March 19

100 Years ago – 1925

A Fiddlers Convention was planned for April 9 at Hamilton Theatre. Fiddle- and banjo-players wishing to register were to send their names to Circle Number Two, First Baptist Church, Martinsville, Va.

75 years ago – 1950

Bondurant Furniture Corp. advertised 5-piece dinette suits, a table and four chairs with chromium trim. The table tops came in plastic or porcelain, in a variety of styles, and chairs were upholstered in Duran. Buyers would get a free 32-piece dishes set as a bonus. Prices started at $53.50. The store was on the corner of Main and Clay streets [either where Larry & Alley is now, or S&K Office Supply].

The Board of Control of Virginia State Exchange Clubs met in Martinsville over the weekend, attended by 12 of the 22 Exchange clubs in the commonwealth. Functions included a luncheon at Club Martinique and a gathering at Henry Hotel.

50 years ago – 1975

The preliminary hearing for Eddie Lee “Shanghai” Thomas was held. He was charged with five counts of murder and one count of rape, of the wife and four children of his neighbor, James Vernon Aliff of Spencer. Aliff, 34, described to the court the tragic scene in and around his home when he returned from work the day after Christmas. “There was a stillness in the house I can’t explain and a smell I can’t describe,” he said. Willa Dean Moore, 27, Thomas’s girlfriend, also testified. She said that on that afternoon he “just sat around the house with his eyes closed.”

25 years ago - 2000

The Virginia Home at 986 Field Ave. was named to Virginia’s Landmark Register. It originally was a boarding home for Fieldcrest Mills workers and in 2000 was owned by Eastern Shepherd Drug Rehabilitation Center Inc. and was rented to a family. The group wanted to use the house as a drug rehabilitation center, but the request was not approved by zoning.