People often say life was simpler 100 years ago, and in some ways that's true. Folks certainly didn't have the choices that face us today. Take occupations. The vast majority of women knew they'd be housewives and mothers. Men in several parts of the country were destined to be miners; others farmers, while people in urban areas probably would work in factories that were popping up all over.
However, besides low pay and long hours, conditions at many factories were unsafe, a situation made worse by an ill-prepared labor force, many of whom couldn't speak English and thus had difficulty understanding instructions and orders given by foremen.
So the early 1900s was a dangerous time, and the reasons were apparent in Solvay, home to Central New York's biggest factory and largest employer, the Solvay Process Company, a chemical plant that provided jobs for many immigrants.
For the most part, these newcomers to the United States settled in the village and the adjacent West Side of Syracuse. There were language barriers; culture clashes were inevitable.
It was a sign of the times that recent immigrants were identified by their nationality. Italians were favorite targets of the press. Overall, other nationalities fared better, though occasionally an immigrant from Poland would be described as a Polock. But it didn't matter where you were born; when you were at work, it wasn't unusual to witness or be involved in an accident.
Adding to the unsafe chemical environment at the Solvay Process, was the company's elaborate railroad system. Solvay Process owned at least four locomotives, and there was a steady flow of rail traffic along the tracks that had been laid along both the northern and southern edges of the factory complex. Sharing these tracks were at least two railroad companies, the New York Central and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western. Freight traffic was particularly heavy, and much of the shifting of freight cars was done in the Solvay Process rail yards.
Not a week passed in 1907 that there wasn't a fatal or life-threatening incident resulting from a chemical leak or explosion at the plant, or an accident involving the trains, or workers injured when they were hit by large chunks of limestone, either at the Solvay Process quarries in Split Rock or at the factory where these rocks were delivered via an aerial tramway.
Year in review
The first Solvay story of the year — reported by the Syracuse Journal — was, unfortunately, all too familiar. |
Syracuse Journal, January 4, 1907
Antonio Amento, an Italian employed at the Solvay Process Company, is at the Hospital of the Good Shepherd, suffering from severe burns about the legs and body, sustained yesterday afternoon when he fell into a vat of lime water at the Solvay works. His condition is serious. |
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He wasn't expected to survive, and probably didn't, because there was no follow-up story. Amento, an Italian immigrant, likely had no relatives in the area; if he had, there probably would have been a lawsuit filed on his behalf. That was the usual pattern with accidents that occurred at the Solvay Process Company facilities.
Sometimes these accidents did not result in injuries. On March 11, an electric generator at the company's power house exploded, destroying a wall of a building that was 200 feet long, 40 feet wide. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
However, eight days later, Dean R. Ward, brakeman employed by the Solvay Process Company, died as a result of injuries sustained when he was caught between the bumpers of two freight cars he was attempting to couple. Ward was 18 years old.
On March 28, Charles F. Kinsella was awarded $10,000 damages in his suit against the Solvay Process Company. At the time, this was considered a large settlement, and it took Kinsella more than four years to win his case. He'd been injured on Christmas Day, 1902, when a sulphuric acid tank exploded. Kinsella was standing on the lid of the tank at the time.
A few days earlier, Nicholas Cerio of 110 Danforth Street, had a foot crushed at the Halcomb Steel plant located in the no-man's area of Geddes, just outside the Solvay village limit, across the street from the State Fair Grounds. He was taken to the Hospital of the Good Shepherd where another Nicholas Cerio, of 914 Milton Avenue, already was a patient, having been injured in December at the Solvay Process Company, where he'd been caught in a conveyor, losing his left ear in the process.
On June 21, the Syracuse Journal reported that Giovanni Parolli — most likely a typographical error; his name was probably Tarolli — was at the Hospital of the Good Shepherd, dying as the result of an accident at the Solvay Process Company.
Four days later, a jury heard the suit of James Paul of 609 Marcellus Street, Syracuse, who asked for $1,000 from the Solvay Process Company for damages from what happened to him when a caustic furnace exploded. Fire, tar and ashes hit Paul in the face, head, ears and eyes. It took awhile — the company appealed the first judgment of $457 to Paul — but a year later the man prevailed.
In August, lawyers served notice of claim upon the Solvay Process Company and followed it with a suit for $20,000 by Guiseppi Prolo, who, it was said, was sitting upon a bench, waiting for work, when a tackle from the cable that carries the waste fell upon him. Prolo was struck upon the right side of his head, and the result was paralysis of the left side. The tackle weighed close upon 200 pounds, and the skull was fractured by the blow.
