Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay torchbearer Mary McConnell smiles while holding the torch. It wound through Hancock County on Oct. 14, 2016.
Oct. 11
In 1936, three members of the “Brady Gang” escaped from Hancock County Jail, beating Sheriff Clarence Watson with an iron bar and stealing the car of Edgar Ridlen, a local barber who saw the scuffle and stopped to help the sheriff. One year and one day later, two of them — Al Brady and Clarence Lee Shaffer Jr. — were gunned down during a holdup attempt in Maine. The third escapee, James Dalhover, was wounded.
Oct. 12
In 1948, President Harry Truman passed through Greenfield on a train. During his stop, local resident H.D. Paynter was invited onto the train to speak with Truman; he had known the president years before when both lived in St. Louis and Truman was a frequent visitor to the bank where Paynter worked.
In 1973, Greenfield-Central golfer Susan Kirby received the first Girls Mental Attitude Award from the Indiana High School Athletic Association. Kirby was part of a Cougars team that won a sectional championship.
Oct. 13
In 1997, Martin Thomas was sentenced in Hancock Superior Court 1 to 50 years in prison. The 42-year-old Ohio man had been convicted of shooting another Ohio man along CR 375E in 1996 and setting the body on fire.
Oct. 14
In 1962, Greenfield Friends Church dedicated a new building at 323 W. Park Ave. The church, which organized in 1889 and had gathered at other sites previously, continues to worship at the Park Avenue site today.
In 2016, the Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay route wound through Hancock County.
In 1927, sixteen died when a Union Traction car struck a truck carrying merrymakers to a barn dance at Fort Benjamin Harrison. Five had local connections. Von W. Glascock and Charles Virgil Wheeler grew up in Greenfield. Former Greenfield resident Charles E. Pauley lost a daughter and two sons-in-law. Wheeler’s wife and two more of Pauley’s daughters were among the 19 people injured in the crash at the Emerson Avenue traction line crossing.
Oct. 15
In 1982, A Dayton, Ohio, trucker suffered second- and third-degree burns over 20 percent of his body when the semi he was driving swerved to avoid a car, instead striking the median on Interstate 70 near the Mt. Comfort Road exit. His cab and trailer burst into flames on impact.
Oct. 16
In 1881, an explosion blew up the New Palestine saloon.
In 1975, Greenfield-Central became the first school district in Hancock County to adopt a non-discrimination policy on the basis of sex, as mandated by the federal government for all school districts receiving federal funds.
Oct. 17
In 1967, the City of Greenfield won the first round of a legal battle over who would provide electricity to the new Green Meadows Shopping Plaza at 1500 N. State St. Circuit Judge George B. Davis denied a temporary injunction sought by Hancock County Rural Membership Electric Corp. (REMC) after the city ran lines to the center.
In 1999, Greenfield native and Indy Racing League driver Mark Dismore won the Mall.com 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
