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Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 20, 1875
Why she didn’t catch it
Why she didn’t catch it - One of our prominent merchants was informed a day or two since , when he went home to tea, that there was a mouse in the sitting room; it had run in there during the afternoon, and they had shut the door to keep it in until someone came to catch it. "Well, why didn’t YOU catch it?" said the gentleman to his wife as he started for the sitting room, banging the door pretty sharply behind him.
The ladies - there were 2 or 3 callers present - waited in breathless silence and were soon startled by a yell that sent the lady of the house into a swoon and one of the callers to the rescue.
Opening the door, there was the gentleman with his pants half off, both hands grasping the antipodes of the small of his back,and he executing a Modoc war dance in the middle of the room.
The lady said "What is it?" The gentleman said "You clear out and call my wife". Soon as cold water and camphor had revived her, the lady of the house went in and quiet soon was restored. Inquiry elicited the fact that when the gentleman went in and discovered the mouse he went for it at once, and the mouse went up the leg of his pantaloons and got in such a position that he could not be shook out, and fearing that he would bite as well as scratch, he seized him with both hands, and then found it impossible to get his pants off alone.When the mouse was finally removed his wife quietly remarked "You see now why I didn’t catch it". The gentleman said he did. (Faribault Democrat) [Minnesota].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 20, 1875
Turners Falls
Turners Falls - The Montague Paper Company are laying about 1200 ft. of 12 inch pipe from Fall River, emptying into the Connecticut on the side opposite their mill, to furnish the increased amount of water they will need by the recent increase of capacity. They will dam Fall River, making quite a reservoir on that side, and will retain the water in a reservoir on this side, where it will be pumped as needed.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 20, 1875
Greenfield items
Greenfield - The reservoir in Leyden Glen is now filling up, and we are not likely to have no more trouble [sic] about the quantity or quality of our water.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 20, 1875
News of the week
Still another aeronaut has had a narrow escape. He made an ascension at Augusta, Ky. recently, and the balloon fell into the river, he became entangled in the ropes, and was rescued by a passing boat just as he was sinking for the third time.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
Shelburne Falls
Shelburne Falls - Cole, of the Shelburne Falls House, has returned from a long sojourn at Saratoga. He is very much benefited, but his wife is to remain a while longer.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
Hawley
Hawley - Moody Spring is having its quota of visitors this season. Several persons from abroad have taken possession of the old Hitchcock house nearby, where, undisturbed, they drink freely of these healthful waters, luxuriate in blackberries and feast on the wild scenery.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
Greenfield - The bricklayers have finished their work at the Reservoir dam, and there is now only a little cleaning up to do before filling the pond. That was a bad break in the main pipe a week ago yesterday. It was right in the Barton brook, and those who saw it say that a large volume of water was thrown into the air, 25 or 30 ft., making a fountain on a grand and magnificent scale.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
Greenfield - The scales in Main Street, near George A. Arms' store, have been taken out. The pit was frequently filed with water, and it was so much expense and trouble to keep the scales in order, particularly in the winter, that Mr. A. decided to have them removed.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
A cure for gravel
A cure for gravel [old term for kidney stones] - Dr. Streeter of Barbara, tells the Atlas that the worst case of gravel may be cured, the deposit dissolved and passed away, by using the water in which potatoes have been boiled to pieces, strain the water, sweeten to taste and drink for 2 or 3 weeks. This is a painless cure.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
The horrors of idolatry
The horrors of idolatry - Miss Harriet Brittan is writing some interesting letters depicting life in India, to the "Christian at Work". From a recent one we make the following extract in which she describes a religious gathering: "And now to turn to a sad sight witnessed during my visit to Allahabad...".
[Long article discusses diseased beggars, religious pilgrims who come once a year to bathe and shave at this spot. She describes one street "which appeared to be entirely devoted to fakirs...men who are supposed by self-inflicted tortures to have become very holy...They were about the vilest creatures that it is possible to describe; it made you shudder to think that humanity could be so degraded...These men were almost all of them almost entirely nude - none of them had any covering but one filthy little piece of rag, not more than a fig leaf...