On October 29, George Tyrrell of 104 Lamont Avenue, Solvay, a brakeman employed the the Solvay Process rail yards, died two hours after he was struck by one of the company's engines while he was throwing a switch.
Three weeks later, Adam Dudzec who lived on Avery Avenue, had his head crushed between two small cars that carried limestone from the Split Rock bucket line into the factory. These cars were pushed by hand. Dudzec was pushing one car when he was struck by a car coming behind him. Dudzec was from Poland and had planned to spend Christmas there, then bring his wife and children to Solvay after the holiday.
On December 26, Giovanni Gabrielle, 41, employed at the Split Rock quarries, was killed when a large piece of limestone fell on him. Like Dudzec, Gabrielle was an immigrant — but from Italy — and he'd hoped to bring his wife and children to America some day.
Earlier in the year, Solvay residents had another pressing concern:
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Syracuse Journal, Wednesday, February 20, 1907
Solvay's Problem: Village Water
The problem of supplying the village of Solvay with water is now considered serious.
The pumps at the Darrow springs, where the present supply is secured, have taxed the capacity of the springs.
During the last State Fair there was a brief water famine at the fairgrounds owing to the inability of Solvay to furnish an adequate supply.
While the water of the springs has been declared chemically pure, it is unsatisfactory to most people, owing to the fact the water is so “hard” that it cannot be used for bathing or laundry purposes.
Efforts are being made to secure a water supply which can be used for all purposes. Tests have been made at a lake near Phoenix, but it is likely that a pipe line will be run to Otisco Lake.
The Solvay Process Company is back of the attempt to secure a better water supply. Hard water wears out boilers, while soft water does not.
The village board of trustees met last evening at the Town Hall, but owing to the absence of the president F. R. Hazard, the principal business was deferred. A special meeting will be held the latter part of this week. |
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The article was outdated by the time people read it. The Journal apparently was unaware a solution had already been negotiated. Solvay would soon receive its water from Otisco Lake.
As for the Solvay Process, the article did not make it clear the company was interested in Otisco water only for industrial purposes, such as cooling and cleaning its equipment. Solvay Process already got its drinking water from Skaneateles Lake, through a special deal with the city of Syracuse. (The company also used water from Onondaga Lake for industrial purposes. This water was circulated and returned to the lake, one source of the pollution that would soon destroy Onondaga Lake, and put its lakeside resorts out of business.)
Construction soon began on a pipe line that would deliver water from Otisco Lake to the village. The village of Camillus and Marcellus also would begin receiving Otisco Lake water.
(Many years later, while my father, Stanley "Buster" Major, was mayor, Darrow Springs was re-discovered by Everett Lutzy, head of the village water and light department. The village tapped into the springs as a way of offsetting an increase in the cost of the Otisco Lake water. Lutzy came up with a plan to treat the water and mix it with Otisco Lake water, but residents didn't like the new brew, and water became a hot political issue in the late 1950s, contributing to my father's defeat in the election of 1961. However, it wasn't long afterward that the village lost Otisco Lake water and was forced to get its supply from Lake Ontario, which, drinking quality-wise, was a giant step in the wrong direction.)
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Fire damages Hazard Estate
Frederick R. Hazard was Solvay's most important person. He was president of the village and of the Solvay Process Company. While he and his family were vacationing in his native Rhode Island at Narragansett Pier on August 23, fire destroyed their stable, carriage house, ice house and a recently built "automobile barn," which is how one newspaper described the garage. The Hazard Estate on Orchard Road, was the site of the two biggest homes in Solvay, and, luckily, neither was touched by the fire that started in the basement of the stable. Three carriages were destroyed; Solvay police said three of the family's four horses were safely removed from the barn
What saved the other buildings was the direction of the wind, which caused concern for people on the other side of the hill behind the Hazard Estate. Flying sparks started several small fires in the wooded area on the hill, and reached past the hill to touch off a fire at a house occupied by Peter Olivia on Caroline Avenue, but that blaze was quickly contained.
Solvay firemen summoned help from Syracuse. and that provided what the Syracuse Herald described as an amusing scene when the horses that pulled the hose wagons from the city were too tired to continue up the hill toward the Hazard place. So automobiles were enlisted, the wagons being attached by means of ropes.
The fire was discovered simultaneously by Thomas C. Anderson, who was employed by the estate, and by Solvay police chief, Michael Casey, who always seemed to be on the scene whenever news broke out in the village. He happened to be driving up Orchard Road with prisoners he was taking to the Jamesville Penitentiary.
