More About Pelham Hose Company No. 2 of the Village of Pelham (Today's Pelham Heights)

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Little study seems to have been made of the history of firefighting in Pelham Heights.  I have collected some information about the early years of Pelham Heights' Bravest and have written once before about their earliest years.  See Fri., Jun. 23, 2017:  A Little of the Early History of Hose Company No. 2, the Pelham Heights Volunteer Fire Fighting Unit.  

Pelham Heights was incorporated as the "Village of Pelham" in 1896.  It had no organized firefighting unit of its own until about 1912.  Until then, the Village relied on firefighters of the First Fire District of Pelham, the headquarters of which stood in the adjacent Village of North Pelham.  

In 1912, or perhaps shortly before, Pelham Heights residents formed an auxiliary company of volunteer firefighters associated with the First Fire District of Pelham.  The company was named Hose Company No. 2 of Pelham.  (Although some accounts indicate the company was formed in 1913, the company existed at the time of, and its members participated in, the 1912 Firemen's Inspection held on September 25, 1912.)  Dr. Augustine C. McGuire, a Cliff Avenue resident, was an important organizer of Hose Company No. 2.

Today's Historic Pelham article collects some additional information about the early years of Hose Company No. 2 of Pelham.  

Originally, according to one account, the Pelham Hose Company No. 2 "was formed as an auxiliary company, answering to all alarms in Pelham Heights and second alarms in North Pelham."  Shortly after creation of the Company, however, the "interest of the members" grew to such an extent that the Company began answering "all alarms."

As an "auxiliary company" at the time of its founding, the membership of the Company was limited to twenty firefighters.  By about 1922, however, the Company established itself as a "regular company" with expanded numbers.  Indeed, that year it requested the Board of Fire Commissioners to allow it to expand membership of the company from twenty to thirty men.  Thus, it engaged in a membership drive to "interest . . . the younger men of Pelham Heights."

For a number of years -- at least a decade if not more -- Pelham Hose Company No. 2 held monthly meetings in the homes of members.  In addition to the day-to-day risky business of fighting fires, an important part of the focus of the Company was to prepare for its annual inspection, an opportunity to demonstrate competence, training, and readiness to the community the Company served.  

In those early days of local volunteer fire fighting there was a constant theme of the need to improve the professionalism of Pelham's Bravest.  At one meeting held in the home of Harry Dotts on September 11, 1922, a local Fire Captain spoke with the members of the Company and "emphasized the necessity of reporting to fires in uniform, because of the danger involved for the individual member and the need for identification and prevention of improper persons passing inside the fire lines."  In response, the Company moved to authorize "the appointment of several special policemen for duty at time of fires, such duty to apply only to Pelham Heights." 

In those years, one of the most important events of the year for local firefighters and townspeople was the annual inspection of the First Fire District of the Town of Pelham.  Hose Company No. 2, of course, took part proudly in such inspections that usually were followed by parades, with marching bands, that proceeded through North Pelham and Pelham Heights.  A vivid description of one such parade following an annual fire inspection held in 1917 during World War I appears immediately below, followed by a citation and link to its source:

"Annual Inspection.

The annual inspection of the fire department of the first fire district of the town of Pelham was held last evening at 8 o'clock at Firemen's hall, Fifth avenue.  The inspecting party consisted of the fire commissioners, fire chiefs and representatives of the town and village governments.  Following the inspection a parade with about 150 in line was held through Pelham and North Pelham.  The firemen were headed by the subway band of New York, and were escorted thru the streets of North Pelham by a squad from the North Pelham Home Defense league of that village.  The firemen in other years were escorted by the village police.  There were three companies in line, the Liberty Engine company, the Relief Hook and  Ladder company and Hose company No. 2 of Pelham Heights, with a total of five pieces of apparatus including the automobile combination hose and pump apparatus of the Liberty Engine company, the old steamer, the old hose wagon, the hook and ladder and the new automobile apparatus of Hose company No. 2.  Refreshments were served at headquarters where a social time followed the parade."

Source:  Annual Inspection, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Sep. 29, 1917, No. 8483, p. 5, col. 1.  

Hand-Drawn Hose Cart of the Type Acquired by

Hose Company No. 2 of Pelham in About 1912.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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The articles below, quoted in full, form part of the basis for today's Historic Pelham article.  The text of each is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"To Increase Membership Of Hose Company No. 2
-----

Hose Company No. 2 will endeavor to interest the younger men of Pelham Heights in the Fire Department, and in that end requested the Board of Fire Commissioners to allow the membership of the company to be increased from twenty members to thirty.  Gardner Hazen, secretary of the Pelham Heights company, appeared before the Board of Fire Commissioners Tuesday night and made the request.  The commissioners granted it.

Originally the Pelham Heights Company was formed as an auxiliary company, answering to all alarms in Pelham Heights and second alarms in North Pelham.  The interest of the members of this company has become such that the company answers all alarms.  Being an auxiliary company the membership was limited to twenty, but since the company has established itself as a regular company it was thought advisable to enlist the interest of the younger men of Pelham Heights."

Source:  To Increase Membership Of Hose Company No. 2, The Pelham Sun, Jun. 9, 1922, Vol. 13, No. 15, p. 6, col. 2.  

"Heights Hose Company Favors Fire Police
-----

Pelham Hose Co. No. 2 held its September meeting Monday, Sept. 11th, at the residence of Mr. Harry Dotts.  After a discussion of the approaching annual inspection, two new members were elected, Messrs. Clifford B. Howell and Wm. L. Bradley.

Capt. Ingalls in addressing the meeting emphasized the necessity of reporting to fires in uniform, because of the danger involved for the individual member and the need for identification and prevention of improper persons passing inside the fire lines.

A motion was made authorizing the appointment of several special policemen for duty at time of fires, such duty to apply only to Pelham Heights.

