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In this installment of A Look Back in Time, the Saturday, Sept. 4, 1926, edition of The Chronicle featured a story about business booming in East Lewis County, leading to the purchase of a lot of land for the future Morton Roxy Theater.
Norman Steele, 13 at the time, was described as a “lucky little boy” after he survived a 50-foot fall into an abandoned well on Crego Hill, according to the Saturday, Sept. 3, 1966, edition of The Chronicle.
And in the Thursday, Sept. 5, 1986, edition of The Chronicle, it was reported that Thurston County Sheriff’s Office deputies were carrying out a manhunt for Monty A. Richardson, who was wanted as a suspect in the rape and murder of 14-year-old Toni Antonelli.
Some Sunday and holiday editions were not in the archives, so stories from the previous days’ editions are featured instead. When The Chronicle was still a daily newspaper, Sunday editions were often reprints of Saturday editions, unless major breaking news needed to be reported.
A Look Back in Time is compiled using microfilm archives at The Chronicle, physical copies stored at the Lewis County Historical Museum — located at 599 NW Front St. in Chehalis — and digital archives on newspapers.com.
Saturday, Sept. 4, 1926
• Logging and mercury mining was booming in East Lewis County prompting growth in Morton, The Chronicle reported, including the coming construction of a new theater. “With new developments certain in the lumber industry and equipment being installed in the quicksilver plants near here, interest in real estate and business expansion are markedly active. During the past week (Angelo) G. Pecchia, manager of the Liberty Theater, purchased from Thomas Hopgood the latter’s lot on Main Street, which was the site of the old Arcade Theater, destroyed by fire two years ago. Pecchia is planning on erecting a first-class theater building on the site in the near future. Carpenters are at work remodeling the center section of the ground floor of the Odd Fellows building, which will be occupied by the Braley Motor Company of Centralia. Chatlein & Ray are remodeling the Morton bus station into a first-class restaurant.” While Morton residents did eventually get a new theater — the Roxy Theater, still open today — it appears Pecchia may have had a tough time during the Great Depression along with countless other Americans after the 1929 stock market crash. It wasn’t until over a decade later when Pecchia finally opened the Roxy in Morton according to the Tuesday, March 15, 1938, edition of The Chehalis Bee-Nugget, which stated, “The Roxy Theater, recently built by A.G. Pecchia, opened Thursday evening, the initial performance starring Sonja Heine in ‘Thin Ice’ being shown Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The new theater is modern in all respects and would be a credit to a town many times the size of Morton. Mr. Pecchia is to be congratulated on his achievement.” Pecchia spent his life in the theater industry and along with the Morton Roxy Theater, also built theaters in Kapowsin, Eatonville, Randle, Mineral, Mary’s Corner and even the Narrow’s Theater in Tacoma before passing away, according to his obituary in the Friday, Nov. 7, 1986 edition of The News Tribune.
• A three-bedroom “modern bungalow, all in fine shape,” located at 923 J St. in Centralia was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $2,850. An “all newly decorated” six-room home in Centralia was listed for rent for $8 a month.
Saturday, Sept. 5, 1936
• National Townsend Movement representative John H. Weir saw a small turnout for his talk on the movement, which was attributed to “counter attractions” going on in the area when he spoke at the Centralia High School auditorium Friday night on the Townsend Plan, The Chronicle reported. The Townsend Plan was a Social Security alternative proposed by Dr. Francis E. Townsend for all Americans over the age of 60 to be given monthly $200 checks, to be spent over the next month to help boost the economy, according to the U.S. Social Security Administration’s website. “Mr. Weir is a lecturer of national reputation, having been for years identified with the Chautauqua Movement and during the past two years has been lecturing on the Townsend Plan, although his work has been gratis. Such men carry with them sincerity — not seeking office nor caring little for publicity. They are in the Townsend Movement because they believe that it is the only plan that will bring economic recovery to a distressed people. He is a free-lance speaker and never hesitates to criticize the movement where it is justified or to praise where praise is due.”
• A five-room bungalow listed as a “good repair” near the Centralia High School was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $1,000. A three-room “well-furnished, upstairs apartment” with utilities included at 124 N. Diamond St. in Centralia was listed for rent for $16 a month.