A week later there was another serious fire inside the village:
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Syracuse Herald, September 8, 1907
The lives of several persons were endangered and considerable property damage was done by a bad fire that broke out at 2 o’clock this morning in H. C. Frickey’s bakery, in a two-story wooden building at 129 Caroline Avenue, Solvay. The flames spread with such rapidity that for a time a conflagration was feared.
From the bakery, the fire spread to Hatch’s confectionery store and thence to Morris A. Stanton’s grocery. At 2:30 o’clock, the firemen were directing their efforts toward saving the latter building.
Upstairs over the bakery when the fire broke out there was a family sleeping, and when firemen reached the scene soon after the discovery was made, the people were awakened, and amid suffocating smoke and with fierce flames on all sides, they were taken out by means of ladders. So far as firemen could learn, everyone was rescued and no one was hurt.
In a comparatively short time, the bakery building was in ruins. Fanned by a light wind, the flames spread to the Hatch store and thence to Stanton’s grocery, although up to a late hour the latter had not suffered a bad damage.
At 2:30 a.m. the Syracuse department was called upon for assistance, and an engine and two hose wagons were sent to the scene by Chief Quigley. It was said that when they arrived the fire was under control.
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Fuel for prohibitionists
Meanwhile, Solvay lived up to its reputation for having more saloons per capita than perhaps any community in the country. Drinking led to arguments, which led to violence. |
Syracuse Herald, Sunday, June 30, 1907
Man Beats Wife, Then Both Attack
the Policeman Sent to Investigate
The Solvay police station was a busy place last night. Chief Casey and his small force were busy every minute. At an early hour every cell was full and it was found necessary to put two, and, in some cases, three in one cell.
At about 9 o’clock, Policeman Gaffney received a call to go to the corner of Gertrude and Second streets, where it was said that a Polock was killing his wife. The policeman responded and found the couple mixing it up fast and furious; the woman didn’t seem to be getting all the worst of it, either.
The policeman attempted to arrest the man, but he reckoned without his hosts, as the angry pair stopped pummeling each other and attacked the policeman tooth and nail. The woman forgot her grievances against her husband, forgot her discolored eyes and occupied herself attempting to pull out as much of Policeman Gaffney’s hair as possible, while her husband looked after ejecting the unwelcome visitor.
However, one blow administered in an effective manner by the policeman took all the fight out of the man and sent him reeling to his corner with a broken nose. The policeman did not come out of the affray whole, as he broke one knuckle on his right hand in making the arrest.
At the police station, the man gave his name as Stephanos Bell. He was released on bail after he had been cared for by a surgeon.
Another wife beater, an Italian, was arrested at 10 o’clock by acting Policeman Hausenman. He gave his name as Frank Julien. He was locked up on the charge of assault.
An Onondaga Indian, who had partaken too freely of “fire water” to be able to give his name, was charged with being drunk and was locked up. He had both pockets filled with stones and had been bombarding a Rapid Transit car.
For some time it has been said by Solvay folk that the police force at Solvay is utterly inadequate to afford protection, and it is expected four new policemen will be appointed at the meeting of the village trustees a week from Tuesday night. So far this month the three men who make up Solvay’s police force have made 39 arrests and the police justice has collected $121 in fines. |
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From the way the above article was written, it's clear we had not yet entered the age of political correctness.
Two — not four — new full-time policemen were added to the department in July, and Chief Casey wasted no time breaking them in. |
Syracuse Herald, July 13, 1907
It was a busy time for the police of Solvay last night and Chief Michael Casey thoroughly initiated his two new patrolmen, John Taylor and Peter Snyder.
It was reported to the police that Tobie Maestri, who conducts a saloon at the corner of First street and Cogswell avenue, was holding one of his usual Saturday night dances in the back room of his place and that there were several young girls present. Chief Casey and Patrolman Snyder made an investigation and arrested Sophie Hefner, a 16-year-old girl. She was locked up and will be arraigned Monday.
An old woman by the name of Labolt was arrested in Milton avenue in front of an Italian saloon. She was charged with public intoxication.
Peter Papallia’s saloon was the scene of a riot in which the large front window was broken. An arrest was made, but he was later allowed to go as he proved to be the wrong man.
A fight at a Police dance in First Street called out the entire police department. There were fully 300 people at the dance and many of them were drunk. One man was waving a gun in the air and he was arrested. |
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Syracuse Journal, July 15, 1907
Solvay officers assert that some of the saloons in that village are to blame for much of the disorder which has disturbed the quiet and peace in the village of late. The officers propose to put down, if possible, the disorderly element.