The membership committee took under consideration five names which will be voted upon at the next meeting.

Eleven of the company were present, Capt. Ingalls, Lieutenants Howe, Davis, Eliot, Hazin, Rich, Snyder, Specht, R. P. Young, Dotts, Baker.

GARDNER HAZEN,

Sec. Hose Co. No. 2."

Source:  Heights Hose Company Favors Fire Police, The Pelham Sun, Sep. 5, 1922, p. 7, col. 2.  

"Fire Board Sets February 24th As Date Of Election
-----
Seven Candidates For Six Positions Open On Fire Board of First Fire District

Indications point to a lively contest at the election of the new Board of Fire Commissioners for the First Fire District which will take place at the Town Hall on Saturday, Feb. 24, from 2 P. M. to 9 P. M.  Six candidates have been nominated for the five Commissionerships on the Board.

Pelham Heights Hose Co. nominate Commissioner Brundage for re-election and also placed in the field L. L. Willard.  Both nominations were indorsed [sic] by Relief Hook and Ladder Co. . . . "

Source:  Fire Board Sets February 24th As Date Of Election, The Pelham Sun, Feb. 9, 1923, p. 1, col. 1.

"FOSTER BEGINS 22ND YEAR AS FIRE CO. HEAD
-----
Nimphius, Powers and Van Cott Elected Captains of Three Companies in First Fire District.
-----

Charles W. Foster, Sr., of Fourth avenue, North Pelham, the only man to hold the office of president of Relief Hook & Ladder Co. No. 1 of the First Fire District, was re-elected to that office on Monday night at the annual meeting of the company.  Mr. Foster began his 22nd year in this office.  Gordon Miller was re-elected president of Liberty Engine and Hose Co. No. 1, and all other officers of both companies were re-elected.

A. C. Nimphius was again elected captain of the Hook and Ladder Company, with Harry Pickard and Howard Berger, first and second lieutenants, respectively.  The other officers elected in this company were:  James W. Caffrey, vice-president; William L. Dollny, treasurer; Edward Broege, recording secretary; A. A. Tegetmeier, financial secretary [illegible] seargeant-at-arms.

Robert Powers is again captain of Liberty Engine Company, and Henry Zeller and John Keppel, first and second lieutenants.  Other officers are William Reilly, vice-president James Bollettieri, financial secretary; James Black, recording secretary; Frederick Head, treasurer, and Christopher Cullen, sergeant-at-arms.

At the annual departmental election held last week, Chief Robert O. Reilly, First Deputy Chief Irving J. Wallach and Second Deputy Edward Field were re-elected for the next year.

D. Merrill Van Cott was elected captain of Pelham Height Hose Co. No. 2 at the annual meeting which was held recently.  Arthur Koppel was chosen first lieutenant and Richard Smith, Jr., second lieutenant and secretary."

Source:  FOSTER BEGINS 22ND YEAR AS FIRE CO. HEAD, The Pelham Sun, Mar. 10, 1933, p. 6, col. 1.

"New Secretary for Hose Co.

Kenneth C. Downing of Clifford avenue has resigned as secretary of Pelham Heights Hose Co. No. 2 and the work has been taken up by John W. Roche of Corlies avenue."

Source:  New Secretary for Hose Co., The Pelham Sun, Dec. 11, 1942, p. 11, col. 3.

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Freak Storm Reportedly Drowned Dozens of People Off Pelham Shores in 1922

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On a beautiful, lazy late afternoon in the spring of 1922, nearly twenty thousand people descended on City Island to swim and fish in Long Island Sound.  It was June 11, 1922.  Hundreds and hundreds of canoes, skiffs, rowboats, sailboats, and other watercraft plied the waters around City Island from Execution Light to Hunter's Island and beyond.

Bathers crowded local beaches on City Island, on Hunter's Island, and on the mainland.  Indeed, hundreds of bathers crowded onto the property of the City Island Bathing House to enjoy a lovely Sunday afternoon.

Shortly before 5:45 p.m. that day, the proprietors of the City Island Bathing House noticed something strange on the horizon.  It looked like a monumental, dark-colored wall approaching.  Though it took a little time, it became clear that a massive storm was approaching quickly.  The proprietors began shooing bathers out of the water as the storm quickly overtook the region.

All hell broke loose.  One eyewitness described the storm as a "Kansas twister."  Winds were clocked as high as 88 miles per hour.  The skies unleashed a "white blanket" of hail.  Within moments, hundreds of pleasure craft in Long Island Sound were capsized.  Many drowned immediately.  Others fought for their lives and clung to capsized craft in the heavy waves and high winds.  Volunteers at life saving stations on City Island and Hunter's Island launched small craft and began dragging exhausted excursionists out of the heavy waters.  One rescuer tried to save a drowning man, but was dragged under by the man.  Both drowned.

Everywhere there were heartrending scenes.  In one rowboat, eight people including a young mother and her infant daughter were tossed into the waters.  One of the passengers tried to save the baby.  She sank beneath the waves, as did the infant.  The distraught mother clung to the side of the rowboat as others tried to keep her from going under the heavy waters.  A tree fell into a chimney at a hotel on Boston Post Road.  The tree and chimney collapsed the roof and crushed a couple to death inside.  Lightning killed two people.  Others were electrocuted by downed power lines.  A new Ferris wheel in an amusement park on nearby Clason's Point was blown over into the waters of long Island Sound, killing seven and injuring 35.  

Fifteen minutes later, the storm passed.  Pandemonium began.  Bodies were floating in Long Island Sound.  Rescuers crowded onto launches and began plying the waters of the Sound searching for survivors.  Husbands, wives, sons, and daughters crowded City Island beaches searching for any sign of missing loved ones.  Indeed, according to one account:

"Following the tragedy, City island became a scene of pandemonium.  Many of the men who had gone out to fish had left their wives and children there to picnic.  As soon as knowledge of the drowning became general and heads of the families, sons, and in some instances daughters, failed to return the survivors became hysterical."

