ARCHIVESOCT14

The Call of October 2, 1914
WILL HAVE BASKETBALL TEAM

With the very near approach of the basketball season, the lovers of this indoor sport in Schuylkill Haven
have begun to inquire as to whether our town will have a team this year. From all information that can be
gathered it is very probable the town will be represented by a faster team than has been in the cage for the
past years. Mr. Harry E. Snayberger, it is said, will have charge of the team and will conduct the sport this
year. Messrs. Snayberger and Felix successfully conducted basketball several seasons ago. The selection
of the team has been underway for some time and it is understood quite a strong lineup can be secured as
there are basketball players from all points desirous of being on the Schuylkill Haven team.

COUNTING RURAL DELIVERY MAIL

In compliance with the instructions of the Post Office Department, Postmaster Reed and his corps of clerks
will for the first fifteen days of the month, keep a close tabulation on the incoming and outgoing rural
delivery mail. It will be necessary to tabulate practically every piece of mail matter that is handled. The
record will have to show the number of pieces of incoming and outgoing mail in the different classes, the
weight, the postage on the same, the number of fourth class pieces and the postage. As there is
considerable mail handled here for the rural routes, the corps will be kept real busy.

The Call of October 9, 1914

COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS

Town Council held a regular monthly meeting on Monday evening of this week. Outside of the usual
routine business, there was not much to occupy the attention of the councilmen and yet discussion and
argument continued until it was rather late in the evening.
William E. Mill of North Main Street was recommended to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of
Howard Betz. The recommendation was accepted by council and he was notified to present himself to be
sworn in by the burgess. As the burgess prepared to administer the oath of office, a regular young riot
broke out in one corner of the room over the discussion of the electric light affairs, making the newly
proposed member rather dubious about connecting himself with an organization of this kind. The argument
soon subsided and Mr. Mill was properly sworn in.
The argument arose over the discussion of the recommendation to install a scraper line at the electric light
plant to take care of the coal. Mr. Hoffman stated with completion of the new coal house it will be possible
to store between 150 and 175 tons of coal. That it is best to have a good supply of coal on hand.
Frequently when a car of coal is to be ordered the mines are not working and the coal company loads a car
from a bank and ships it. The coal is then of the very poorest kind and works a hardship on both boilers
and firemen alike. He stated with a scraper line such as he had an engineering firm estimate on, the coal
would be taken from a car or a wagon direct and carried to any particular portion of the coal house and
deposited. With the old system of unloading coal, it requires one or two men to shovel the coal back from
the entrance in order to get it in. When the coal is required it again requires one or two men to move it to
the entrance, so that it is necessary to have one or two men in the department almost for this purpose
alone. Mr. Hoffman stated the arrangement suggested was to chute the coal into a pit and a conveyor
would then take it into the coal house. The estimate would be between $350 and $450.
Mr. Rooney stated that the borough is always losing money, year in and year out. That it is doing nothing
but borrowing and borrowing money to meet the bills and that after a while the councilmen find they are in
trouble. He stated that whenever the electric light department wants anything in the way of large
improvements, loans are made thus increasing the borough's indebtedness. He stated it was time the
electric light department be made to pay back the money it borrows from the borough. After vigorous
discussion, Mr. Rooney resigned from this committee.
Mr. Rooney in the early part of the evening caused hearty laughter when he stated that every winter there
accumulated on the pavements and gutters of saint Peter Street, ice two feet thick, seven feet long and
nine feet wide. That this was due to defective gutters and that the same should be repaired before the
winter sets in again. Someone remarked that would be an excellent place to cut ice if it were two feet
thick.
Dr. A. H. Detweiler was then recognized and spoke about the "cut out" ordinance or the portion of the
traffic ordinance prohibiting the use of the "cut out." He stated it should be either enforced or rescinded
and that strangers at night go up Main Street with the "cut outs" open making a great deal of noise but they
are not fined, while taxpayers in town are fined when they violate the ordinance. The doctor stated he did
not think the machines with the cut outs open made any more noise than the trolleys or heavy wagons.
That if the ordinance were enforced it would work a hardship on the automobilist with the small machine as
they could not get up a steep incline or grade unless they opened the cut out. While he had no fault to find
with local authorities, he thought all persons should be treated alike and those that violate it fined. The
burgess stated that all fines from automobilists were from out of town. Local owners of machines were only
notified and warned. The burgess stated the ordinance was not as big a joke as Dr. Detweiler stated it was.
The solicitor stated in answer to a query, that the borough could not enforce the law only after nine o'clock
as that would conflict with state law.
Mr. Hoffman stated he was aware the cut out ordinance was being violated at night but that the council or
public can not expect the burgess or police officer to be on duty day and night at the salary they receive.
He stated there is a need for a regular officer on duty at night. There was also a need for a regular
uniformed officer on duty also during the day so that in case he was needed it would not be necessary to
phone all around the country before an officer could be secured. He stated he was not criticizing the
present police officer as it was not and could not be expected of him to be on duty all the time, either
during the day or night at a salary of $15.00 per month. Mr. Hoffman stated the borough can afford to pay
two officers a good salary, one for day service and one for night service. Other towns much smaller than
Schuylkill Haven have efficient police protection by reason of the fact that they pay a good salary to their
officers.