Seven arrests were made Saturday night in saloons by Chief Casey and his policemen. The chief now has five men under him, two having been recently appointed.
“We have enough officers now,” said Chief Casey today, “to cope with the work I have in view. These saloons must run right or not at all.”
The population of Solvay is nearing the 5,000 mark, the greater part of which is of foreign birth. Many of these foreigners are hard to handle when drunk and they usually get drunk on Saturday nights.
Stabbing affrays are frequent and shootings happen often; these crimes are laid at the doors of some of the saloons.
Solvay has now 16 saloons*, or one to each 293 of the population.
Particular attention will be paid to saloons where the frequency of girls and young men are allowed to meet.
Chief Casey said today to The Journal: “Any girl who is caught in a saloon hereafter — and we mean to find them if they are there — is to be sent to the shelter. These saloons are not proper places for our girls.”
One of those arrested Saturday night was a young girl, Sophie Rudiger, barely 16 years old. Her mother is dead. She was taken in at Tony Maestri’s saloon at Cogswell avenue and First street.
There was a Saturday night dance there, termed by Chief Casey, a “pink tea.” These dances are known by some as “yellow coffees” and the chief says he is going to shut them up.
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* The saloon count was low. Later the Journal would report the actual number of saloons in the village was more than double their original number — 33.
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| Two weeks later, Chief Casey received some bad news. Peter Snyder, one of his rookie policemen, was forced to resign when it was discovered he was not a citizen. A Canadian naive, Snyder had been in the country for five years and had taken out his first naturalization papers and thought the same rules applied to the police force as applied to the American Army. As soon as he found out otherwise, he resigned. Chief Michael E. Casey said he was sorry to lose Snyder, who had proved to be a capable officer. |
Saturday night fights
Chief Casey had notices printed in English, Polish and Italian and posted on all of the telegraph poles and corner buildings in the village. These notices warned that anyone loitering on street corners and along the sidewalk in Milton avenue, inside the village limits would be arrested.
“This is done to stop those Saturday night brawls,” said Casey.
And for a few weeks things were quiet. In addition to saloons, another problem was caused by efforts to stage illegal boxing matches in the village.
On Friday night, August 23, some men staked out a ring on Milton Avenue, but police broke up the crowd that was gathering to watch the bout, and then patrolled other areas where an attempt might be made to stage the bout.
However, Saturday nights in Solvay did not remain relatively quiet very long: |
Syracuse Herald, August 31, 1907
Upwards of 200 Italian residents of the village were stopped on the streets or taken to the police station and searched for concealed weapons in Solvay last night; two of them were locked up as suspects subsequent to a cutting affray at Milton and Cogswell Avenues at 9:25 o’clock, in which a man known in the West End as “Cabbage” Sullivan was slashed with a stiletto by an Italian who immediately afterward ran into the nearby salt covers and escaped.
Armed with a description of Sullivan’s assailant, Chief of Police Casey and two of his men searched all the village saloons for the man and threw the entire Italian colony into an uproar. Sullivan sustained two bad cuts — one a long and deep incision on his right shoulder blade, the other on his right elbow. Neither is serious. He was removed to his boarding place in Willis Avenue.
In company with a friend, Patrick Walsh, Sullivan had just left a saloon in Milton Avenue when the trouble occurred. An Italian band had been parading throughout the Solvay streets during the evening, stirring the residents with discordant music. It was passing the saloon when Sullivan and Welch came out, but the music had stopped. Sullivan, it is said by the police, asked one of the band men to play another tune.
Without giving a reply, the police say, the man drew a stiletto and lunged. Sullivan tried to dodge, but the weapon caught him on the shoulder, felling him. Then the assailant lunged again, and the weapon struck the victim’s elbow. At this juncture, the crowed interfered, and when they Italians saw blood spurting from Sullivan’s wound, they became scared and scattered. The chief of police and special officers Harper and Riley were on hand in a few moments.
Sullivan pointed out one man to Officer Harper and the officer gave chase, but the fellow ran up Milton Avenue, turned at Orchard Road and made his way to the covers, where trace of him was lost. All the saloons and boarding houses in the neighborhood were searched, and Chief Casey ordered his men to stop every Italian they met on the streets, search them for concealed weapons and arrest those upon whose persons such weapons were found.
Thirty-five men were marched to the police station and searched there. One of this number, James Akell, seemed to fit the description given by Sullivan of his assailant, and he was locked up. John Stifan, found in a saloon by Officer Harper, had a stiletto in his back pocket. He, too, was arrested. The stiletto had a spring in the back and a blade five inches long. Altogether it measured ten-and-a-half inches.