All communication with the outside world was cut off.  The storm had severed not only electrical lines, but also phone lines.  Indeed, it was three hours before word of the catastrophe reached the rest of the region including New York City authorities.

Soon bodies began washing ashore from Larchmont to City Island.  The casualty list began to grow.  Confusion reigned.  Newspapers the following day reported up to 75 deaths in the freak storm.  The newspapers published the identities of the confirmed dead, but quoted police as saying it would be days before all the missing persons reports could be resolved and a true tally of the dead would be known. 

One boat rental facility reported that 46 of its rowboats were missing after the storm.  All were in use at the time the storm hit.  People began lining up outside a City Island police station seeking any information they could obtain about their loved ones.  There were so many people waiting for news of missing loved ones that the very long line became a human conveyor belt.  As the person at the head of the line asked police about missing loved ones, if nothing was known, that person would return to the end of the line and wait in line again until reaching the front and asking again.

A local bathing house was used as a makeshift morgue.  There the scenes were heart-breaking.  According to one account:

"There were many heartrending scenes as friends and relatives of the drowned identified them.  So many men, women and children became hysterical that it was necessary for the police to remove them to other parts of the island and keep them under observation.  Relatives of the missing were equally affected."

The freak storm did millions of dollars of damage in the region.  It only took fifteen minutes, but those fifteen minutes unleashed death, devastation, and pandemonium on Pelham and the surrounding region on that late spring day nearly one hundred years ago.

Wreck of Clason Point Ferris Wheel After June 11, 1922 Storm.
Source:  POLICE PUT STORM DEATH LIST AT 75, The Evening
World [NY, NY], Jun. 12, 1922, Vol. LXII, No. 22,073, p. 1, cols. 1-8
& p. 2, cols. 1-3.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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There were hundreds and hundreds of newspaper articles written about the freak storm on June 11, 1922.  Below is the text of two such articles.  Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"POLICE PUT STORM DEATH LIST AT 75
-----
POLICE PLACE DEATH LIST IN STORM AT 75, WITH BODIES OF 47 RECOVERED
-----
Biggest Mortality Was at City Island, Where 16 Drowned and 46 Rowboats Are Unaccounted For.
-----
Seven Killed When Ferris Wheel at Clason Point Collapses -- Property Damage Incalculable.
-----

The official police estimate of the number of victims of the storm that swept this city and vicinity yesterday evening is seventy-five.  It is known that forty-seven were drowned or otherwise killed.  The estimate of seventy-five is based upon the number of inquiries that have been made about missing persons at Bronx and Westchester Police Stations.

Thousands visited the Fordham Morgue to-day and looked at the bodies there.  It would appear that most of the visitors were looking for missing relatives.  From the number of rowboats, canoes and motor boats that have been washed ashore along the Sound beaches between the Harlem River and Greenwich, Conn., the estimate of seventy-five victims in this vicinity seems to be low.

The greatest loss of life by drowning was at City Island, where the storm came with terrific fury and hundreds were caught far from shore in canoes and rowboats.  One boathouse at City Island reported to-day that forty-six rowboats rented yesterday before the storm are missing.

At New Rochelle James Stroker lost his life while trying to rescue five Italians from a capsized rowboat.  Stroker and Charles McGrath of Larchmont were on shore and saw the rowboat capsize.  They went out in a launch and saved three of the five men.  Two of the Italians were drowned and one of them dragged Stroker down with him.

The body of a young man wearing a blue sweater, white trousers and white shoes came ashore at Larchmont Yacht Club shortly before noon.  There were no identifying marks on the clothing.

Harry Klein of No. 1619 Washington Avenue, the Bronx, reported to the City Island police to-day that Sadie Dexler, 19 years old, a stenographer, of No. 496 East 174th Street, was drowned in the storm.  According to Klein, he and Miss Dexler were in canoes a short distance off shore when the storm broke.  The canoes were capsized.  He made an effort to save the young woman, but she was swept from his reach.

Among those reported missing were Miss Rita Anderson of No. 103 Centre Street, City Island, an eighteen-year-old stenographer, and B. A. McLaughlin, a young man who had taken her out for a row on the Sound from Lane's Beach.  They returned home late last night, explaining that their boat had been swamped by the waves kicked up by the storm.  When they righted it, the oars were gone.  It took them three hours, paddling with their hands to reach Nevin's Dock on the Bronx shore.

Moe Buskin, twenty-three, No. 230 Miller Avenue, Brooklyn, a salesman, is believed to have drowned.  His friend, Don Selvin, No. 1220 42d Street, Brooklyn, reported to the police of the City Island Station this morning.

'There were four of us in a canoe,' he said, 'and the storm came upon us between Hart's Island and Half Moon Beach.  Three of us, including Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Moss, managed to cling to the upset canoe and were rescued by a lighter.  But Buskin drifted out with the tide.'

The 50-foot sloop yacht Viking capsized in Larchmont Harbor.  Three women were caught in the cabin of the yacht.  To rescue them it was necessary for the crew to swim to shore, get axes and steam out to the yacht in a launch and cut a hole in the hull.  The women were uninjured.

The Sound shore of Westchester was in darkness last night.  Officials of electric light companies say it will take a week to repair the damage done in a few minutes.

Carl Vollmer, twenty-two, of Pennyfield Road, Bronx, was reported missing to the police by his mother, Bella, to-day.  He went canoeing off City island yesterday and has not returned.  It is believed he was drowned.

Death came not only by drowning.  Some were killed by falling trees; others were struck by lightning and others were electrocuted by fallen high power feed wires.  The catastrophe was made worse by the cutting off of communication when telephone wires were broken.  Most of those who were killed and injured were far from their homes.

RAILROADS WASHED OUT AND TRAINS STALLED.

