YEARS GONE BY ARCHIVES |
The Call of June 7, 1918 SOLDIERS ARRIVE SAFELY IN FRANCE Schuylkill Haven's seventy odd soldier boys, members of Company C Engineers, are now in France. Monday morning, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Baker received the following cablegram: "Arrived safely in France. Notify Mill, Mellor, Dewald, Reber, Hummel, Brown, Harner, Bolton, Seiwell, Graeff, Rodgers." the cable was signed Paul baker. Just when the boys arrived and the kind of a trip they had will not be known for at least three to four weeks and probably a little longer. It may require a week or two before the boys are settled and then several weeks more before they will fond an opportunity to write and the postal cards and letters are received at home. According to the telegram received by Mr. and Mrs. Baker, the above mentioned boys clubbed together and sent the message that was more than heartily received. A two fold purpose was gained by sending the above cablegram. It assured the parents of the boys being notified and secondly it saved time in the transmission, as each cablegram sent requires a certain length of time and where there are hundreds of just such cablegrams, the amount of time consumed is enormous. It could not be ascertained whether this cablegram was sent by fast or slow service. If sent at slow service, the cost was six cents a word and required about three to four days to arrive here. If sent at fast service it costs twenty eight cents a word and required just half the time. The Call of June 14, 1918 LOCAL MILL MAY GO TO GOVERNMENT WORK The J. F. Bast and Sons mill, located on Berne Street, will within the course of another week or two, go on government work. Monday of last week, Mr. Samuel Bast was called to government headquarters in Philadelphia and there asked about the capacity of his mill and the number of machines. Monday of the present week the factory was visited by a government inspector who spent nearly the entire day here going over the situation. The Bast mill has over sixty machines manufacturing goods from fifteen to twenty two inches wide, while the other mills of the town generally manufacture from fifteen to eighteen inch goods. Should the government decide to take over the Bast mill, it would mean the furnishing of all the yarn necessary and should any additional machinery be needed, it could be commandeered. Mens underwear would be manufactured and likewise finished at this mill. READING COMPANY TO CUT DOWN CAPE HORN CURVE The Reading Company, it is understood, is making preparations to do away with the sharp curve on its road near Cape Horn. It is proposed first to change the course of the Schuylkill River by bringing it closer to the trolley road from a point opposite the old Mount Carbon nitrate plant at a point below Cape Horn. The space between the present location of the road and the new course of the river will be filled in and the tracks laid thereon. This will make it possible to have a straight track instead of the present heavy curve. COAL LOADED BY ELECTRICITY John Sirrocco, proprietor of the washery at the Schuylkill River bridge recently put into operation at his plant a scraper line by the operation of which the coal is loaded into wagons. This does away with the tiresome and lengthy loading by shovel. Two tons can now be loaded in less than three minutes. A similar scraper line has been installed at the P & R freight yards where the coal is loaded into coal cars. All that is necessary is for someone to push the coal from the wagon into the scraper line pockets and it is conveyed and dumped into the car. TROLLEY COMPANY REPAIRING BRIDGE The trolley company this week was busy repairing the bridge above Cape Horn. One of the abutments became weakened and immediate attention was necessary. At the same time the bridge is repaired it is proposed to move the same to a different location in order to eliminate the sharp curve at this point. CARRIER PRESENTED WITH WRISTWATCH Letter carrier Lester Crossley on Monday morning was presented with a handsome wristwatch. The presentation was made by Assistant Postmaster Frank Gehrig on behalf of the employees of the Schuylkill Haven post office. Mr. Crossley together with Willis Deibert and Daniel Dechert, both in the draft call, will leave on Saturday morning to enter Lafayette College where they will take a special course for services with the government. Harrison Berger has made similar application for service and should his papers arrive in time, he will accompany the three men. THE JOKE COST FIVE DOLLARS It cost a party by the name of Schreck just five dollars to play a joke. The auto of Dr. A. H. Detweiler had been left standing in front of the Schreck home on Haven Street by Ralph Maberry, chauffeur for the doctor. Schreck told him to move the machine as it interfered with his business. The request was refused. Mr. Maberry transacted some business and when he came back, found that the air had been taken from the rear tires. Sooner than enter into lawsuit, with which he was threatened, Schreck paid five dollars for the repumping of the tires. A RATHER COSTLY SCREEN DOOR Pottery Row still continues to furnish its bit of neighborly scrap and the last bit was on Saturday last. A Mrs. Smith, who figured in some escapade on Wednesday night last when it is alleged that she was going to drown herself and baby, brought suit before Squire Thomas, charged a neighbor by the name of Klopp, with stealing a screen door, that had been thrown on the ash heap. The arrest was made by the state police. Squire Thomas settled the case by Klopp paying the cost, amounting to over six dollars. NOT MANY LEAVING SCHOOL From