A front-page article in the May 2, 1934, Daily News reported that a motorist appearing in city police court on a charge of parking too close to a fireplug told the judge that he didn’t know what a fireplug was.

The judge dismissed the case, and after the motorist asked to be shown a fireplug so he wouldn’t repeat his mistake, he looked at one located nearby on the City Hall corner. “I don’t see how you can get water out of that thing,” the man said as he walked away, according to the article.

– “Way Back When in Warren County” is compiled by researchers at the Warren County Public Library and appears twice weekly in the Bowling Green Daily News. For more information about the library, visit warrenpl.org.