Their hair and beards were all long and matted with filth, their bodies smeared with a mixture of cow dung and ashes; some of them had a thick mixture of whitewash or white plaster, with 1, 2 or 3 broad stripes, like, blood, down the forehead...One man...sat in a bed of ashes, with 4 fires built around him on either side; not of course close enough to burn him, but close enough to scorch him and cause great suffering...
There was another, a miserable looking creature, who for many years had held his arms up over his head with his hands crossed. At first when he began to do this, he was obliged to have his hands bound to poles, to keep them up until they stiffened in that position...
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
Vernon Vt.
Vernon Vt. - The town has just completed a very nice tomb, 8 ft. by 10, and 7 ft. high, inside. The front wall is of granite, 25 tons from Black Mountain, Dummerston. The work is done in a neat and substantial way by David J. Bailey of West Dummerston. The back and side walls are 2 or more ft. thick, of coarse slate laid in water cement, plastered with same on inside and lined with 4 or 5 large flag stones, also floor of the same material.
The roof consists of 2 heavy flagstones, resting in the center on 2 large bars of iron. The shelves on either side are of slate planed smooth, 2 ft. wide, 2 inches thick and 2 ft. space between them. Shelves from Granby Center, N.Y., door from New Haven, Ct. of boiler iron with space in centre [sic].
The whole, except the front wall, is neatly covered with earth. The estimated weight of stone used is 100 tons. The structure is pronounced as good as the best and reflects great credit to the builder, Tyler L. Johnson. It costs the town about $700. The building committee were W. Whithed, J.F. Burrows, and L. Brown (Vermont Record).
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
Great fire at South Deerfield
Great fire at South Deerfield - over $40,000 worth of property destroyed. One of the most destructive conflagrations that has ever visited Franklin County raged at South Deerfield Sat. night, sweeping out of existence the two village hotels, the finest private dwelling house in the place, a manufacturing establishment, a livery stable with several buildings, sheds and other property.
About 15 minutes before 12 o’clock, fire was discovered in the trimming room, in the second story of the ell part of John Ockington’s carriage shop, which was located on Depot Street, a little west of the Main street of the village. Before the alarm became general the flames with almost lightning rapidity spread to the main building, a large 2 story wooden structure, used for the various branches of the carriage business, and a repository for finished work.
Mr. Ockington’s books were rescued, and a portion of his stock, but a carryall, buggy, express wagon, sleigh, and a no. of carriages in different stages of construction, tools and lumber and stock of various kind were destroyed. ..The wind, which was blowing strongly from the north and north west, carried the flying cinders in the direction of Main Street.
Ten and a half ft. from the shop was the livery stable owned by W. Houston and occupied by Frank Warren. Hardly 15 minutes from the breaking out of the fire the stable had caught, and in a very short time was reduced to ashes...The next building reached by the devouring fire fiend was the Hayden Hotel, a large 2 story wooden building in the south west corner of Main Street and Depot Street, 75 ft. distant from the stable. It was owned by L. Hayden and occupied by his son Charles Hayden.
...Nearly all the furniture was removed from the building, but still considerable valuable property was destroyed. Miss Benn Hayden occupied a fancy goods store in the block, and her stock was nearly all saved.
100 ft. to the south on Main Street was Loren Hayden’s fine dwelling house, built but a short time ago, the most extensive residence in South Deerfield, and well furnished. Only a part of the furniture was saved, and the building and most of its contents were soon in ashes. In the rear, 27 ft. distance, was a large new barn which with its contents of hay and grain were destroyed....
While the conflagration was waging its war of destruction upon this corner of the street, another had broken out with equal fury on the opposite corner. The Bloody Brook House, belonging to C.P. Aldrich, was in a few moments a mass of flames. This long building, extending over 100 ft. on Main Street, with a new ell on Depot Street, its barns and numerous outbuildings melted before the flames like frost beneath the rays of the sun.
Efforts were made to clear out the contents but they were mostly unavailing, and the furniture, a piano, billiard table, provisions, bedding, etc. were lapped up by the greedy element. In the large grocery store of L.T. Harris, in the ell part of the building, but little was taken out. Scudder, a jeweler, saved most of his stock, but shot himself through the hand while handling one of his revolvers. J.T. Burnett occupied a room as a barber shop, but met no serious loss.
