10 years ago

From the Journal Tribune: “An air of despair is sometimes associated with animal shelters, and it is a misconception that the Animal Welfare Society, based in West Kennebunk, with the help of Ocean Nation Bank, is seeking to shed. Through the portraits of Robert Akers, a local photographer, they have teamed up to show a different side of the shelter, one filled with happy pets simply awaiting a good home.”

50 years ago

From the Biddeford-Saco Journal: “Charges that he failed to cooperate with the board of selectmen and town managers were leveled against Elmer C. Hutchins, former Wells Chief of Police, during a special meeting of the board last night at the town hall, here. The board failed to re-apply Hutchins to the chief ’s job and demoted him to the rank of patrolman at its organization meeting Monday following Saturday’s annual town meeting.”

100 years ago

From the Biddeford Daily Journal: “Plunging through the dense smoke coming from a fire in the home of Eben Day in Cornish late Friday, A.L Small rescued Mr. Day’s four-year-old son and was nearly suffocated and would undoubtedly have perished had he been left in the house a few minutes longer. The fire, which broke out at about 4:30, did considerable damage to the building before it was extinguished. The father of the little boy was away at work and his two elder children were at the village school, the boy and his young sister being left at home. When the little girl found that the house was on fire she rushed to the home of Mr. Small, a quarter of a mile away, Mr. Smith snatched a water bucket and started on the run for the Day house and his wife telephoned to other people in the vicinity in order that a bucket brigade might be formed.”

— Krysteana Scribner

Today in History

Today is Friday, March 18, the 78th day of 2016. There are 288 days left in the year.

On this date: In 1837, the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, Grover Cleveland, was born in Caldwell, New Jersey. In 1910, the first filmed adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein,” a silent short produced by Thomas Edison’s New York movie studio, was released. In 1925, the Tri-State Tornado struck southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois and southwestern Indiana, resulting in some 700 deaths. In 1937, some 300 people, mostly children, were killed in a gas explosion at a school in New London, Texas. In 1940, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass, where the Italian dictator agreed to join Germany’s war against France and Britain.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On March 18, 1766, Britain repealed the Stamp Act of 1765.

Ten years ago Thousands of anti-war protesters took to the streets around the world, marking the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Students and activists clashed with police in Paris as demonstrations against a government plan to loosen job protections spread across France. Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was laid to rest in his hometown of Pozarevac in Serbia- Montenegro.

Five years ago President Barack Obama demanded that Moammar Gadhafi halt all military attacks on civilians and said that if the Libyan leader did not stand down, the United States would join other nations in launching military action against him. Former Secretary of State Warren M. Christopher died in Los Angeles at 85. Princess Antoinette of Monaco, the late Prince Rainier III’s oldest sister and a prominent advocate for animal rights, died at 90.

One year ago Militants opened fire at a museum in Tunisia’s capital, killing 22 people, most of them foreign tourists. Serbia arrested eight men accused of taking part in the massacre of some 1,300 people at a warehouse on the outskirts of Srebrenica in 1995. — By The Associated Press