Hart’s ambulance was called, but before it arrived Sullivan’s wounds had been dressed by Dr. D. F. Mathews and he had been taken to his boarding house. Early this morning police were still searching Italians and the Italian quarters. |
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NOTES: I found in several stories to the salt yards and salt covers at various village locations. There were salt springs throughout the area surrounding Onondaga Lake. Syracuse became well known for its salt industry, and there is the Salt Museum is located in Liverpool, along the eastern shore of the lake. Solvay also was a source of salt, which helped William Cosgrove convince Belgium chemists Ernest and Alfred Solvay to approve Cosgrove's request to build an American plant that used the Solvay process to manufacture soda ash. Apparently some village residents lived on salt yard property, and were charged with covering the salt wells during threats of rain.
"Special officers" Harper and Riley may have constituted the other two additions to the police force, but I believe they worked part-time.
Also, notice how Chief Casey assumed you could tell a person was Italian simply by looking at him.
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Taking it indoors
Not all of the trouble in Solvay spilled out into the streets: |
Syracuse Herald, December 30, 1907
Eligio Armani says the thumb of his right hand was bitten off during the progress of a fight he had with James and Louis Galante, and he has brought an action in County Court through attorneys E. W. & F. J. Cregg, demanding damages in the sum of $2,000.
The fight is alleged to have taken place at James Galante’s store in Solvay on December 22. Armani claims he did nothing to offend either of the Galante brothers, but both attacked and severally beat him. One of the men caught his hand between his teeth, he says, and chewed at it until the thumb was partly bitten off and the hand was otherwise bitten, cut and disfigured.
Answer in behalf of the defendants was served today by attorney Oliver D. Burden. He makes a general denial to all the allegations of the complaint. The Galantes claims the trouble was started by Armani. They say he entered the pool room and picked a quarrel with the other men. He was ejected, they say, and then he proceeded to break all the windows in the front of the building. There was a general mix-up after the stone-throwing incident.
The Galantes had Armani arrested the day after the fight and he was convicted in Police Court in Solvay a few days later on the charge of assault.
All the parties are Austrians. There is said to be a feud among the Austrian colony in Solvay, and this fight is the outcome of the feud. The feeling is said to be so intense between the different factions that serious trouble is expected unless something is done to pacify the community. |
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Beware trains and trolleys
Another dangerous situation was a clumsy transportation system that put automobiles and horse-drawn buggies on the same roads, several of which were also used for trolleys that traveled on rails. Added to the mix were train tracks that intersected with roads. Most of these intersection had no apparatus to warn drivers of approaching trains. Things were especially crazy in Syracuse where trains ran on Washington Street, and crossed South Salina Street in the center of downtown.
On September 12, Michael P. King of 206 Seneca Street, Syracuse a foreman for the Solvay Process Company, was struck and killed by a northbound Delaware, Lackawanna and Western train. He was walking along the tracks near the plant and apparently did not see or hear the approaching train.
Six days later, John Cowan, a 70-year-old Lakeland resident was driving a horse-drawn wagon and was struck by a Delaware, Lackawanna and Western train near his home.
In November, two children of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Tarolli were playing on the tracks along Milton Avenue near the Iroquois China Company. The younger child, only two years old, was struck by an Auburn-bound train. Her seven-year-old sister escaped.
In a separate accident the same day, Michael Gleason, a Solvay Process Company brakeman, was killed in a workplace accident when he was crushed under the wheel of a Lackawanna freight car that jumped the tracks while it was being switched about.
I was surprised at how many accidents involved people who tumbled to the street while riding the Rapid Transit Railroad Company cars, the seats of which apparently were exposed on both sides. A young man named George Holcomb, whose parents sued the company on his behalf, claimed that while riding on a Solvay car, "a fat man on the rear platform bumped against me and knocked me into the street." Holcomb's clothes got muddy, but there were no serious injuries. The case was settled for $75. |
On July 26, six persons who were riding in a wagon through the east end of Syracuse were slightly injured when their horse became frightened while drinking at a trough, and ran away through East Genesee Street to Irving Avenue. One by one the occupants of the wagon were tossed onto the street.
Finally, Abel Sakolski, who was in front of his home on Irving Avenue, managed to grab and stop the horse, injuring his ankle in the process |
Anarchists provide a distraction
On December 30, there was what was described as "an anarchist meeting" at Pieri Hall on Milton Avenue. The address given in the Syracuse Herald was 1037-1/2 Milton. The numbering was different in 1907. Today that number would locate property just outside the village (near Avery Avenue), but 1037 Milton Avenue, in 1907, was close to the old Town Hall, near the intersection with Bridge Street. Solvay police chief Casey was on the case, but he asked the Syracuse police department for some help.