The Call of October 16, 1914

WILL HAVE A PLAYGROUND

Schuylkill Haven is to have a parkway and its children are to have a playground. This is the decree which
has gone forward and all efforts will be directed towards making it a reality. The site selected for this
purpose is the bed of the old Schuylkill Canal running parallel to Canal Street in the South Ward. This bed
for quite a distance has already been filled up almost to a level with the street. The balance will be filled up
in the near future. The first move on the part of the Highway Department of the town will be a thorough
investigation. They have decided to pursue this work by degrees and the first procedure was to order a
number of trees. Recently fifty maple trees, ten Norway spruce and a dozen or more hydrangeas were
ordered. They will be planted in rows along the banks of the canal, a line on each side.
Next year it is proposed to fill in the remaining portion of the canal bed, level and grade it properly so that it
can be used for a playground for children and at the same time sort of a parkway for the citizens. It will
most of all remove an eyesore in the town and in its place will be found very shortly, a modern boulevard or
parkway.
As to the playground feature, the town council will be seriously handicapped in this respect as the law will
not allow this body to take from the treasury any money for paraphernalia for a playground. It is therefore
necessary to organize a Children's Playground Association or a Civic Society of some kind to carry out the
completion of this idea. There is little doubt this can easily be done as the public as a whole has come to
realize that the town is badly in need of a playground so that children will not need to play in the streets and
be subject to the danger of passing teams, automobiles and trolleys.

RUN OVER BY AUTOMOBILE

Dorothy, the four year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Thompson, was struck by an automobile Tuesday
afternoon while crossing Dock Street in the vicinity of the store of George A. Berger. The automobile that
struck the child was one with an Ohio state license plate. The owner of the car stopped the machine and
carried the child to the home of her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Hirleman. Dr. Lessig was summoned and it
was found that outside of a number of body bruises and lacerations the child had escaped serious injury.
The automobile was running slow at the time, had it been going at the usual speed at which automobiles are
allowed to go on this street, despite a borough ordinance regulating the speed, the child would have been
killed. The front of the car struck the child on the head, knocking her down, luckily between the wheels.
The machinery beneath the car caught her clothing and dragged her a short distance. Had the wheels
passed over her body she would have either been killed or seriously injured.

The Call of October 23, 1914

THE UNLOADED REVOLVER SHOOTS

That story of the unloaded gun or revolver that was accidentally discharged, repeats itself almost every day
in some part of the state and usually carries with it serious or fatal results, can this week be related with the
principals in the action being Schuylkill Haven residents. George Saylor and Dewey Saylor while handling a
.38 caliber revolver that was thought to be unloaded were given quite a scare. The revolver was being
handled by Dewey. One of the men suggested that Dewey see whether it was a self cocker. Although it was
thought to be empty, hardly had an investigation begun when it was discharged and the bullet struck
George Saylor who was standing about three feet away. The bullet luckily grazed the right arm of Mr. Saylor
inflicting an ugly wound. Had the bullet gone six or nine inches to the left it would have pierced his internal
organs and would certainly have resulted fatally.

INJURED JUMPING FROM TRAIN

Two young boys of town, namely Sterner and Goas, the former a son of Mr. and Mrs. Levi Sterner and the
latter a son of Mrs. Charles Goas had narrow escapes from serious injuries one morning this week in
jumping from a coal train. The southbound train was making pretty good time when the boys tried to get
off. They were hurled to the ground and after rooting up the earth for a short distance finally came to a
stop. Outside of body bruises nothing serious resulted. They were taught a lesson, however, and will
either discontinue riding on coal trains or not try to get off when the train is moving at a rapid rate.

YEARS GONE BY
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