Thursday, Sept. 5, 1946
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story about 13 Aberdeen youths being sentenced to nightly house arrest after being convicted for disorderly conduct the previous day on charges stemming from the “aftermath to the barrage of fruit and vegetables that greeted delegates to the weekend state DeMolay convention here. Charges against 23 others were dismissed. All of the 13 convicted received suspensions of fines, but Police Judge Mitchell Kalin ordered them to be in their homes by 9:30 nightly for from 30 to 90 days and to write letters of apology to the new state Order of DeMolay president, Bruce Sims of Seattle … Fifteen convention delegates required first aid treatment following the outbreaks which broke out first against a parading Seattle drum and bugle corps drill team, and again Saturday at the Masonic Temple, convention headquarters. (The) only theory advanced for the trouble was possible resentment over the delegates’ dates with local girls.”
• An “unfinished house” on a paved corner lot at the intersection of Oak and Pear streets by Centralia College was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $2,500. A pair of “deer rifles,” one chambered in .30-30 Winchester and the other in .38-55 Winchester, were listed for sale for $50 each.
Wednesday, Sept. 5, 1956
• Centralia resident H.C. Hansen finally launched his new boat, which he had constructed entirely by hand in his own back yard over five years, The Chronicle reported. “Certainly qualifying as one of Centralia's No. 1 Do-It-Yourself enthusiasts, H.C. Hansen, has, in the past five years of spare time labor, built a luxurious 33-foot cabin cruiser in his own backyard at 1323 Harrison Ave. Hansen, co-owner of a Centralia automotive firm, saw the perfection of many thousands of hours of labor come to life last Thursday noon when his white and bronze-hulled craft was lowered gently by a crane into the waters of Puget Sound at Olympia. The new yacht, named ‘Hiya,’ sleeps four. Its full length is 33 feet, 10 inches, with a beam of 11 feet, 3 inches. The craft is powered by a 200 horsepower automobile engine which Hansen converted to marine use. Hansen said the boat is expected to cruise at a speed of 15 knots with a top speed of 22 knots. The mahogany-planked hull of the sleek nautical beauty was designed by Edwin Monk of Seattle, a naval architect, and the superstructure designed by Hansen. Mrs. Hansen did a great deal of the varnish work on the hull. The Centralian doesn’t count the hours of labor that went into the building of the cruiser, because that’s his hobby and very much of a pleasure. Value of the material and equipment in the craft, he estimates, is $7,500. Experts in the marine field have placed the value of the new craft between $20,000 and $25,000.”
• A “good family” four-bedroom home at 1304 Delaware Ave. in Centralia was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $3,500 cash, or $3,800 with terms. A furnished three-room apartment with utilities was listed for rent for $37.50 a month.
Saturday, Sept. 3, 1966
• Norman Steele, 13 at the time, was described as a “lucky little boy” after he survived a 50-foot fall into an abandoned Crego Hill well according to Lewis County Sheriff Orville Amondson, The Chronicle reported. “The boy, his parents, Mr. (Chester) and Mrs. (Ruth) Steele, and three other children were picking cones in the Adna area Saturday morning when the mishap occurred. Norman and a smaller sister were away from the family when, as the girl told her parents later, Norman ‘disappeared.’ She found he had fallen into the deep, dry shaft of an uncovered well. The girl and her family went to the home of Clifford Peterson for help. Peterson and two Omak men, Charles Beharant and Floyd Covey, took ropes and hooks to the well. The boy secured himself and was hauled up. He suffered facial cuts and a possible back injury and was to be treated Saturday afternoon. Admondson said his department was shown six other open wells in the Adna area. ‘We’d like to warn people in the woods around these old homesteads that wells may be open or the boards on them may be rotted,’ the sheriff said. According to law, ‘wells must either be filled in, fenced and posted or covered,’ he added.”
• “Four private owned homes” in Centralia were listed for sale, including a pair of three-bedroom homes, at 812 J St. for $9,800 and at 809 S. Gold St. for $6,500, and a pair of two bedroom homes, at 925 E St. and 3708 Karla Court, $7,500 each. A small “wired” house in Bucoda was listed for rent for $30 a month.