The newspaper said many Italians were present, while outside a large crowd gathered. The wanabe anarchists were promised that Emma Goldman, a famous anarchist activist and writer, would speak in Solvay the following week. Things were lively and loud, but order was maintained.
Meanwhile, the Rev. James O'Shea, pastor of St. Cecilia's Church, spoke from the pulpit the morning of the meeting, telling parishioners he would break up the anarchist movement in Solvay if it took the whole police force and the sheriff to do it. As a result, O'Shea received anonymous death threats, but he laughed them off. |
| Odds 'n ends |
In September there was an incident that was a prequel to the famous accidental 2006 shooting incident involving Vice President Dick Cheney:
Syracuse Herald, September 24, 1907
Frank E. Casler of 206 William Street, Solvay, was accidentally shot in the shoulder with a shotgun by Frank Ingersoll of 108 Hazard Street, near Belle Isle. The accident occurred at 10 o'clock this morning. Casler is now at St. Joseph's Hospital, and it is said that he may not recover.
The shot took effect in the back part of the shoulder and tore away part of the arm. Before he could be brought to Solvay, he had become unconscious and was very weak from the loss of blood.
The two men, who are very close friends, left on a hunting trip early this morning. They started from Casler's house and went north of the village. Both men carried shotguns. Just how the accident occurred cannot be determined, but it is said that Ingersoll was a few feet back of Casler when Casler stepped into some bushes. Ingersoll raised his gun to take a shot, and just as he pulled the trigger, his companion stepped in front of the gun, receiving the entire discharge in the shoulder.
With a groan, Caster fell to the ground. Ingersoll made a hasty examination,, and seeing that the wound was serious, he hurried to the nearest farmhouse and secured a horse and buggy in which the wounded man was taken to Solvay. Medical aid was summoned, and he was found to be sinking rapidly from the loss of blood.
He was immediately removed in an ambulance to St. Joseph's Hospital where the wound was dressed. The flow of blood could not be checked and at 1 o'clock the injured member was amputated close to the shoulder.
Both men are well known in Solvay where they are married and have families. They are painters by occupation and worked together.
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Casler survived the accident. Belle Isle, an unincorporated area that bordered West Solvay just north of Milton Avenue, was a popular spot for hunters. In April, John Barnell of 900 Cogswell Avenue, had his left hand torn to shreds by the accidental discharge of his double-barreled shotgun at the Belle Isle crossing of the New York Central railroad tracks. Barnell was climbing over the coupling of two freight cars when the gun became caught and exploded. |
Stupid bet, sad result
I'm suspicious of the spelling of at least two names in the following story, and while the event took place outside the Solvay village limits, it was well within what I call "the Solvay influence," a block or two from Milton Avenue where Solvay blends with the West Side of Syracuse. This is a sad tale about what could happen to someone who goes to ridiculous extremes to get free drinks. |
Syracuse Journal, April 10, 1907
Joseph Busnak, a Pole, won a $5 bet yesterday afternoon by drinking 18 ounces of whiskey and paid for the feat with his life. He was found dead in his room two hours after swallowing the liquor.
Busnak, it is said, had been drinking heavily for several days, and yesterday afternoon went to the saloon of Jacob Kalisoweke at 865 Emerson avenue. He got into a friendly argument with another Pole over the amount of whiskey he could drink without taking the glass from his mouth.
He wagered $5 that he could drink an 18-ounce tumbler of whiskey, or a little over a pint. Busnak drank the whiskey, took the money and went to his room over the saloon. Two hours later he was found dead.
Police were notified and Sgt. Peter Naumann and policeman Thomas Carroll investigated. The body was taken to C. C. Carroll & Company’s undertaking rooms, and Coroner A. M. Willer was notified.
Coroner Willer investigated today and gave alcoholism as the cause of death. |
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| The final insult: When Busnak's brother went to the dead man's room, he discovered someone had robbed him of his winnings before police were called. |
Roosters get ready to rumble
Many people have always considered Lakeland a part of Solvay, and with good reason. The area between the State Fairgrounds and Onondaga Lake, all the way north to where the New York State Thruway now crosses, is populated by people who, at various times, sent their children to Solvay schools, drank Solvay water, received Solvay electricity, and often were protected by Solvay firemen. As far as I know, police protection was provided by a Town of Geddes police force, but mostly by the Onondaga County sheriff's department. Lawmen could only react, not prevent, which may be why a certain cockfighting event — deemed newsworthy by the Syracuse Herald — was held in the Lakeland area called Pleasant Beach.
