- Fall River 1920 (Part 2 of 2) -
In August of 1920, Don Richie, age 17, of Fredonia was killed instantly by a bolt of lightning while standing on the sidelines during a baseball game at Altoona. Hugh Wilson, age 23, a farmer living a few miles northeast of Coyville, was killed when struck by a bolt of lightning, while bailing hay. The bolt came out of an almost clear sky and there was no rain.
Attention is called to the “Traffic Ordinance” of the City of Fall River. “It has been called to the attention of the Mayor and Council that the provisions of this ordinance, with reference to Parking Cars, also the Twelve-mile speed limit is violated daily. Notice is hereby given, that all persons violating the Ordinance on and after Saturday, August 7, 1920, will be arrested and dealt with according to the provisions of the Ordinance. Take notice and govern yourselves accordingly.”
This article first appeared in the Fredonia Daily Herald: “Friday evening about 6:30 to 7:00 o’clock, Marshall Turner, a young man about 22 years of age, was literally blown to pieces on the banks of Fall River when about three sticks of dynamite exploded in his hands.
Young Turner, together with three companions, one of them a cousin, and all fellow workers in the Fredonia Portland Cement Company, were on the banks of Fall River, about a mile southeast of the cement plant, where they were reported to have been using dynamite in fishing. Two or three blasts, as it is stated were exploded and young Turner had about a stick and a half in his hands and was leaning over it, lighting the fuse, protecting the flame of the match with his body. In his pockets were several sticks for later blasts, just how much is not known. His companions were grouped about nearby and without warning the explosion occurred. They were felled by the blast and Turner was blown to pieces.
All that could be found of the unfortunate boy was that part of the body from the chest upwards, this being wrapped around a bush. A hand was found in a boat in the water nearby. The deceased had been engaged as a kiln feeder at the cement plant since before the war. During the war he was in service but returned to his position upon return from service. He leaves a wife and two small children to mourn his loss.”
Price of school books in 1920: Foster’s -History of U.S.-69 cents, Civics and Citizenship- 38 cents, Wooster Arithmetic-Book 1-23 cents.
An article in the Fall River Star described one of the smartest men in the world and he lived in Fall River. “It doesn’t make any difference what the subject comes up he knows more about it than anyone else. He knows more about the law than the lawyers, more about the Bible than the preachers, more about how the children should be taught than the school teachers, and more about running a newspaper than the editors. No, you will not find him practicing law, preaching the gospel, teaching school, or editing a newspaper: you will almost always find him in a crowd telling the others how much he knows.”
This article on telephone “brokers” was found in the Fall River Star in October of 1920. “American telephone users, accustomed to ordering a phone one week and “raising Cain” with the telephone company if it is not installed the next week, should consider the situation of the man who has need for a telephone in many foreign countries, suggests an official of the United States Independent Telephone Association.
“Even in such enlightened and civilized city as London, says this telephone man, the development of the telephone is so far behind the demand for this useful instrument that it is the custom of Londoners who are so fortunate as to be subscribers of the exchange there to advertise their telephone rights for sale when, for any reason, they intend to give up their phone. The right to take over the instrument of a person leaving, or giving it up, is worth easily a hundred dollars and many times much more.
“But in Japan, according to a correspondent of the Chamber of Commerce Journal of London, the situation is even worse, for there the traffic in buying and selling telephone rights has grown to such important proportions that “telephone brokers” have sprung up to deal in telephone installations.
“The American who feels most unjustly dealt with if his telephone is not furnished him at least within a month or so should sympathize with his Japanese brother, for in that country the average time between applications and installations is ten years!
“The telephone business is a government monopoly in Japan. There is a great demand for phones and when anybody gives up his telephone, he can have it transferred to someone else. This is where the telephone “broker” comes in, and ‘he knows the pulse of the market so well that, whereas before the war it was easy to get a telephone for around $500, it is no uncommon thing to pay around $1,500 now.’
‘The telephone is, indeed, an important gauge of business prosperity,’ says the writer. ‘When the business slump came in April, 1920, telephones dropped sharply probably in anticipation of many businesses closing up; but the fall has not continued, so apparently there is confidence in business conditions to exist, even dully.’
