Culled by Judy Garrison
With commentary by Jim Andrews
From October 1922 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
Robert L. Gerry is preparing to erect a horse barn on what is known as the Amos Farm in southern Bovina. The structure will be large enough to hold 30 racing horses. A stone road will also be built to it. It is also rumored that a racing track may be built.
T. Black, recently appointed fuel administrator for Delaware county has issued instructions to coal dealers and consumers. Dealers are instructed to sell coal at the price in effect last March, and not more than a ton may be delivered to a consumer at one time. Fine or imprisonment or both is the penalty for a violation. Advices state that not more than 50 per cent of a normal supply of coal will be available before next March. [Jim Andrews: It appears that there was an energy shortage in 1922 also!]
The September report of the local station of the United States weather bureau show that the mean maximum temperature for the month was 78 degrees, the mean minimum 49 degrees and the mean 64 degrees. The total precipitation for the month was only 1.12 inches and of this .90 of an inch fell on the 12th. On the 4th the rainfall was .22 of an inch and on two other days there was a trace of rain but not enough to measure……In the last quarter of a century this is the lightest rainfall with a single exception. The minimum for the period was in 1917 and was .86 of an inch.
Tuesday evening about 6 o’clock the fire bell sounded an alarm of fire. It proved to be a chimney burning out at the old Hunting hotel and the services of the firemen were not needed. [JA: This is the Hunting Tavern building which was occupied as apartments at that time. The residents heated and cooked with wood.]
The proposition to bond the town of Andes for $50,000 to build a stone road down the Tremperskill, brings to light the fact that while Andes village maintains its own streets and has just bonded to improve them, it would also have to pay its share of the $50,000, thus placing a double burden on the residents of the village. [JA: This must have been the first time that the cost for road construction and maintenance was spread across the entire Andes tax base. The residents of the former village now pay through town taxes for the upkeep of every road maintained by the town.]
Harold Thompson, a clerk in the Delaware National bank, at Delhi, while hunting on Scotch mountain Saturday in company with his younger brother, Carlton, had the misfortune to shoot himself through the left forefinger. In climbing over a log the muzzle of the gun had been placed in the ground and some dirt had entered it. In cleaning it out the gun was discharged, hitting his finger. Amputation of the member at the first joint was necessary. [JA: The hunter safety classes that are now recommended for new hunters could have prevented that.]
Fall of Shavertown Woman Fatal. Mrs. Cynthia Barnhart, who lived with her son Scott Barnhart, died Monday, October 23, at the age of 83 years. Last Friday she fell to the floor while doing some canning and broke her hip and her arm. On account of her age the doctor did not set the breaks. [JA: Surgical intervention for a broken hip probably wasn’t available at that time and those that actually lived through the fall and resulting pain would end up in a wheelchair. That would never happen today. A person of that age now would have surgery and be walking the next day. Modern medicine is definitely a good thing.]~