It was May 1932 and in Pictou County, people were reading about the details about the Chicago crime boss’s imprisonment on the front page of The Evening News.
Angela Hanebury had the chance to read about it in the local paper last week. Little did she know that the story was hidden away in her home on Church Street in Westville for more than 80 years. Her son Anthony Falconer was ripping up carpet in the home they’ve lived in for the last eight years when he made the discovery.
“Underneath the carpet there was vinyl flooring, so we took the vinyl flooring up with carpet.”
Laid underneath were newspapers whose dates ranged from the 1930s to 1950 when according to the paper of the day, Westville Mayor J.A. MacGregor was announcing his retirement from the political life.
Hanebury said it’s been interesting to look at the old papers. Anthony found an ad for a V8 Ford. The price tag was $700. Community notes talk of who came over for tea in places. Women are referred to on the pages as Mrs. There was a section designated for topics of interest to women.
The pages of the papers, which include both The Evening News and The Chronicle Herald, are large as was the standard of the day.
“I did a little reading but I don’t like to handle it too much because as soon as you start handling them, they’ll rip,” she said.
Hanebury said the style is very different with dozens of little stories starting on the first page and headlines separated from where the story started in some places.
Since they found the newspapers, Hanebury said she’s been researching ways to preserve them for years to come.
“If you want to frame them you have to make sure that no UV can go through the glass,” she said.
She doubts she’ll be able to do that for all of them, but she would like to for at least one.
Her favourite one right now is the one that includes Al Capone’s story.