I assume cockfighting was illegal, even at that time, but the newspaper gave it more coverage than it did most sports events in the county.
Syracuse Herald, June 17, 1907
A big cocking main was pulled off in the woods in the vicinity of Pleasant Beach yesterday. Nine battles were fought and each was hotly contested. The vanquished bird was killed in every fight.
The main was between birds from Solvay and Salina and between birds from the North Side and the West End. In the fights between the Solvay and Salina birds, the Solvay birds won all three battles, and the sports who backed the Solvay cocks pocketed in the neighborhood of $300.
In the fights between the North Side and West End birds, each won three battles. There was $100 bet on each battle.
The main lasted nearly all day, starting at 10 o’clock yesterday morning and lasting until 6 o’clock last night. The affair was kept very quiet and there was no interference of any kind. A crowd of 100 local sports witnessed the main and they say it was the bloodiest ever held in these parts. There were many individual bets among spectators, as well as the money put up by the owners of the birds.
The pit was pitched in the grass not 50 yards from the shore of the lake. Everything was cleaned up after the main and nothing was left to indicate there had been a fight. |
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Life in the slow lane
On August 26, 1907, the Syracuse Journal ran an article that reminded folks it was against the law to ride a bicycle, automobile or similar vehicle in city faster than eight miles an hour.
Also, it was
is against the law to run such a machine without a bell upon it, the bell to be used when necessary to give warning. William O'Brien, Syracuse's deputy police chief noted that many machines are use in the city without bells.
O'Brien said all vehicles shall keep to the right and as near the curb as practicable, and that corners shall not be rounded at a greater speed than five miles an hour.
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This Luciano wasn't lucky
The year was not without its love stories, though some were very sad, but, hey, can't you immediately tell what awaits the hero of our first tale? You'll also spot a condescending attitude on the part of the person who wrote the story. |
Syracuse Herald, March 3, 1907
When Luciano Mercurio decided to take unto himself a life’s partner, he ignored the wiles and smiles of the fair dames of Syracuse, and Solvay, too, and enlisted the aid of Cupid to dig him up a spouse among his countrywomen of “Sunny It.” Now he’s kicking himself and suing the woman he imported to lead to the altar; he wants to recover the money he spent to fetch her from the Appian Way to the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Defendant in the action bears the poetic name of Amalia Garfagnini. She is a native of Ferrazzano Province of Campobasso, Italy. Luciano says it cost him $112 to get Amalia across the ocean, through Customs House and to this city. The condition was that she should marry him upon her arrival here. He says he is ready and willing to carry out his part of the contract, but the woman has balked, and Attorneys Myron and Ryan have brought an action in Supreme Court for him to compel her to refund the $112.
Luciano is employed at the Solvay Process Company. He waited until he had stored a neat sum of money before he concluded to marry. Last spring he thought the time was ripe, and he began to look over the young women of his race in this vicinity to ascertain if there were any he would care to approach on the vital subject. Luciano was hard to suit. He couldn’t see one who looked anywhere near good to him, and then he resolved to continue his search in other climes.
He communicated with friends in Italy and told them of his desires. He said if the right woman were found, he would be willing to pay her expenses to this country and would provide well for her after he had made her his wife. Someone picked out Amalia, a charming young widow, and Mercurio was so impressed with the picture of her as painted by his friend that he opened immediate correspondence with her and then sent her the $112 to pay the passage of herself and son to this city.
Mercurio worried continually, afraid that some evil might befall his promised one on her way from Italy. Time dragged along and he impatiently counted the days until his Amalia would arrive and greet him with the smile she promised to bring all the way from “Sunny It.”
A week ago yesterday, Amalia appeared at Solvay and the Italian colony laid off for the day to see the woman Luciano Mercurio spent $112 to become his wife. They felt sure she must be a princess of royal blood or a woman of vastly superior charm for a man to squander all that money.
Mercurio had never set eyes on the woman. He had a picture of her in his mind’s eye from the description furnished him from Italy, and he was anxious to see whether she lived up to his ideal. She did — she swooped down on Solvay with an air that chased the other women back to their macaroni cooking, and Mercurio gave a fierce Italian ha-ha to those who had made him a subject of jest since the moment he began to look for a wife. He took charge of Amalia’s baggage and her son and conducted them to what was intended to be a temporary abode for them while details of the marriage were worked out.
