A Look Back, May 4

200 Years Ago

■Lord & Hutchinson (two doors north of Warner’s Coffee House) keep constantly on hand a complete assortment of ladies’ shell combs; also, a great variety of fancy articles, fruits, toys for children, etc. Shell combs mended with or without rivet, and old combs polished.

■To the public! A certain notification appeared in the Hampshire Gazette on the 7th of April by the direction of the subscriber, setting forth that Philo Marsh had embezzled and run away with sundry articles of my property. This is to notify the public that the property was not stolen from me by him, and that the statement therein was not intended to convey the idea that he is not to be trusted as an honest and faithful man — Sylvester Morton.

100 Years Ago

■Miss Clara S. Knapp of this city has taken possession of the Bridgman homestead on Elm Street, which she recently purchased. Clifford H. Lyman, who has lived in the homestead for many years, has moved to 46 Columbus Avenue, and George L. Metcalf, another occupant, has taken rooms at 44 Graves Ave.

■The party of Northampton High School seniors, who returned from their trip to Washington last night, were the only delegation out of the many visiting the capital to visit President and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge on two occasions, once on Monday afternoon and again on Wednesday evening.

50 Years Ago

■Marijuana use, law enforcement officials here agree, is now so widespread that it is almost impossible to police, and has become, in the words of one assistant district attorney, “semi-respectable.” Counselors at the UMass drug and personal counseling center estimated that as many as 85 percent of students smoke marijuana “at least on weekends.”

■A 67-year-old Florence man was struck and killed by a car last night as he was crossing King Street. Robert J. Finn of 55 Bliss St., Florence, was pronounced dead on arrival at Coolidge Dickinson Hospital. Finn was a well-known local resident and retired postal worker.