Old News

[dave]

Some club names sounding rather odd almost 3/4 of a century later.

Click once or twice to enlarge to read.
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[dave]

Growing up in the 1950's in Utica, I seldom saw new residential construction, and believe me, I rode my bike EVERYWHERE. In the summer, I would get out an old city map my uncle had given me and pick out a street and take off. Uptown, downtown, along the West Shore railroad tracks, that bike went anywhere. Flying down cobbled stone Thorn Street or threading in and out among buses nosing their way along Genesee Street (until my Uncle Billy, the cop who was often on the Busy Corner in those years told my mother I'd almost caused an accident ... she made me promise to not take my bike downtown ... yeah, ok, sure, Mom.)

The only home construction I remember was a house or two on an empty lot anywhere in the city and some new houses at the east end of James Street past Gibson Road (now quite settled.) Of course, New harford and Whitesboro and North Utica were a different story. I never considered North Utica to be "really" Utica, and in fact it wasn't even on my bike odyssey hit list of streets. I don't know why, maybe because of its seeming remoteness to a kid brought up on Cornhill. Or maybe I was just too lazy to pedal over there. The first obstacle was the Baggs Square bridge over the railroad, but there I had a plan. I always wondered if I began at the top of John St. at Rutger "Park," and could get all the way down John to Baggs square without having to brake or stop, and my J.C. Higgins speedometer indicated a speed above 25 miles per hour (damned fast on an Indian 26 inch,) could I possibly coast up and over the bridge without pedaling. I remember attempting the run a few times, but was never able to run down John unimpeded and break the 25 mph "sound barrier" as I called it. Some years later after the senior prom at about 4:00 in the morning I attempted the feat in my father's '55 Buick in neutral. My date was not impressed. In fact she began to speak of jumping out somewhere around Bleecker Street when I ran the red light.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah. Below is a challenging read, but it chronicles the building boom then going on in Utica in 1921. Not surprisingly for that time, many new building permits were for garages, but the article features street names where new houses were going up.


Click once or twice to enlarge. A hint for reading facsimile: sometimes it's easier if the text is a bit SMALLER than what you might guess is about right. After you click to enlarge and have the image as large as possible, use the control/minus keys to lessen the size gradually. If that doesn't work for you, physically back away from your monitor screen.
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[dave]

Dec 9, 2012 18:57:13 GMT -5 dave said:

I've come across a lot of references to cops (and citizens) allowed to shoot at the tires of speeding cars. Or at least the law looked the other way.

I posted this somewhere on this forum about the folks in Washington Mills.

I love this story, mainly because of how the people and local politicians banded together and traveled down to Utica to ensure justice would be done. In my mind's eye, I can see Bobbbiez at the front of the crowd.


Here's the graphic of the story. It's barely readable, even enlarged, so I included the best transcription I could do.

Click once or twice to enlarge.

Re the previous post, one page back, about speeding in Washington Mills. I found this photo of the hamlet in 1908. That would be a year after the Oneida County Sheriff said speeders could have their tires shot out from beneath them. So, it's possible the three people standing next to the bicycle in this photo are an armed posse.

[dave]

This is more advertising than news, but interesting nonetheless.
A Bixler Diner arrived and was constructed on LaFayette Street in 1931 across the street from the Elgin Diner.

See the New York Diners Blog for more info at:

nydiners.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html

(Clipper, you should have fun looking around there.)

[dave]

Bristol connection ...


All he has is his record

[dave]

Part of the U.S. government's concerted publicity effort to convince Americans that WW I was the right place to have their children killed.

[dave]

Anger ...

Click to enlarge ... twice in Firefox.

[dave]

Ah, but was it self defense?

[dave]

Don't be a slacker ...

[dave]

$2,000 was a lot of money ....

[dave]

Click to enlarge, twice in Firefox.

[dave]

Interesting. He may have been protesting the war.

[dave]

Recovering ...

[dave]

This is out of sequence. Note the date. Sweet made this statement from his hospital bed on October 9, three days after the shooting.

[dave]

The following February of 1918, Genova was no-billed by the Grand Jury and walked away free. Daniel Sweet recovered completely and was exempted from military service. That might have saved his life, since many of the men sent to Europe in 1917 were simple cannon fodder.



Joseph P. Genova had a good record as a railroad policeman and he continued in his career. He was well respected in his profession. As early as 1921, four years after the Daniel Waterman Sweet affair, Genovawas cited for helping the sheriff to capture a crminal named Bulldog Ward. Other successes follow.


Here are two other news clips.






There are various mentions of him in the Schenectady and Amsterdam newspapers over the years detailing his police work. He and his wife have a daughter and two sons, the the boys featured in the newspapers as they go off to war and return. His eldest, Joseph Jr. marries an Irish girl (oh, well...) and follows in his father's footsteps as a railroad detective. His second son, Leonard Genova, became an award winning surgeon in the Albany area before moving to New Jersey.

In 1932 Genova came up against someone on his side of the law as he testified before then Governor Franklin Roosevelt on behalf of a convicted murder seeking leniency. Roosevelt wanted to know why the D.A.'s promise of leniency in return for the convict's testimony was not brought out before. The D.A. denied the offer was made, but Genova claimed such an offer was made and it was well known to the District Attorney's office. Genova probably could not have gone up against the DA if he had not worked for a private police agency, the New York Central RR Authority.

Joseph Genova, Sr, who lived much of his life at 393 Division St. died in 1954 and here's his obit.







I'm still looking for info on Daniel Waterman Sweet and I'll post when I find something.