariner 2. The flight is planned to be within 10,000 miles of Venus.

10 Years Ago

President Bush signed a bill making Yucca Mountain the nation's central repository for nuclear waste. Kenny Guinn, Nevada's Governor, downplayed the signing as a formality: "It does little more than end the political process ... Our best chance in defeating Yucca Mountain is in the federal courts.

• Sue Ballew is the daughter of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.