Saturday, Sept. 4, 1976
• Lewis County’s wild horses were featured in a Daily Chronicle Weekender feature about Adna residents Wesley and Jackie Strasburger’s wild horse ranch, The Chronicle reported. “Stampeding herds of wild horses are a part of every Western movie. The horses, Spanish Barb, Barb (Mustang) and Indian Cayuse, can still be found in many parts of the country — even in Lewis County … On the Strasburger Spanish Barb Ranch, 1804 Bunker Creek Road, stands what is thought to be the largest herd of Mustangs and Spanish Barb horses in the United States. The ranch, operated by Wesley and Jackie Strasburger, is a 152-acre spread dedicated to preserving ‘the big little horse that conquered a nation,’ for posterity. The horses may not remain there long, however. This week the Strasburgers were informed that they are being evicted as the result of a landlord-tenant dispute. They are now looking for a new location which has enough space to accommodate the herd … A hobby of Mrs. Strasburger for more than 40 years, she started her horse collection in Nebraska, before she and her husband moved west. She now raises the horses in association with The Wild Horse Research Farm, Porterville, California. ‘At first it was my hobby, but now my husband is as interested in preserving the horses as I am,’ Mrs. Strasburger said. ‘Just look across the prairie. See the groups of horses? They are families, a stallion with three or four mares and their foals, living the way they did in the wild,’ she said. Each family also has its own territory and the other families do not encroach on it. The territory is marked off by the stallion. He does this, she explained, by placing neat little pyramids of manure around what he considers his territory. ‘No other stallion will cross that line,’ Mrs. Strasburger said.”
• A two-bedroom home with a basement and three-car garage and a half-mile of Olequa Creek access on 13 acres of land near Winlock was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $39,800. A “mostly furnished” one-bedroom home in Centralia’s Logan District was listed for rent for $135 a month with a $35 deposit.
Thursday, Sept. 5, 1986
• A manhunt for a suspect wanted in the rape and slaying of a 14-year-old Tenino girl was still on the run, then-Chronicle reporter Julie McDonald wrote. “Thurston County Sheriff Dan Montgomery said the suspect, whose last known address was Centralia, most likely is traveling farther south than the Twin Cities. ‘We believe now that he slipped through the line sometime during the night, and headed south.’ Montgomery said. ‘We think we know where he may be headed.’ Sheriff’s deputies are looking for Monty A. Richardson, 29, also known as Charles Nash, in connection with the bludgeoning death of the young girl. The victim, Toni Antonelli, was found shortly after 10:30 p.m. Wednesday by a group of young people driving near a water tower west of Tenino. She was rushed by helicopter to St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, where she died about 4:30 a.m. Thurston County Coroner Tag Frazier said he hoped the autopsy on the girl would be completed later today … The sheriff said speculation that Antonelli’s murder could be connected to the slaying of Roberta D. Strasbaugh, whose body was discovered in mid-October 1985 about 12 miles west of Centralia, is unfounded at this time … A Tenino police officer first responded to the report by the young people who said they discovered a pair of pants and some blood near the water tower. The officer telephoned the sheriff’s office, and a deputy with a canine responded to the call, Montgomery said. The deputy used the dog to track down the partially clothed victim, who was discovered ‘a couple hundred yards away’ from the blood and clothing. The people who initially reported the incident told officers they had noticed a suspicious maroon station wagon in the area. After spotting the car in Tenino at approximately 11:30 p.m., a deputy chased the suspect up MacDuff Road toward 143rd Avenue, Montgomery said. Richardson apparently made a quick turn, momentarily losing the deputy, the sheriff said. Turning back, the deputy found that the suspect had abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot. Two canine units were called to the scene in an effort to track the suspect. Montgomery said between 10 and 12 deputies circled a couple of square miles near where the suspect had fled. They tracked the suspect for a while, before losing his trail, the sheriff noted.” Richardson remained on the run for over a month, but was finally caught in Boise, Idaho on Oct. 6, 1986, and extradited back to Thurston County to face charges, along with another man also arrested named Terrance Ray Moore. Richardson would ultimately plead guilty, as McDonald, still a freelance columnist for The Chronicle today, explained in an April 2023 commentary.