S.F. Fisher, who had a harness shop in the building, packed his goods and tools in trunks, and saved nearly all. P. Corkins, the shoemaker, another occupant, was alike fortunate. Several boarders in the hotel lost their clothing, but fortunately no one perished or was seriously injured.
Providentially there was a change in the wind, and the fire made no further progress in a northerly direction; though a horse belonging to Edward Jones of Greenfield, which is adjacent, was scorched and vigilant watching was required to prevent it from igniting. O.S. Arms’ house, on the east side of Main Street opposite Hayden’s, was several times on fire. All of the furniture was taken out, and by cutting through the roof and applying water as best they could when flames were discovered, he and his neighbors managed to save the building.
On the corner of Main Street opposite the Hayden hotel, is a large wooden building belonging to C.A. Pierce. This too was scorched. and the roof was frequently on fire, but it was saved without serious damage. Its occupants, M. Roch, druggist, Boyd & Houghton, dry goods, Mrs. B. Parsons Mansfield, milliner, O.S. Arms, post office and shoe store removed a portion or all of their goods, and had them more or less damaged. William B. Houston, who occupied a tenement on the 2nd floor, had his furniture taken out.
Deacon L.H. Fellow’s house, some 20 ft. from the post office, was also on fire and its contents taken out, but the fire was kept at bay by the use of small hand pumps, such as are used in gardens and in washing carriages. C. Mosher’s livery stable was saved in the same way. Numerous other houses and buildings were at different times on fire, but the assembled people were able to put them out.
South Deerfield is without a fire engine, reservoir, or any organized means for extinguishing fire. The people who assembled in obedience to the alarm could do little but assist in moving furniture and goods, and the fire in the destruction of the buildings mentioned had it all its own way. Within two hours from the breaking out of the flames in Ockington’s shop they had done their work, and nothing was left but tottering chimneys and smouldering embers.
About a quarter past 12 a dispatch was sent to Springfield for help and an hour or two after, two steamers and a hose cart arrived, making the run from Springfield in 40 minutes; but it was too late to be of service, and if the engines had come earlier there would have been little water that could have been made use of. The train soon returned.
The Deerfield Guards, under Captain B.F. Bridges, who had returned from msuter the afternoon previous, were early called to guard the property scattered about the streets. Some disturbance was created by boys who had confiscated liquors, but it was quelled without serious trouble. The fire was seen for miles, and burning brands were carried as far as Sunderland.
Mr. L. Hayden was so prostrated from the excitement incident to the fire that there were rumors yesterday that he was not likely to survive; but these rumors were probably exaggerated. John Ockington, one of the principle sufferers, is away at the seaside.
[Article goes on to discuss policies and amount of insurance, but this is all nicely listed in the NYTimes article].
Though there is some doubt about the origin of the fire, the prevailing belief is inclined to incendiarism. There had been no fire about the carriage shop after 3 o’clock the previous afternoon. The place in the building where it broke out was quite a distance from the forging shop. The calamity is a serious blow to the community.
[See the article "Losses by fire" in the Sept. 6, 1875 issue of the New York Times Online Archive].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
(Greenfield) Some 15,000 brick are required on the work at the Glen reservoir, and the alterations will be an item of considerable expense to the district. But those who should know, claim that the new arrangement will be an effectual one for keeping the pond cleared of all sediment, and ensure us hereafter pure and wholesome water. Of course it would have been better to have had the dam constructed right in the first place, but as it was not, the change now became absolutely necessary.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
The Belchertown tragedy
Of course the death of Nettie Barrett, aged 17, by her own hand at Belchertown, and the narrow escape of her companion, Frances S. Bridgman, 14 years old, from a like fate, have created the profoundest sensation in that quiet community’, and the funeral of the former at the Methodist Church Sun. was largely attended. Indeed the whole affair is such a strangely sad one that there is a wide interest to learn all possible particulars concerning it.
The girls were bright and attractive, belonging to the higher village circles. Miss Barrett was sent to Belchertown last April by her mother, who lives at south Amherst, to continue her education, and was to have been examined for the High School Sat., and baptized Sun. in the Church which witnessed her burial; and Miss Bridgman, who had been her almost constant companion of late, was the adopted daughter of Calvin Bridgman.
