Culled by Judy Garrison
With commentary by Jim Andrews From September 1921 issues of The Andes Recorder
100 Years Ago

WEEK IN AND ABOUT ANDES
Events of a week as chronicled by the Man on the Street

In a ball game between the married and single men in Andes on Labor Day, the married men won by a score 21 to 19.

Mr. and Mrs. E. F. Searing, of Paterson, N. J. spent over Labor day in Andes. Mr. Searing was the man who promoted the Delaware and Northern, and but for him it probably would not have been built. Jim Andrews: [Searing had spent summers at the Dowie House adjacent to the cemetery which had prompted him to invest in bringing the railroad to Andes.]

Mrs. Ralph Shaver died suddenly at the home of her father, Harrison Terry at Shavertown Thursday morning, September 8. She was a great suffier [sic] from asthma and used morphene for relief of the trouble and is supposed to have taken an overdose. Her maiden name was Maggie Terry and her age was about 40 years.

Miss Ethel Aitkens, aged 27 years, eldest daughter of Elmer Aitkens, of Downsville, died at the Delaware County Tuberculosis hospital at 11 o’clock Sabbath evening, September 11. She had been ill for about nine years. She was well known in Andes, having attended school here.

Judge and Mrs. M. Linn Bruce and daughter, Miss May, are on an auto trip to Quebec and Montreal, Canada, this week. JA: [Miss May was Buffy Calvert’s mother].

Robert C. Campbell had the misfortune to break his right arm at the wrist last Thursday while cranking his Ford car as he was starting home from the Walton fair. JA: [Early cars didn’t have electronic ignitions and were started using a large crank that attached to the crank shaft, similar to the starting rope on a lawn mower. Turning that shaft using that crank was not for the weak, and often the crank would jerk back (similar to what occasionally happens with the lawn mower rope) and if you didn’t let go of the crank soon enough, you could easily break bones.  The fire department’s 1923 Day Elder fire truck starts with a crank.]

Cat Adopts Squirrels

At the home of Dr. O. S. Rich, at North Franklin, a mother cat has adopted two baby gray squirrels and is bringing them up with her own offspring. A few days ago a tree, in which a gray squirrel had its nest was felled and the old squirrel was accidentally killed. The two little squirrels left without a mother were given to the cat, and are apparently being as well cared for as by their natural mother.

Work on grading for the Andes-Margaretville state road was commenced on the Andes end this week.  JA: [The construction of this state highway greatly increased truck traffic and provided a cheaper mode of transporting goods. This was instrumental in the closing of the Andes branch of the Delaware and Northern Railroad.]

Dowie and Dickson are having a pipeless furnace installed with which to heat the Big Store. JA: [This is the current Willbees’ building.  This furnace was still in place until a few years ago.  My father worked at Dickson’s store in the late 40s and often recalled tending that furnace—returning before going to bed to bank the fire. I can remember going in there and standing over that giant register while waiting for my deli order.  It was still burning coal (it might have been wood also) and I had often commented that it was the warmest place in Andes.]

Robert Frisbee has taken an electrical job at Binghamton and is doing the wiring on electric cars. JA: [Bob Frisbee was a well-known figure in Andes, having started Frisbee Electric behind his home next to the current post office, with his son Roy taking over the business and moving it to a new building on Coulter Road.] 

There is a movement on foot to open a public library at the Bohlmann park house which was presented to the village. JA: [The Bohlmann family donated the house and the park grounds to the village.  The movement was obviously successful and there has been a public library there ever since. The park property along with some of the Andrews land across the brook was the site of an early tannery with the brook being dammed up to provide the necessary water power.]