Up-State there are reports of railroads washed out; highways blocked by fallen trees and gutted by torrents.  The City of Oneida was five feet under water for an hour.  Syracuse reports a loss of $1,000,000.  

Scores of the 3,000 trees recently planted in Central Park were uprooted.  

Seven persons were killed and thirty-five injured when a Ferris wheel at Clason Point Park in the Bronx was torn apart and blown into Long Island Sound.  A man was killed by a live wire in Newark.  A tree was blown on the brick chimney of Red Lion Inn on the Boston Post Road, killing a mother and daughter at a table.

Motor cars were abandoned in many parts of the metropolitan district by their owners in seeking safety.  One woman left her car near Hackensack only to be killed by a falling tree, and a similar fate overtook a man near Piping Rock. L. I.  A condemned tree in Mount Vernon fell on a woman and child, killing both.  These are but a few of the accidents, hundreds of them of a minor nature.

The storm swept up from Pennsylvania, through New Jersey and New York, the wind at times having a velocity of 88 miles an hour.  Before passing out to sea it split into three distinct but short disturbances.  It was the second storm of the day which did the most damage, the first being mild.

Many who saw the approach of the afternoon storm, which lasted only about fifteen minutes, said it resembled a Kansas 'twister.'

Valentine Fendrich, chief of the Fire Alarm Telegraph Bureau, sent out every man in his department to repair storm damage.  Fifteen lines were broken in Brooklyn, ten in the Bronx and five in Queens.  Comparatively little damage was done in Manhattan, where the wires are all underground.

Mr. Fendrich said that the overhead wire system in other boroughs were at the mercy of a storm such as that of yesterday and he meant to use the experience to emphasize his recommendation that the wires in Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Richmond be put under ground as rapidly as possible.

Credit for reducing the total of casualties was given by the police to-day to the management of the City Island Bathing House.  Attaches seeing the black clouds approaching called in the hundreds of bathers from the water and when the first fierce gust of wind broke all the pleasure seekers were safely under shelter.

Among the 20,000 holiday makers about the island were the regular summer colony, week-end campers and many visitors.  The storm descended suddenly at 5.45.  Bathers and others on the beach escaped easily, but few of the boats could reach shore.  Just how many persons were picked up from the water by life-savers and members of nearby boat clubs never will be known.

MOST OF THE VICTIMS IN SKIFFS AND CANOES.

The known casualties were mostly off Execution Light, six miles east of City Island; Rat Island, three miles east, and an island a mile north, in waters known as fishing grounds.  Most of the overturned boats were skiffs and canoes, many containing women and children.  Those who aided in keeping down fatalities after the first blast were crews of the two stations of the United States Volunteer Life Saving Corps on City Island and Hunter's Island, and the members of the City Island, Metropolitan, Stuyvesant, Morrisania and Oak Point yacht and boat clubs.  In many cases girls and young men were dragged from the water by the experienced water men just as they were about to succumb.

The police boat John F. Hylan and other boats of the Marine Division played powerful searchlights on the water all night, but early to-day no further bodies had been recovered.  The police were waiting for the tide to turn when it was expected other bodies would be washed ashore, but they continued grappling.  

City Island at 4 A. M. was still in darkness and the telephone wires were still down, not even the Fire Department there having a connection.

THE DEAD.

PETGOLD, MARY, fifty-two, No. 3416 Levere Street.
KAPLAN, BEATRICE, thirteen, No. 346 Pacific Street, Brooklyn.
KOHLER, AGNES, three, No. 236 West 11th Street.
RIGOFF, MARION, No. 1472 Seabury Place, the Bronx.
[Illegible], JULIA, twenty-six, a stenographer, No. 848 Whitlock Avenue.
FARLEY, PATRICK, thirty-eight, No. 41 Commerce Street.
BUSKIN, MOE, twenty-three, No. 200 Miller Avenue, Brooklyn.
LONDON, MORRIS, twenty-one, No. 734 East 165th Street, the Bronx.
REITTER, ISIDOR, nineteen, No. 21 Charles Street.
KEINING, JOHN, thirty, No. 2416 Levere Street, Bronx.
KEINING, GEORGE, two and a half years.
PFOFFENDORF, ALFRED, six months.
DEXLER, SADIE, nineteen, No. 496 East 174th st., Bronx.
STROKER, JAMES, No. 32 Union Avenue, New Rochelle.
GRATTINO, JOHN, No. 234 East 105th Street.
GUIDE, SALVATOR, No. 1957 First Avenue.
Unidentified man in yachting apparel washed ashore at Larchmont Yacht Club.

There were many heartrending scenes as friends and relatives of the drowned identified them.  So many men, women and children became hysterical that it was necessary for the police to remove them to other parts of the island and keep them under observation.  Relatives of the missing were equally affected.

The wind, which struck Pelham Bay at 5.45 and blew until 6 o'clock with the fury of a hurricane, left in its wake a scene of desolation.  Trees were uprooted, buildings were unroofed, windows were shattered and telephone and electric light wires were blown down.

This resulted in the severing of all communication with the island.  As a consequence, news of the tragedy did not become generally known outside until three hours after its occurrence.  The island police were handicapped, as they could not summon ambulances or aid except by crossing the bridge leading to the mainland by motor.


Lieut. Reilly went over about 9 o'clock and flashed word to Police Headquarters.  In the meantime yacht clubs in the vicinity and crews of two life saving stations started the work of rescue in motor boats.  They were joined when darkness fell by the police boat John F. Hylan, which cruised about, throwing its searchlights over the waters.

Scores of amateur fishermen, men, women and children, were rescued, clinging to the keels of their overturned boats.  Others had been carried close enough in to wade ashore.  Many of the boats were without occupants.  

'There is no way of knowing just how many were drowned until several days have elapsed,' said Lieut. Reilly.  'Many of the people who come here on Sundays to swim or sail are from Manhattan, Brooklyn, and New Jersey towns.  We shall have to wait until we check up with families who report missing persons who left home with the intention of coming here to spend the day.'

