There were 95 marriage licenses issued by county clerk McClung
during 1909, as against 112 in the preceding year. “Two bucks” per license may
have caused the falling off in the matrimony record of the year just closed.
'
C.C. Starcher and J.S. Silcott have fixed up the basement to the
Bank of Grantsville building and will conduct a flour and feed store in
connection with their boating business. They are hustling men, and will make
things warm for their competitors. Already there is talk of the price of flour
falling about a dollar on the barrel.
Work on Bickel and Lehman’s gasoline factory was temporarily
suspended last week on account of the cold weather.
W.H. Ayers, than whom is no better, more honest nor genial man,
paid our sanctum a short visit on Saturday. He reports everything in the White
Pine country, pursuing the even tenor of its way.
A post office that couldn’t sell stamps--one that borrowed
stamps for a time for business places--that sounds impossible, but that’s what
happened last week in Grantsville.
Last Thursday morning when the post office opened for business,
it was discovered that the vault with all the stamps, money and supplies could
not be opened. Try as they might, no one could get the door open, and the post
office found itself in the peculiar position of borrowing stamps. Mail service
went on as usual, and letters and packages went out on time, but it was a
harrowing day for clerks without their supplies.
The vault was not opened until noon of the next day, after
locksmiths had been summoned from Parkersburg. Even they were ready to give up
after toiling half a day, and it was postmaster Umstead who finally managed to
free the final clasp, by patiently working with two small parts. The locksmiths
had managed to take off the combination lock, but had failed to move the door.
It was found that the lock was completely worn out. It has been in use for 60
years, ever since the building was erected. The vault was originally a bank
vault and has a large steel door, and its walls are 20 inches thick. It was
thought that entry would have to be made through the wall to get the vault open,
until Umstead’s persistence paid off.