all accounts the demand for labor and the opportunity for the employment of many pupils of the public schools is not going to effect the attendance in school the coming term. Professor Hoover reports that comparatively few scholars intend giving up their studies for employment. This is evident by the requests for but a few permanent working certificates. During the week about fifteen vacation certificates have been issued. These latter certificates permit the pupil working during the vacation period only. The Call of June 21, 1918 YOUTH AVERTS SERIOUS ACCIDENT A serious accident was narrowly averted on the state pike near the borough limits on Wednesday in which a life might have been sacrificed. The victim was James Whitaker of Broadway, aged seventeen years. Whitaker was riding a bicycle when the auto truck of Saint Clair Grain Elevator came along. Whitaker on his bicycle pulled along side of the moving auto truck and reached out with his hand to catch hold of the side of the truck for a pull. In so doing he lost his balance and fell, the rear wheel of the heavy truck passing over his foot at the ankle fracturing the member. Whitaker was placed in the truck and taken to his home where his injury was dressed by Dr. Ryan. OLD LANDMARK CUT DOWN A cherry tree in the front yard of Edward Riebsaamen was cut down this week. The tree has been sort of a landmark in Spring Garden and the oldest residents remember when they were boys playing beneath its boughs. Ants had started at the very roots and had completely eaten the entire center of the tree. It was cut down as a matter of safety. RESIDENTS COMPLAINING OF DUST Heretofore the residents of Garfield Avenue have enjoyed freedom from the dust nuisance and were able to sit on their porches each evening with a certain degree of comfort. With the closing of the state road, teamsters and motorists are compelled to use Garfield Avenue coming from the road leading from Seven Stars to the Second Mountain. One evening during the present week, 125 machines were counted passing through this avenue. DOG DIDN'T LIKE THE TOWN A handsome collie dog enroute from Tamaqua to Williamstown didn't like our town. After being taken from the Reading Flyer Monday morning he was tied in the baggage room at the local station. When it became time to place the dog on the Mine Hill train, it was missing. The mother who was chasing her boy around the block had nothing on station agent Johnson as he chased this dog. The dog was finally captured by two boys at six o'clock in the evening and returned to the station. SUFFERING FROM IVY POISONING Nearly a score of young boys, residing on Columbia and Berne Streets are suffering with ivy poisoning. The arms of some of the victims are swollen to almost twice their natural size. The poisoning was contracted while the boys were picking cherries from several trees in the Bittle field near the foot of the Schuylkill Mountain. The Call of June 28, 1918 TEACHERS GIVEN TEN DOLLAR INCREASE The teachers at the Schuylkill Haven public schools, at an adjourned meeting of the school board on Monday evening were granted an increase of ten dollars per month. Considerable discussion was entered into by the members on this amount as it was feared that the board could not grant the increase and at the same time meet all of its obligations. If the appropriation from the state comes up to the expectation of the board, the board will have clear sailing and at the end of the term will not be compelled to borrow any money to tide it over. COAL WILL COST MORE NEXT MONTH By reason of the increased freight rates imposed by the railroads, the price of coal will be increased in Schuylkill Haven by the dealers at least forty cents per ton instead of fifteen cents per ton as first announced several weeks ago. This new rate of coal will become effective July 1. But the worst is yet to come for the consumer as there is likely to be another extra thirty cents per ton tacked on by the coal companies on September 1. This is the date upon which advances have been made on coal every year and it is likely to occur this year as it will be remembered the thirty cents reduction made in April of this year was for a five month period only. As this period expires in September we can expect pay at least 70 to 75 cents more per ton after September 1 than was charged during this month. PEOPLE DOING AWAY WITH WELLS A large number of the residents of Berne Street are doing away with their wells and are installing the borough water. The fear of another epidemic of typhoid fever in this section is compelling the residents to pursue the safety first course. The installation of the borough water would certainly meet with the hearty approval of both the town council and the board of health. NEW WASHERY TO BE CONSTRUCTED A new washery will shortly be constructed along the banks of the Schuylkill River but a short distance from the covered bridge on Columbia Street and in close proximity to the Sirrocco washery. It is understood that a party by the name of Spanhuth from Pottsville will conduct the new washery, having purchased a tract of ground from a party by the name of Steinbrunn paying in the neighborhood of $1400 for the same. HAD A MIRACULOUS ESCAPE J. C. Lautenbacher had a most miraculous escape from serious injury during the past week when he went through the floor of a conservatory on his premises. The fact that he grasped two stringers and with a death grip held fast, alone prevented him from going into several feet of water. As it was he was in water almost to his armpits. Assistance immediately arrived and he was pulled to terra firma. |
ADS FROM THE CALL NEWSPAPER IN JUNE OF 1918 |