ALL NIGHT HUNT FOR BODIES OF VICTIMS.

One of a party on a yacht owned by Tom Conrad, a song writer, told last night of the rescue of three men from a swamped motor boat on the Sound.  The hail was to thick it formed a blinding white blanket, he said, and the yacht passed the boat before the men were seen.  They went back and pulled them out of the water.

The waters of the Sound were dotted with overturned boats, hats and articles of clothing, he said, for a distance of several miles.  At the Stuyvesant Yacht Club on City Island members saw that a catastrophe had happened.  They jumped into boats and joined the rescue work.

All night hundreds of persons knowing that members of their families had gone to City Island for the day, went there by automobile or in any other way possible.  They lined the street in front of the police station asking for information of relatives and friends, and when there was no information passed down to the foot of the line to ask again later.

The search by the police caused additional excitement among the crowds.  Patrolmen laden with hats, pocketbooks, parts of women's and men's clothing, shoes and stockings came to the police station.  The pile grew larger every minute and the work of tabulating the articles was handicapped by the fact that the desk Lieutenants and Sergeants pressed into service had to work by the light of candles, oil lamps and lanterns.

Mrs. Petgold and Agnes Kohler, three years old, two of the identified dead, were in the rowboat with six other persons who were rescued.  The storm caught this party in Pelham Bay.  The boat overturned almost immediately and all were thrown into the water.

Mrs. Petgold, who tried to save the child, sank at once, and the others of the party, including Mrs. Katherine Kohler, the child's mother, managed to keep afloat.  Mrs. Kohler was saved by members of the Stuyvesant Yacht Club.  Albert and Edward Ottes and F. E. Acker of the Hunter's Island life-saving station rescued Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Thessendorf of No. 333 East 118th Street, Miss Anna Bursall and another person whose name was not obtained.

FOUR MEN MISSING FROM LAUNCH IN THE SOUND.

A 33-foot glass cabined launch drifted into the float of the Clason Point Yacht Club, Clason Point, the Bronx.  Its Custom license is 171.  A man who reported the finding of the launch said he had seen the boat earlier in the day with four men on it, but no trace of the men was found when the launch drifted in.

the police of Greenwich, Conn., early to-day notified Detective Sergt. Wiessmer, of the Missing Bureau at Police Headquarters, that Gladys Redinger, twenty-four years old, of No. 803 East 116th Street, had been taken to a hospital in Greenwich last night after being rescued from Long Island Sound.  John Anderson, of No. 4138 Disney Avenue, the Bronx, who, the police say, was the rescued girl's fiance, was drowned.

William Taylor, nineteen years old, of No. 2063 Crotona Avenue, the Bronx, who aided in rescuing ten or fifteen persons thrown into the Sound from rowboats off City Island, was taken from his home early this morning to Fordham Hospital suffering from submersion.  Taylor assisted in the work of rescue until he became exhausted and had to be rescued himself.  After being attended he was taken to his home in an automobile, and after telling his family of the horrors he had witnessed and saying nothing of the heroic part he himself had played in the rescue work, the young man collapsed.  

According to reports received at Police Headquarters Anderson and the young woman were canoeing on the Sound and were caught in the storm.  The canoe was overturned and its occupants thrown into the water, Anderson swam with the girl to the canoe and helped her cling to it.

The yacht 'Countess,' owned by J. B. Dunbough, of No. 177 Summit Avenue, Mount Vernon, passed nearby and went to the rescue.  Miss Redinger was reached in time and lifted into the yacht.  Anderson, his strength exhausted in holding his fiancee against the side of the canoe, lost his hold on the boat and sank beneath the water before rescuers could reach him."

Source:  POLICE PUT STORM DEATH LIST AT 75, The Evening World [NY, NY], Jun. 12, 1922, Vol. LXII, No. 22,073, p. 1, cols. 1-8 & p. 2, cols. 1-3.  

"50 DIE IN STORM IN GREATER N.Y.
UPSTATE PROPERTY LOSS TO RUN INTO MILLIONS
-----
SCORES OF PLEASURE BOATS OVERTURNED AS WILD GALE SWEEPS LONG ISLAND SOUND
-----
Eight Bodies Recovered -- Police Believe 30 More Missing -- Pandemonium Reigns at Sunday Resort as Hysterical Women Fail to Find Husbands and Sons -- Six Perish as Ferris Wheel Is Wrecked.
-----
TWO KILLED WHEN TREE CRASHES THROUGH ROOF ON DINNER PARTY
-----

NEW YORK, June 11 -- Fifty persons are reported to have been drowned off City Island in Long Island Sound when the mad storm that hit the city late today capsized scores of small pleasure craft.  Eight bodies have been recovered and thirty more persons are reported missing.

Twenty thousand holiday-makers went to City Island today and half went out on the waters of Pelham Bay.  It was jammed with boats of every description when the storm hit it.  Few had opportunity to get ashore.  The known casualties occurred off Execution Light, which is about six miles east of City Island; Rat Island, about three miles east, and another island nearby.

Ten Thousand Were Fishing.

It is estimated by Lieut. Joseph Reilly of the City Island detectives that no fewer than 10,000 persons were fishing off those places when the storm broke.  After it had passed and the sky cleared, the waters of Pelham bay and Long Island sound were dotted with overturned rowboats, launches, canoes and yachts.

The police immediately started the work of rescue.  At 9 o'clock tonight eight bodies had been recovered, and Lieut. Reilly said he was making a conservative estimate when he put the bodies to be recovered at thirty.

Scene of Pandemonium.

Following the tragedy, City island became a scene of pandemonium.  Many of the men who had gone out to fish had left their wives and children there to picnic.  As soon as knowledge of the drowning became general and heads of the families, sons, and in some instances daughters, failed to return the survivors became hysterical.

