Compiled by Don Hoiness from archived copies of The Bulletin at Deschutes County Historical Society.

100 years ago

For the week ending

Jan. 27, 1918

All Germans must register

“By proclamation of the President of the United States, all German aliens are hereby notified that all natives, citizens, denizens or subjects of the German Empire or Imperial German government, being males of the age of 14 years and upwards on registration day, who are within the United States and not actually naturalized as American citizens, are required to register as alien enemies.

“All German aliens residing or being within the city of Bend or vicinity are hereby required to present themselves for registration at the post office in said city to the postmaster, who has been designated by the attorney general as assistant registrar of said city, and to complete their registration on or before the 9th day or February, 1918, at 8 p.m.”

Civil war veteran passes through city

Veteran of the first battle of Bull Run and an acquaintance of President Lincoln, is James W. Woods, of Cline Falls, who passed through Bend Saturday on his way to Portland. Mr. Woods is now 71 years of age.

The elderly man was a member of the Fourth Wisconsin regiment in 1861. With his school teacher and 15 other boys he enlisted in the same company. All were together at Bull Run but only three survived, the teacher and two boys. Mr. Woods was 15 years old at this time. He secured a pass to Washington, eight miles distant, and in that city attempted to get a furlough home but failed to impress the officers.

On the street he met President Lincoln and stated his case. The President then saw to it that the lad received a furlough and a pass on the train. Mr. Woods still has this pass in his possession.

During the Spanish-American war the veteran offered his services to the governor of Minnesota.

Desire world proletariat

Petrograd — New Russia wants recognition from the different peoples of the world more than from their governments. The country looks forward hopefully to a world proletariat which will combine to stop the war’s slaughter and eradicate causes for future wars.

The Bolshevik ministry of foreign affairs has thus outlined the Russian viewpoint in a special statement for the United Press: “We can hope to succeed not in the proportion as we are recognized by the foreign offices of other countries but in support from the proletariat democracies of the world.

75 Years ago

For the week ending

Jan. 27, 1943

Dimaggio quits baseball for duration, seeks war duties

Joe DiMaggio and his wife, their domestic differences reconciled, return today to San Francisco, where DiMaggio will apply for induction into one of the armed services.

DiMaggio who went from baseball’s bargain basement to its highest paid playing job in 1942, announced his retirement “for the duration.” At the same time he announced his reconciliation.

His wife, the former Dorothy Arnold and former screen starlet, had been in Reno six weeks.

She would be eligible today to file suit for divorce. DiMaggio, who has made frequent trips to Reno, apparently effected the reconciliation yesterday.

Yesterday he announced that as soon as he completed some personal business he would seek enlistment. Asked if his contemplated action meant his retirement from baseball, he replied: “Yes — for the duration. But that doesn’t mean I intend to quit the Yankees cold.”

The Yankee “Clipper” did not elaborate on the latter part of his statement, leaving unanswered the question of whether he will report at all to the New York Yankee training camp this spring.

If DiMaggio enters a branch of the armed forces, he will be the best known sports figure to don a uniform since World Heavyweight Champion Joe Lewis retired from the ring to become a private in the army.

Detailed story of Casablanca conference believed not told

Rapidly developing evidence that the full story of the Casablanca conference is far from completely told is catching the sensitive interest of this wartime capitol today.

There was quick enthusiasm here for the fact that President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill had met in North Africa. There was more than a touch of disappointment that Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek and Premier Josef Stalin had not been there, too.

There is speculation how they may be more closely associated with the Casablanca announcement.

Washington’s judgment coincided with London’s that the president and prime minister had agreed on an early invasion of Europe where British and American troops will slug it out with Germany on the ground. There is growing confidence that the invasion timetable has been fixed.

50 Years ago

For the week ending

Jan. 27, 1968

Ford’s theater in Washington reopened as national shrine

Ford’s theater once again lives in the elegance it had on that night 103 years ago when President Lincoln was assassinated.

Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey led about 500 invited guests Sunday in dedicating the restored theater to the arts and to the nation as a shrine to Lincoln’s memory.

The restoration took three years and nearly $3 million.

The footlights dimmed for more than a century when John Wilkes Booth mortally wounded Lincoln while he was watching performance of “Our American Cousin” April 14, 1865.

John Ford tried to reopen the theater after the assassination but abandoned his plans because of public indignation. It since had been a government office building, warehouse and museum. Now the interior gleams in the plush red, white and gold decor which Lincoln saw on his eight visits to the theater.

The presidential box overlooking the stage is festooned with a cluster of flags, draperies and lace curtains.

But it, unlike the rest of the theater, will never be used again. It will remain as it was the night Lincoln was shot. The walnut rocker in which Lincoln sat has been reproduced and the original crimson sofa has been installed next to it.

One difference is that the theater now will be limited to only abut 600, where it formerly sat 1,700.

Sen. Charles H. Percy, R-Ill, read a series of excerpts from the Civil War president’s most eloquent speeches.

Actress Helen Hayes will be the first performer on the Ford’s theater stage since the assassination when she leads off an all-star cast before an invitation only audience Jan. 31.

The cast includes Henry Fonda, Frederic March, Robert Ryan, Julie Harris, Andy Williams, folk singer Odetta, dancer Carmen de Lavallade and Herb Shriner.

Cutter girl named to Olympic team

Kiki Cutter, 18, Bend, was named today to the 1968 Winter Olympic team. Competition starts Feb. 6 at Grenoble, France.

U.S. Olympic coach Bob Beattie said, “The 1968 Olympic team was particularly hard to select in the women’s division because of the injuries to many of our girls last winter and in the 1967 fall season.

He said that the injuries kept some of the girls from gaining the form they had when they made the team.

Besides Miss Cutter, the team includes: Judy Nagel of Enumclaw, Wash.; Wendy Allen of San Pedro, Calif.; Rosie Fortna of Warren, Vt.; Suzie Chafee of Rutland, Vt.; Karen Budge, Jackson Wyo. and Robin Morning of Santa Monica, Calif.

25 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Jan. 27, 1993

Barber loses history battle

Terrebonne farmer and World War II fighter pilot Rex Barber has failed again — perhaps for the last time — to convince U.S. Air Force historians to change the official account of the most famous fighter plane mission of the war.

A five-member panel formed by the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records announced last week it won’t change its finding that Barber must share credit with a fellow pilot, the late Thomas Lanphier, for shooting down Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.

Yamamoto was commander-in-chief of Japan’s naval forces and architect of the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. He was killed on April 18, 1943, when Barber and 15 other pilots from the 339th Fighter Squadron intercepted a group of Japanese planes and shot two of them down.

Debate over which of the pilots — Barber or Lanphier — should receive credit for downing Yamamoto’s plane has simmered for the nearly 50 years since.

Barbers supporters — including some 3,000 former World War II fighter pilots who formed a group known as the Second Yamamoto Mission Association — introduced to the Air Force panel in 1991 new evidence that they claimed Barber deserves sole credit for the shoot down.

The evidence included testimony about the wreckage of Yamamoto’s plane, which still lies in the jungle of Bougainville Island.

However, the Air Force panel split 2-2, with a fifth member abstaining, over the question of whether to change the official findings about the attack.

George Chandler, a Kansas banker and leader of the group of Barber supporters, said he and others may challenge that decision in federal appeals court.

In an interview this week, Barber, 75, said he would no longer seek to convince the military of his version of the events. “I’m not going to press it any more,” he said.

Barber said he is satisfied with his own memories of the attack, and can live without the official agreement of the Air Force.

“The important thing is that I don’t have any questions about it,” he said. “It’s not going to eat at me. I was in the plane and I was doing the shooting. I know I shot him down.”

Note to readers: The Arch Bridge in Jefferson County is now known as the Rex T. Barber Veterans Memorial Bridge.