August 28, 1958

Residents and visitors swarmed through the streets of this Village Wednesday, termed “Merchant’s Day” by the Centennial Committee to seek bargains the stores were offering. The event was called “very successful” by Chairman Ora Pettit.

Two incidents failed to mar the Merchant’s Day activity. One store owner, Gordon McPherson, owner of McPherson’s Pharmacy, offered a free pint of ice cream to anyone in his store when the alarm sounded on a clock he had concealed. In the afternoon the clock rang and Jack Perry, chairman of the Brothers of the Brush, was in the store and quickly demanded his ice cream.

Mr. McPherson (note the Scottish name!) became suspicious and discovered another alarm clock in Mr. Perry’s pocket. The “culprit” and his cronies, Howard Caufield and Lou Schrader, were quickly ejected, without the ice cream!

Later in the afternoon, a crown of several hundred watched as Mayor Robert Horton, Joseph Rice, Norbert Sherrie and Melvin Schrader were arrested by sheriff’s deputies after causing a disturbance in the middle of the intersection of Main and Lake Streets.

The men were taken away for corrective measures and the evidence, cards and chips, was confiscated. Kenneth Welker, one of the group, escaped and eluded a village dragnet. Residents later discovered that the mock arrest had been staged!

-Many thanks to Ella Mae Peters for providing this news clipping from the Village of Wilson Bi-Centennial in 1958!