Miss Barrett had the reputation of being a rather wild person, and the girls were in the habit of being out late nights. Miss Barrett was the leader, and her conduct had become so notorious that her guardian, Franklin Dickinson, had a serious talk with her Thurs. on her behavior. When she returned that eve., she remarked to Mrs. Daniel Packard, with whom she was stopping, that they "wouldn’t be troubled with her being out any more nights".
At 8 o’clock, she and Miss Bridgman - who had been secreted in the room - were observed by neighbors to leave the house. They procured the fatal morphine at the drug store of Mr. Barnes, the elder, a few days before, they had unsuccessfully undertaken to get the poison of the son, who refused to give it without a prescription. Mr. Barnes claims that he supposed it was for Calvin Bridgman. At what time and how the girls got into Packard’s house again is not known.
About half past 7 o’clock Fri. morning, Mrs. Owen, with whom Frances Bridgman was boarding during her parent’s absence, came over in the greatest alarm about her, saying that the night before the girl had left, after bidding them a tearful farewell. Mrs. Packard went immediately to the room and there the victims lay, one in a deadly stupor and the other writhing in terrible agony.
The bed was covered with candy, and Miss Bridgman explained that they had overeaten of this. Efforts were made to revive Miss Barrett, who refused to take anything but cold water, and then determinedly said "Go away, I want to sleep". When Mrs. Packard had left the room for help, Miss Bridgman hailed a little girl and threw down this note, written in a confused, uncertain hand, and unsigned:
"Mr. Barnes - will you be so kind as to send me as much chloroform as here is money enough, five cents’ worth?"
She threw down also two letters directed to George T. Slauter, Belchertown, and Wilbur F. Nichols, at Wilbraham Academy, bidding them farewell and asking them to act as bearers. Then followed an exciting scene in the little bedroom Poor Nettie Barrett was dying. Miss Bridgman confessed that they had taken the morphine, that the candy was only a ruse, that there had been scandalous stories in the town about them, that she did not wish ever to see her parents again, and hoped and expected to die.
She quietly watched her dying companion and waited for the expected chloroform. With the death of Miss Barrett however, came the desire to live, and she requested salt and water to enable her to vomit more.
The wonderful nerve and mingled frankness and cunning of these little misses as displayed during the whole affair, are brought out by the scenes immediately preceding the tragedy. Only 5 hours before they entered the little bed room, they gayly played croquet with some young people, holding in their hands the candy which they were to sprinkle on the bed.
Miss Bridgman wrote what she thought was her last letter to her father, in simple, affectionate, yet determined words. She would meet her parents in a world where there were no scandalous tongues, and where they could live in peace.
[Now don’t ask me how I got there, but I believe that Frances S. Bridgman is actually Emma Francis Bridgman, daughter of Franklin A. Bridgman, born in 1860].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 30, 1875
North Orange
A party of 136 persons from North Orange had a picnic on the 29th at Forbes Falls, Royalston. It was the first picnic the community has had for many years, and greatly enjoyed.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 30, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
Robert Abercrombie, whose fine new house, on the hill above the Cheapside Bridge, has just been completed, gave a reception and "hop" Thurs. eve. for the benefit of the workmen who have been employed on the structure. The house has been thoroughly built, and commands a grand view of the lovely Deerfield meadows, and our neighboring mountain scenery.
The carpenters employed were Dwight Holden and George Holden and Charles E. Fisk, and they have spared no skill or labor in making a model residence. The rooms are neatly finished off in the wood [sic], and arranged after the most approved style. Mr. A. has a fine spring above his house, which is supplied from it, being piped through out for hot and cold water.
It is also fitted for gas. M.R. Pierce & Co. have done all the plumbing, piping, etc. - an important item in the structure - and C.L. Frink was employed to do the painting. The party was made as free and easy as possible. Forty or 50 people were present. Music was furnished for the dancing by John Putnam and Philo Temple, the latter of whom is a neighbor and quite a noted musician a generation ago. [See Google Books "History of Greenfield" by Francis McGee Thompson, and Lucy Cutler Kellogg].
Refreshments were dispensed in the most hospitable way, and the occasion will be long remembered by all who were present.
- Wed, Feb 24, 2010
