100 Years Ago: 1924

When Roland McDonald, the 16 year old boy, was arrested Monday, and later, confessed to the murder of this school teacher, the officials were at a loss to attribute a motive.

After the boy had re-enacted the murder in the presence of the Sheriff and a photographer, who took pictures of the scene, he led them to the door of a woodhouse, where from beneath the sill, he took the dead girl’s watch, her rings, and a small sum of money,  which he had taken from her body. “The motive,” said the sheriff, when questioned Tuesday morning, “was robbery.”

50 Years Ago: 1974

Mrs. Roger Landry recently was chosen Mother of the Year of the Ladies of St. Anne Sodality, Holy Family parish, but decided to bestow it upon another sodalist, Mrs. Lucille Grenier, presently a patient at St. Mary’s General Hospital. The ceremony took place with Nurse Mrs. A. Shufeldt assisting the patient in donning the cape. The crown was put in place by Mrs. Landry.

At the Sodality meeting, Mrs. Richard Robert was named president; Mrs. Irenee Vachon, vice president; Mrs. Roger Marquis, recording secretary; Mrs. Louis Nadeau, treasurer; Mrs. Joseph Madore, assistant secretary-treasurer. Council members are Mrs. Gerard Caron, Mrs. Gerald Pelletier, Mrs. Lucille Leduc and Mrs. Madore were named Council members.

25 Years Ago: 1999

Barbara Patry spread her arms wide and ran up a wooded path Wednesday to hug her little boy. More than 20 hours had passed since the toddler wandered off from the family’s yard in  Berlin, N.H., Tuesday evening.

Cold, wet and peppered with bug bites, Cameron Patry was in otherwise good shape after spending nearly a day lost in the woods surrounding his neighborhood.

It could have been longer if not for the ancient art of dowsing.

Melody Nunn of St. Johnsbury, Vt., a native American, told searchers she had helped find people in the past by dowsing a rod over a map. Give it a try, she was told, and officials marked the spot. Cameron was found within a third of a mile of that spot.

His ordeal gripped this city throughout Wednesday and drew more than 550 neighbors, friends and strangers to aid in the search and comfort Patry and her husband, Carl. Housewives, millworkers, students and senior citizens dropped whatever they were doing to tramp over 10 square miles.

“This shows what kind of town we live in,” said one police dispatcher.

Cameron, 3, was reported missing about 6 p.m. Tuesday. After spending a cold, rainy night in the dense woods near the Gorham town line, he was found just after 2 p.m. Wednesday by a wildlife officer and a volunteer searcher heading to the map coordinates divined by Nunn.

The material used in Looking Back is produced exactly as it originally appeared although misspellings and errors may be corrected.