All communication by telephone with the island was cut off by the razing of wires and telephone poles, and this hampered the police.  They improvised a morgue in one of the bathing pavilions and as rapidly as the bodies were recovered they were taken there for identification.

Six Killed on Ferris Wheel.

Six persons were killed and more than forty hurt when the wind caught a huge Ferris wheel at a Clason Point amusement park and crushed it to the ground.

A women and her seven-year-old daughter were crushed to death and several other persons injured when an oak tree blown by the wind crashed through the roof to the crowded dining room of the Red Lion inn in Boston Post road, carrying with it an old-fashioned stone chimney.

The dead were taken from the cars that were thrown into the sound.  The wheel, 100 feet in diameter, was constructed only recently, park officials said, and was considered one of the best in the country.

The dead:

Louis Dorotio, 524 Edith street, Old Forge.
Emily Lawyer, New York.
Mrs. Pasquale Kreda, New York.
Idella Vanderpool.
Pellegrino Fasuk.
Unidentified boy.

Among the seriously injured were:  Pasquale Kreda, Kenneth Lawyer, Anita Schalk and Anna Fleet.

Paul Simon, owner and operator of the wheel, was arrested on order of Assistant District Attorney Quigley on a charge of homicide.

The bodies of seven canoeists caught in Long Island sound off City island at the height of the storm were washed ashore after nightfall.

Girl Blown Overboard, Drowned.

Miss Edda Smith, seventeen, walking with a companion along the Reservoir road at Ossining, was blown into the water and drowned.  

Charles Emerson, New Rochelle clothing manufacturer, was rowing in Echo bay with his wife and three children when the storm broke.  He managed to row to shore, then died from a heart attack.

A tree fell across a party of motorists seeking shelter on the Brookville road near Locust Valley, Long Island, killing Harry Halleran of Oyster Bay, and seriously injuring his three men companions.

Unable to reach shore in the stiff wind, Jack Lowenthal, twenty, was drowned while swimming in East river.

Two Killed by Lightning.

Concetti Basiataso and his ten-year-old son Anthony of Mount Vernon were killed when a tree, under which they had found shelter in the Bronx, was struck by lightning.

Two men were killed in Newark, N. J., when they came in contact with electric wires torn down by the wind.

A massive decayed tree on the New York - Westchester county line at Mount Vernon fell, crushing to death Mrs. Cassie Cacavalle and her infant son.

Moe Ruskin, one of a party of canoeists in Echo bay, was drowned.  Three other members of the party swam to shore after the canoe capsized.

Ten excursionists on the ferryboat Hildegrad, returning from Interstate park, N.J. to West 158th street, were injured when the wind tore a lifeboat from its davits.  In falling the boat struck the railing of the lower deck at a spot where about a dozen passengers had gathered for shelter, then it slid into the river and disappeared.  Sidney Jacob, fourteen, was badly hurt and was taken to a hospital.  Others injured were able to go to their homes."

Source:  50 DIE IN STORM IN GREATER N.Y. -- UPSTATE PROPERTY LOSS TO RUN INTO MILLIONS, Buffalo Courier [Buffalo, NY], Jun. 12, 1922, Vol. LXXXVII, No. 163, p. 1, cols. 1-8.  

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1922 Cornerstone Laying of Today's Community Church of the Pelhams in Pelhamwood

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It was a ceremony rich with tradition held on what was once the site of the "Old Frog Pond" at the corner of today's Washington and Highbrook Avenues.  The objective was to lay the cornerstone of the Congregational Christian Church, known today as the Community Church of the Pelhams located in Pelhamwood.

The ceremony was held on June 11, 1922.  The lovely half-timbered church was partially built when a large crowd gathered on a hot day to celebrate the event.  

The cornerstone used was not freshly-hewn.  Rather, it once had served as the cornerstone of another significant building.  It was the original corner stone of the Trinity Congregational Church built at 176th Street and Washington Avenue in New York City.  The stone was saved after that church building was "given up for public school purposes, on account of the tremendous change in the character of the population surrounding the church building."  

Even more interestingly, the original contents of the cornerstone laid in 1887 were kept within the stone.  The church added additional contents to the stone related to the Pelham Church.

I have written before about the history of today's Community Church of the Pelhams.  The Church is located at 448 Washington Avenue in a lovely part of Pelham known as Pelhamwood.  Originally part of the Congregational Christian Churches, it is now part of The United Church of Christ that was created in 1957 when the Congregational Christian Churches merged with the Evangelical and Reformed Churches.  For more about the history of the church, see, e.g.:

Tue., Mar. 04, 2014:  Information About the Earliest Years of Today's Community Church of the Pelhams.

Sat., Jan. 25, 2014:  Putting the Finishing Touches on the Lovely New Church in Pelhamwood in 1923.

Today's Historic Pelham Blog article transcribes an article that described the events of the day during the cornerstone laying ceremony.  It also includes immediately below a depiction of the church building as it originally was planned that was published with the article.

"To be new church at Pelhamwood; cornerstone laid yesterday."

Depiction of Today's Community Church of the Pelhams as it

was Originally Planned.  Source:  CORNER STONE OF PELHAM

CHURCH LAID YESTERDAY, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY],

Jun. 12, 1922, No. 9921, p. 7, cols. 3-4.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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"CORNER STONE OF PELHAM CHURCH LAID YESTERDAY
-----

Pelham, June 12. -- The cornerstone of the new Congregational church of the Pelhams was laid successfully yesterday.  The corner of Washington and Highbrook avenues, Pelhamwood, witnessed a unique gathering.  On the site of the old frog pond there is arising a beautiful gothic stone and one-half timbered church edifice.  A splendid audience, despite the heat of the day and the gathering clouds at sunset, witnessed the dignified and highly edifying and inspirational ceremony of the laying of the corner stone of the progressive new liberal church of which the Rev. Dr. Wm. Milton Hess is pastor.