When the matter of matrimony was put to Amalia, there was a drop in the thermometer that froze Mercurio to the marrow. He was told by the woman in polite Italian that he was too old to suit her, and she would pass him up. Mercurio pleaded, entreated, protested and stormed, but “skidoo” was the first word of English she picked up and she applied it fittingly to the case at hand.
Mercurio waited four days for the woman to change her mind before the papers were served on her. He claims to have been unmercifully deceived and he demands his money back — or a wife.
Another Italian called at the office of Myron and Ryan yesterday and said Amalia had promised to marry him if he paid Mercurio the $112, but later he called again to say he had changed his mind, fearing he might pay out $112 and then Amalia would experience another change of heart. |
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Case of the light-fingered bridegroom
Two months later, Solvay's police chief, Michael Casey, raised a serious objection as to why a couple should wed, and managed to postpone the ceremony, perhaps indefinitely: |
Syracuse Herald, May 11, 1907
Luther M. Dobbs of Solvay while on his way to the depot last night to take a train for Mansfield, Ohio, where his bride-elect was waiting to welcome him, was arrested by Chief of Police Michael Casey of Solvay and locked up. Dobbs is charged with petty larceny, he having stolen a bottle of perfumery from Bryant & Sherwood's Drug Store at Solvay. He was arraigned in the Solvay Police Court this morning and pleaded guilty.
Dobbs, who is 46 years old, made up his mind some years ago to get married and live the simple life. Accordingly, he proposed to several of the fair charmers of Solvay and, at last, so rumor says, was accepted by one. The wedding day was named, but by some unlucky chance, Dobbs subscribed to a marriage guide and began writing to numerous ladies in all parts of the country.
Photographs were exchanged, and among them came a picture of Miss Katherine E. Kinner of 308 Harker Street, Mansfield, Ohio. According to her letter, Katherine was 30 years old, had light hair and blue eyes. She had $9,000 in the bank, too, and Luther thought, “She’ll do.” Dobbs proposed and Katherine accepted, and the wedding day was to be Monday.
When Chief Casey searched Dobbs at the police station last night, he found a picture of Miss Kinner in his breast pocket, a card entitled “Rules for Sweethearts,” in which the method of procedure for carrying on a successful courtship is carefully set forth, several other photographs of women, copies of the marriage paper, and a letter brimful of love from Miss Kinner herself. She confessed she wasn’t worth $9,000. Really, she wasn’t, but she did “own a small house and lot.” She also asked that Dobbs dye his hair black if it were gray, and very thoughtfully enclosed a receipt.
Dobbs is a widower and for the last year has been boarding at the home of Mrs. John Walker, 103 Lamont Avenue, Solvay. He has been steadily employed in the Halcomb Steel works. He had prepared everything for the wedding and had his two grips well packed in a saloon in South Clinton Street.
Dobbs was sentenced to three months in the [Jamesville] Penitentiary this morning. Immediately upon hearing the sentence, Dobbs called for writing material and wrote a long letter to Katherine, excusing himself and telling her not to feel badly as he would be in Mansfield in about three months.
Chief Casey told The Herald that Dobbs had left an odor of perfume in the cells which would last for some time to come. |
It's doubtful Dobbs and Miss Kinner were ever married. Other stories I found indicate Dobbs continued to be a shoplifter in Pennsylvania and Elmira, New York. |
The Cardiff Giant of lettuce
On June 18, 1907, the Syracuse Journal reported that Cyrus A. Phillips, a foreman at the Solvay Process Company, had grown a large head of lettuce in his garden which is on exhibition at F. H. Eberling’s, a hardware and seed store.. The lettuce was 18 inches wide and 14 inches high. What the story didn't mention was when the lettuce was grown. Hard to believe, given that the Syracuse area often has snow into late April, that such a head of lettuce could have developed by mid-June. |
Did he have a grudge against trains?
Finally, it's back to where we started — that 1907 was a dangerous time. One of the most dangerous parts of Solvay was near the northwest corner of the village because the land just north of Milton Avenue was undeveloped and often used for hunting and target shooting.
On September 22, a woman passenger on a train which left the Solvay station shortly after 8 p.m., headed west, had a narrow escape when a bullet crashed through a window next to her seat, missing her head by inches.
The Syracuse Herald said, "The bullet was fired from a rifle by a foreigner," but didn't explain how this was determined. In 1907, there was no daylight saving time, so it would have been too dark to determine who was firing a rifle.
Perhaps it was Frank Turco, identified as an Italian in a December 31 Herald article, after the man was arrested in Solvay for using a rifle to shoot at railroad signals. |
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