Syracuse American, October 26
He kept the Solvay jail occupied
The copper with 2,500 arrests to his credit is still on the job and going strong.

He is Humphrey J. Sullivan, Policeman Number 1, in the village of Solvay.

No one, however, is going to recognize Humphrey J. Sullivan of Solvay by that name. If he is called “Malacky” Sullivan, every denizen of Solvay or whereabouts will immediately know who is meant.

For 22 years “Malacky” Sullivan has trod a beat in Solvay, making his rounds, checking in at his regular intervals and making his quota of “pinches.” The other day he sat down to figure up his total of arrests.

Tabulation of his records for the 20 years from 1909 to 1929, by actual count, shows that Patrolman Sullivan has placed 2,363 offenders in the hoosegow during the two decades. Since then he has made enough arrests to bring his total well over 2,500.

It was on November 22, 1908 that Sullivan became a member of the Solvay police force. Of all the men on the beats, he is the oldest in point of service.

When he joined the force it comprised three other men. Their task was herculean. Solvay, at that time, was no bed of roses for any man, especially a police officer.

The village had mushroomed into existence with so much speed that it was like one of the old western mining towns. There were shootings galore, knifings aplenty and fights at every corner.

It was a tough town and a tough man was needed for the patrolman’s job. Malacky and his three companions qualified in that role.

Of all the arrests he has made, ranging from drunks to gunmen, Sullivan says the most memorable was that in which he engaged in a battle of bullets.

He heard the sounds of a commotion from one of the cafes then lining Solvay’s streets. As he ran up to the scene he saw a man emerging from the front door, a smoking revolver in his hands.

Sullivan gave chase. He shouted an order to stop which the culprit refused to heed.

The patrolman fired a shot in the air. Rather than causing the gunman to stop, it led him to whip a gun from his pocket and fire at Sullivan. The gun duel raged up and down Milton Avenue with the patrolman hot in pursuit until a second officer intervened and made capture possible.

There are now 13 patrolmen and the task of the officers is less arduous. But Malacky has come to love the work. There is nothing he would like better than raise his total of arrests to 5,000.

Syracuse Journal, July 26, 1930
Parents Burned Saving 3 Tots
As Fire Razes Home
Dropped from second story windows of their burning home on Fay Road last night, three small children of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Mrozienski were saved from the flames which burned their parents as they fought to reach the imperiled youngsters.

Mr. and Mrs. Mrozienski suffered so badly from burns and smoke that they were taken to St. Joseph Hospital.

The fire, caused by the explosion of a kerosene stove at 10:30 p.m., razed the house which is situated in front of the Knapp Hill reservoir.

The rescued children are Gloria, 4; Rosemary, 3, and Virginia, 2, daughters of the Mrozienskis. They are being cared for by relatives.

Four youngsters who were passing by the home as the fire broke out assisted in the rescue of the children. They are Joseph Clisson of 807 Willis Avenue; Lester Haven of 202 School Street, Solvay; Francis Lyon of 609 Avery Avenue, and Christopher Nye of Herkimer Street.

They noticed the smoke pouring from the windows of the house and saw Mrs. Mrozienski break the glass of an upper story window with her fist and lean out to cry for help.

With her husband, the frantic mother had been trapped in the upstairs by the flames, the fire blocking their exit to safety down the stairs.

Mrs. Mrozienski carried one of the children in her arms and the father two, as they rushed from room to room seeking safety.

The youths climbed on the railing of the front porch and extended their arms. One by one then, the children were dropped into the uplifted hands to safety.

Her clothes in flames, Mrs. Mrozienski followed the children out of the window, climbing down until she could be grabbed by the rescuers below. They beat out the flames.

The father was the last to try for safety. He jumped onto the porch roof and then to the ground, seriously burned. Despite his injuries, he began to organize means of fighting the fire.

The Solvay fire department was summoned and two companies, under Assistant Chief James Steele, fought the blaze, but they arrived too late to save the house.

Mrs. Mrozienski was taken to the hospital first in the car of the four youths, and later the husband, who although burned severely, insisted that he remain to hep fight the blaze.

Many of the crowd of 1,000 persons who were attracted to the scene by the billowing flames which reddened the skies, assisted the firemen in their efforts to check the fire.

Fireman Colvin sustained a severe gash in his left hand as he plunged through a window. He was given first aid and then taken to a doctor.

Traffic was jammed on both sides of the road, hampering the work of the firefighters until the tangle was straightened out by deputy sheriffs.

The children were taken to the home of Francis Swiderski on Montrose Avenue, Solvay. He is a brother-in-law of Mrozienski.

Mrs. Mrozienski was standing in front of the stove when it exploded, she said later, the burning oil spattering over her. Heedless of the flames, she ran upstairs to her children. Mrozienski, who was in the yard at the time of the blast, ran into the house when the explosion occurred.

The blast could be heard for a radius of a mile, causing many to think an explosion had occurred at the Solvay Process Company.

Mrozienski had been ill for several weeks and had just recovered when the fire brought disaster to his home.