The day was a red letter day in the young history of the new church.  

The out-door service began with the singing of the fine old Pilgrim Father hymn, 'O God, Beneath Thy Guiding Hand, Our Exiled Fathers Crossed the Sea.'  This was followed by the innovation [sic] by Rev. Ralph L. Peterson of the Bedford Park Congregational church, New York city.  Selections from the scriptures were read by Rev. Chas. Francis Potter, who lives in Pelham and who is building a new liberal church on 110th street, New York city.  A solo was next splendidly rendered by Mrs. Habert Smith, of Spokane, Wash.

Mr. Walter E. Hallett, of Bronxville, the deputy comptroller of the Bank for Savings, and a former president of the board of trustees of the Trinity Congregational church, New York city, read an interesting historical record of the church.  He spoke of the wonderfully equipped church plant at 176th street and Washington avenue, New York city, that had to be given up for public school purposes, on account of the tremendous change in the character of the population surrounding the church building.  He spoke very highly of Dr. Hess as minister and church builder.

He was followed by Mr. John Oscar Ball, president of the board of trustees of the new church.  Mr. Ball resides in Pelhamwood, and he bespoke much interest in the new church.  Its progressiveness greatly appealed to him, he said.  He prophesied the church would fill a greatly needed want.  He was enthusiastic about its future; also highly complimenting Dr. Hess.

Brief addresses followed by Dr. James Robert Smith, secretary Congregational church building society, who promised the financial aid of this society later on; by Rev. Ernest M. Holliday, general secretary, Congregational church extension boards, and by Rev. Dr. Chas. W. Shelton, secretary Congregational church extension society.

The Rev. Dr. Wm. Milton Hess then announced the contents of the box in the corner stone.  The old contents, put in when Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott officiated at the laying of the corner stone originally in 1887 in New York city, and the new contents concerning the removal to Pelhamwood, were interestingly described.  Following a greeting by Walter A. Vonderlieth, of the Pelhamwood association and a trustee of North Pelham, the corner stone was laid by Rev. Dr. Wm. E. Stevens, 33d Mason, past grand master and chaplain of the grand lodge of Masons, state of New York.

A hymn was sung before and after he officiated.

The prayer was offered by Rev. Dr. Charles H. Richards, former secretary and now editorial secretary of the Congregational church building society.

Just as the corner stone was laid and after the congregation had gotten into the lower hall of the church building, the terrific wind and rain storm burst, reminding one of the Prophet Elijah's experience in King's 1:18.  God was in the 'Still Small Voice' of conscience as the Rev. Dr. Newell Dwight Hillis, of Henry Ward Beecher's Plymouth church, Brooklyn, held the audience spell-bound for another half hour.  

It was a magnificent oration, and it was most fittingly given by Dr. Hillis, the successor of Dr. Lyman Abbott, who made the chief speech at the laying of the identical corner stone, 35 years ago, at 176th street and Washington avenue, New York city.

A splendid God-filled letter from Miss Villa Faulkner Page, leader of the fellowship of the life more abundant of Brooklyn and Manhattan, was next read.  This was followed by a brief greeting from Mary E. T. Chapin, of New York city, of the International New Thought society.  Mrs. Chapin was much appreciated.

The doxology was followed by the benediction given by Rev. Carl S. Weist, of the First Congregational church of Mount Vernon.  

The whole affair was a brilliant success, and many favorable comments were made by those who were fortunate enough to witness the event."

Source:  CORNER STONE OF PELHAM CHURCH LAID YESTERDAY, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Jun. 12, 1922, No. 9921, p. 7, cols. 3-4.

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Bootlegger Captured in North Pelham in 1922

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Given its proximity to New York City, it comes as no surprise that the tiny little Town of Pelham played a colorful role during Prohibition as a cross-roads for illegal distillers, liquor-serving roadhouses, and bootleggers during the 1920s and early 1930s.  Today's Historic Pelham Blog article tells yet another story of illicit bootlegging in North Pelham -- this time in 1922!

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North Pelham Police Captain Michael J. Fitzpatrick was a stickler for detail.  He took pride in his work and pride in his appearance.  On a lazy Pelham afternoon in late spring, 1922, Captain Fitzpatrick strolled into the little tailor's shop on Fifth Avenue to have his coat pressed.  As he waited, he glanced out the shop window and watched the hustle and bustle of Pelham outside.  

As he watched, he noticed an interesting character whom he did not recognize struggling with a large suitcase.  The man was "glancing around furtively" as he carried a very heavy case along the sidewalk outside.

Chief Fitzpatrick called North Pelham police headquarters and dispatched Police Officer James Whalen to intercept the stranger on the sidewalk and bring him to headquarters.  Chief Fitzpatrick then hustled to headquarters where he met Officer Whalen with the stranger who identified himself as "Henry Bersohn."  Bersohn, it turned out, had just arrived in North Pelham on a New York, Westchester & Boston Railway train.  

Chief Fitzpatrick and Officer Whalen had the stranger open his heavy suitcase.  Inside were twelve quarts of "colorless fluid . . . labeled 'Gordon's Gin.'"  Doing his duty, Chief Fitzpatrick took a swig.  According to the Chief, it "tasted like Hell."  (The local newspaper reported that Chief Fitzpatrick "was forced by law to taste it.")  

Busted, the stranger wove an odd tale.  He told a strange story of a strange man on the New York, Westchester & Boston Railway train who asked him to hold the suitcase, then wandered off and failed to return.  For a time, Chief Fitzpatrick could not shake the man from his "fishy story."  Then the Chief had an idea.

He mentioned casually that if the liquor were for the man's own consumption and he had a permit to transport it, the situation "might be different."  Henry Bersohn took the bait.