‘The American telephone user who complains against a purely nominal charge made by the telephone company for the installation of a telephone should consider whether he would like to trade conditions with subscribers in London or Japan or other foreign countries,’ suggests a representative of the local telephone company, who handed in the foregoing clipping. ‘So, well is the telephone business managed here by private corporations that a few dollars serves better here than $500 or even three times that much does there.’” Speaking of telephones, here is an article talking about “The Real Girl of the Switchboard.” How about the telephone operator? What kind of girl is she really, anyway? Is she the chattering, gum chewing, noisy, slangy young woman portrayed by the writers of light fiction? The hotel telephone girl, for instance, “pictured chattering ungrammatically with bell-hops, exchanging confidences with strangers, making dates with patrons and accepting theatre tickets from anyone who offers them.”
Sherman Rogers, a writer, undertook recently to find out. His impressions after his first-hand investigation were published in the “Outlook.”
‘“The telephone girl has been grossly maligned by wooden-headed upstarts,’ he says. ‘The average telephone girl is about the best human worker in America.’ Mr. Rogers found her to be both intelligent and refined and a person of unusual presence of mind, made by her training.
“It takes a year’s training to make an efficient telephone operator. She has to learn self-control, says Mr. Rogers, ‘since there is hardly another position so trying and made so unpleasant by the idiosyncrasies of unfeeling telephone subscribers.’ ‘If a girl can keep her wits under the bombardment of abuse, censure, silly questions, and overtures from mashers, it is difficult to imagine circumstances that would cause her to lose her head.’ ‘I talked to one who had been in the exchange only about six weeks,’ he adds. ‘She had gone through her course of training, quite true, but was a little anxious and a trifle nervous, fearing to make mistakes that would call down the abusive wrath of an unfeeling subscriber. She told me that when a man or woman abused her over the telephone it completely upset her for the balance of the day.’
‘“Anyone with an ounce of sense realizes that if the telephone girls were so frivolous and inefficient as some people try to make her out, she would not be able to hold her job for over thirty seconds in any phone exchange in the country. It is high time the petulant public cease taking out their morning grouches on the exchange operators.’
‘“There are executive officers in every district in the country with whom justifiable complaints should be registered. Gentlemen never swear at operators, nor abuse them. People who wear trousers, but are not included in the class of gentlemen, should hang their heads in shame when they realize the real character of the girl’s they are so prone to abuse.’
‘“Every community,’ says Mr. Rogers. ‘owes much to the telephone girl, and should vigorously resent any light-headed aspersions (an attack on the integrity of someone) to her discredit.’” Article from “High School Notes” found in November in the Fall River Star: “The Fall River High School football team played a game with what they considered the Climax town team, as there were more out of school players than High School players. The score was 7-0 in favor of Climax. The only score came in the last fifteen seconds of the game. The home team played well against the heavier players of Climax. There were no serious injuries on either side although time-out was called several times. Fall River got the ball down to the four-yard line but could not score.”
In December of 1920, the Frisco railroad had a force of men employed in Fall River installing electric signal bells. Three bells were being installed; one at the east switch, one at the Main Street crossing and one at the crossing west of Main Street. The connections were made about 1,000 feet from the edges of town. The trains passing would throw a switch and the bells continued to ring until they passed over the other switch. This improvement had been needed for some time, as there had been several serious accidents happen at the Main Street crossing.
This article was first published in the Winfield Free Press and later in the Fall River Star. “For Sale: One Ford car with piston rings; two rear wheels, one front spring. Has no fenders, seat or plank; burns lots of gas. Hard to crank. Carburetor busted, half way through. Engine missing; hits on two. Three years old; four in the spring. Has shock absorbers and everything. Radiator busted, sure does leak. Differentials dry; you can hear it squeak. Ten spokes missing. Front all bent. Tires blown out. Ain’t worth a cent. Got lots of speed; will run like a deuce; burns either gas or tobacco juice. Tires all off; but run on the rim. A darn good Ford for the shape it’s in.”
