Look Out for Falling Squirrels – October 1938

Recently, while working with longtime contributor and researcher Dennis Thompson trying to crack the Penny Morgan/Maxine Barbour case (which I wrote about back here, among other posts), I ran across an interesting news item from the Chronicle-Telegram of October 20, 1938.

The article concerns the acrobatic talents of one of Elyria’s Ely Park squirrels. It’s a story that could have ended tragically, but has a happy ending.

Read all about it in the article below which appeared on the front page of the C-T that day. It was relegated to the bottom of the page, because most of the front page was tied up with a little matter of the Lorain County Sheriff being being placed under arrest that day.

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Squirrel Falls 40 
Feet From Tree
In Ely Park

The playful antics of Ely Park’s squirrels, which have entertained many Elyrians, had an unexpected and nearly tragic result yesterday when one of the squirrels fell 40 feet from a tree while playing.

Stunned by the fall, the squirrel lay on the ground for three or four minutes before moving. Then it quickly revived and scampered off while onlookers gave sighs of relief. The squirrel apparently suffered no injury, it was reported.

The accident occurred while this squirrel and a few others were playing in the upper branches of a tree in the park.

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Thankfully, the article didn’t say, “Then it quickly revived and scampered off into traffic, where it was run over by a streetcar to the horror of onlookers."

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Speaking of squirrels, while doing some other online research, I found this full page advertisement for a store in Quebec, Canada called JB Laliberté. It ran in the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph – advertised as "North America’s Oldest Newspaper • Since 1764" – on October 14, 1953.

The ad features some great squirrel artwork, which I guess is appropriate since JB Laliberté specialized in furs. The store is still around, by the way.

Anyway, the ad – with its scampering squirrels and rough wooden sign boards – reminded me of one for Lorain’s Oakwood Shopping Center, which opened in November 1958. (I’ll probably do a post next month on it.) Here’s part of the ad promoting the Grand Opening; you can see the squirrelly similarities to the other ad.