Bersohn changed his tune and "admitted" to the Chief that the gin was his own and intended for his own consumption.  The Chief confronted Bersohn with the change in his story and the fact that one way or the other he had lied.  At that point, "Bersohn then broke down and confessed that he was bootlegging and that the liquor was intended for Pelham Manor consumption."

Chief Fitzpatrick arrested Henry Bersohn.  He was brought before Judge I. Balch Louis on Saturday, June 10, 1922.  After his formal arraignment he was released on a $250 bond furnished by his father.  The case scheduled before a Federal Grand Jury.

North Pelham police had apprehended yet another bootlegger due to good old-fashioned police work.  Pelham Manor, consequently, would be just a little bit drier for just a little while. . . . . . 

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"Bootlegger Arrested In North Pelham
-----
Captain Fitzpatrick and Officer Whalen Arrest Henry Bersohn on Fifth Avenue
-----
Twelve Quarts of Gordon Gin Found In Suitcase That He Was Carrying -- Released On $250 Bond
-----

Twelve quarts of Gordon gin which were en route from the Boston and Westchester station to Pelham Manor, snugly ensconced in a suitcase carried by Henry Bersohn, now repose on the desk of Captain Michael Fitzpatrick of North Pelham, while Bersohn is out on $250 bail awaiting a Federal jury trial.

Captain Fitzpatrick was having his coat pressed in the tailor shop on Fifth Avenue when he noticed Bersohn traveling along Fifth Avenue.  Bersohn's furtive glancing around and the fact that the suitcase seemed particularly heavy aroused the captain's suspicions, so he dispatched Officer James Whalen to bring Bersohn into headquarters.

On the suitcase being opened, twelve quarts of colorless fluid which is labeled 'Gordon Gin' but which the captain says tasted like h__l (captain is forced by law to taste it) were found.

Bersohn was quizzed at headquarters as to where he got the liquor.  He told a strange story of a strange man on the train asking him to hold the suitcase for a while, and the strange man failing to come again for his grip.  His story was fishy, so Fitzpatrick mentioned the fact that if the liquor was for his own consumption and he had a permit to transport it, the case might be different.

Bersohn then changed his story, according to the police, and told that the liquor was his own and intended for his personal use.  Fitzpatrick immediately pointed out that the statement contradicted his story of the man on the train, and Bersohn then broke down and confessed that he was bootlegging and that the liquor was intended for Pelham Manor consumption.  He was arrested and brought before Judge I. Balch Louis on Saturday.  After a formal arraignment he was released on a $250 bond furnished by his father, the case to be taken before the Federal Grand Jury."

Source:  Bootlegger Arrested In North Pelham -- Captain Fitzpatrick and Officer Whalen Arrest Henry Bersohn on Fifth Avenue -- Twelve Quarts of Gordon Gin Found In Suitcase That He Was Carrying -- Released On $250 Bond, The Pelham Sun, Jun. 16, 1922, Vol. 13, No. 16, p. 1, col. 7.  

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I have written extensively about Pelham's struggles with Prohibition and the enforcement of the unpopular laws that it spawned as well as illegal stills, bootleggers, and speakeasies in Pelham. See: 

Tue., Mar. 13, 2018:  House Fire in Chester Park Revealed Bootleg Still in 1935, Nearly Two Years After the End of Prohibition.

Tue., Feb. 27, 2018:  Police Raided a Storefront Still and Bootlegging Operation in a Fifth Avenue Store in 1926.

Wed., Feb. 21, 2018:  Massive Prohibition Raid in 1927 Netted Four Bootleggers and 225 Kegs of Beer.

Tue., Jan. 30, 2018:  Visit to the Wrong House Uncovered Massive Pelham Manor Bootlegging During Prohibition.

Wed., Jan. 03, 2018:  The Massive Illegal Still Discovered at 137 Corlies Avenue During Prohibition in 1932.

Wed., Jun. 21, 2017:  The Infamous Ash Tree Inn of Pelham Manor and its Prohibition Violations During the 1920s.

Thu., Feb. 02, 2017:  Bootleggers Began to Feel the Heat in Pelham in 1922.

Mon., Dec. 26, 2016:  Pelham Stood Alone in Westchester When It Voted to Go Dry in 1896. 

Mon., Aug. 22, 2016:  Pelham, It Seems, Became a Hotbed of Bootlegging and Illegal Stills During Prohibition.

Mon., Jul. 06, 2015:  Police Raided a Massive 300-Gallon Illegal Liquor Still on Corlies Avenue in 1932.  

Fri., Jun. 19, 2015:  More Liquor Raids in Pelham During Prohibition in the 1920s.

Wed., Jun. 17, 2015:   Prohibition Rum-Runners Delivering A Boatload of Booze Were Foiled in Pelham in 1925.

Fri., Apr. 24, 2015:  The North Pelham "Speakeasy Section" Created Quite a Stir During Prohibition.

Tue., Nov. 18, 2014:  More Bootleggers and Speakeasies Raided in Pelham in 1929 During Prohibition.
Fri., May 23, 2014:  How Dry I Am -- Early Prohibition Efforts Succeed in Pelham in 1896.

Thu., Apr. 03, 2014:  The Prohibition Era in Pelham:  Another Speakeasy Raided.

Tue., Feb. 18, 2014:  Pelham Speakeasies and Moonshiners - Prohibition in Pelham: The Feds Raid the Moreau.

Thu., Feb. 07, 2008:  Village Elections in Pelham in 1900 - New York Athletic Club Members Campaign Against the Prohibition Ticket in Pelham Manor.

Thu., Jan. 12, 2006:  The Beer Battle of 1933.

Thu., Aug. 11, 2005:  How Dry I Am: Pelham Goes Dry in the 1890s and Travers Island Is At the Center of a Storm. 

Bell, Blake A., The Prohibition Era in Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 25, June 18, 2004, p. 12, col. 2.

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