200 Plus
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•February 24, 2021
Barnegat’s Medal of Honor Hero
On a website naming Medal of Honor winners there is a listing for surgeon Henry R. Tilton, Barnegat, New Jersey, for gallantry under fire at the battle of Bear Paw 1877. This prompted a search on the…
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•February 17, 2021
From Ice Age to Global Warming
During the early 1970s the public read many articles about the world’s changing climate. Most started like the one published on May 2, 1975 by the Associated Press.
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•February 10, 2021
Can Mankind Be Saved From Itself?
There is an old editors saying about selling newspapers: “Dog bites man” goes on page 20, but “Man bites dog” should have been the headline on page one. This might explain why for most of the…
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•February 3, 2021
More Scientists Chime In
There had been articles in the press since the early 20th century that Earth was cooling and a new ice age was a possibility. In March 1970 as a nation prepared for the first Earth Day, evidence was…
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•January 27, 2021
Ice Age Predicted by 2020
During the first half of the 20th century, scientists began to take notice that Earth’s climate was cooling. They made predictions that an ice age would approach in the distant future and that it was…
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•January 20, 2021
Ice Age or Global Warming?
Predicting the weather has never been easy and has become the foundation for countless jokes. But over the years as the science of meteorology has improved, so has our dependency on the accuracy of…
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•January 13, 2021
How Well Did You Do?
Your time is up! This year you had only one week to find the answers to the annual 200 Plus history test … so if your score is not as high as in past years, you have an excuse.
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•January 6, 2021
How Good Is Your Memory?
Most people would just like to forget the year 2020, but for The Sandpaper’s history column, there is one tradition that must carry on undeterred by world events.
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•December 16, 2020
Would Earth Survive Halley’s Comet?
In 1910, Halley’s Comet was scheduled to return on its 76-year flight through the heavens. As the world prepared to watch the once-in-a-lifetime event, modern science announced it would be even more…
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•December 9, 2020
Comet’s Coming Causes Panic
Halley’s Comet was predicted to be visible during the spring of 1910. The comet’s course brings it close to Earth once every 76 years, and throughout history it had been considered a bad omen. In the…
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•December 2, 2020
DDT Works – But at What Cost?
With the coming of October 1959, it appeared the Jersey Shore’s battle with sleeping sickness was about over. The Associated Press reported from Trenton on the first, saying, “No new suspected cases…
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•November 25, 2020
Encephalitis Epidemic Spreads
With September 1959 coming to a close, politicians and health officials scrambled to deal with the deadly outbreak along the Jersey Shore of encephalitis, commonly known as “sleeping sickness.” On…
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•November 18, 2020
Fighting Back Too Little, Too Late?
In September 1959, the Jersey Shore came under attack from a mysterious disease. From Toms River south to Atlantic City, victims were struck down, falling into a coma followed quickly by death.
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•November 11, 2020
‘Pesky Mosquitoes’ Bring Death to NJ
In September 1959, the Jersey Shore would go to war – not with Russia or U-boats, but against mosquitoes. During that summer, newspapers had reported cases in Korea of an insect-borne disease called…
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•November 4, 2020
Sleeping Sickness Hits the Shore
As Labor Day 1959 marked the unofficial end to the summer season at the Jersey Shore, nobody suspected that within a few days Southern Ocean County would be featured in headlines around the world…
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•October 28, 2020
Tragic Accident Hits Jail
For years there had been discussions about how to deal with the overcrowded conditions at the Ocean County Jail in Toms River, N.J. Then, on Aug. 23, 1959, the worst possible scenario played out. A…
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•October 21, 2020
Caught in a Death Trap
It is said by some that any publicity is good publicity, but in August and September 1959, Ocean County was hit with two tragedies that would not help bring the masses of tourists needed to support…
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•October 14, 2020
Women Head to Polls to Vote
Coming up on the election of 1920, Republican Warren G. Harding was opposing Democrat James Cox for the office of president, with the two major issues being prohibition of alcohol and whether the…
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•October 7, 2020
19th Amendment Goes Into Effect
One hundred years ago, the United States prepared for what many call the first modern election. The 19th Amendment had been ratified in August, allowing all American women for the first time the…
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•September 30, 2020
Election Year 1920 – Sound Familiar?
Recently while surfing the internet, I found an interesting article by Christopher Klein with a thought-provoking opening: “Lashed by a squall of historical events over four harrowing years…
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•September 23, 2020
Trying to Salvage the S-5
In September 1920, the entire crew of the submarine S-5 was rescued from their submerged coffin off the coast of New Jersey with her commander, Charles M. Cook, being the last man to crawl through…
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•September 16, 2020
Superhuman Effort Saves S-5 Crew
The submarine S-5 had sunk off the Jersey coast on September 1, 1920. Her captain, Charles M. Cooke, had been able to raise the stern so that it was above the water’s surface.
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•September 9, 2020
Superhuman Effort Saves the Sub
In early September 1920, a life and death race against time was taking place in the Atlantic, about 50 miles southeast of Barnegat Light.
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•September 2, 2020
Will Help Be in Time?
In early September 1920, one of the great stories of the submarine service was playing out southeast of Barnegat Light.
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•August 26, 2020
Desperate Measures to Survive
On Sept. 1, 1920, during a practice crash dive about 50 miles southeast of Barnegat Light, the submarine S-5 had flooded and plunged bow first to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The commander of…
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•August 19, 2020
Crash Dive Goes Terribly Wrong
The submarine S-5 had left Boston on its maiden voyage on Aug. 30, 1920, under the command of Lt. Cmdr. Charles M. Cooke, who later told the Philadelphia Ledger, “We left Boston last Monday on what…
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•August 12, 2020
S-5 Submarine Takes Shape
The summer of 1920 focused national attention on the Jersey Shore – first for the construction of the huge hangar at Lakehurst, and then for a daring rescue of the crew of the submarine S- 5. The…
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•August 5, 2020
Lakehurst Prepares for Airships
In 1920, as people on Long Beach Island and beyond were trying to save historic Barnegat Lighthouse, another iconic symbol of Ocean County was rising in the pinelands of Lakehurst.
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•July 29, 2020
Lighthouse Bureau Finally Gives In – Sort Of
During the first half of 1920, a battle had raged between the U.S. Lighthouse Bureau and citizens who wanted to prevent Barnegat Lighthouse from falling into the sea. Led by the tiny village of…
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•July 22, 2020
A Win in Lighthouse Battle
As July 1920 ended, those interested in preventing the Barnegat Lighthouse from being allowed to fall into the sea had, with the help of U.S. Sen. Joseph Frelinghuysen, organized a meeting with the…
