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Post by jon on May 12, 2010 17:00:39 GMT -5
The police were notified yesterday that Mrs. Wormworth was missing and that footprints had been found on the bank of the canal near John street that were believed to have been made by her on account of a peculiarity of her shoes. Officers Dagwell and Miller were sent to drag the canal and they searched from 11 a. m. to 6 p. m. in the locality mentioned without getting any trace of the woman. Some one then stated that it was suspected that Mrs. Wormworth had gone to Syracuse and the search was abandoned.
The woman's husband, Richard E. Wormworth, told Coroner Dodd that his wife was about 29 years old and that she left home Saturday evening between 9 and 10 o'clock. He said that he supposed she was going to the house of a neighbor. Before leaving she offered him a purse containing a small sum of money. He told her to keep the money; that she might need it; to which she replied that she would have no use for it.
Wormworth said that his wife's mother was ill in Elmira and he is ill himself. It is thoughtthat she may have worried over these matters and become despondent. There were no marks of violence on the body.
UTICA HERALD DISPATCH - AUGUST 9, 1909
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Post by fiona on May 12, 2010 19:14:29 GMT -5
from "The Romance Of An Old Street" an artical in the Saturday Globe, undated, after 1905.
"Over on the Ave!" To the people of the present generation that expression contains no peculiar signifigance. It may mean Park Avenue, if they live on the east side or West Avenue, if they are living in that section of the city. If you have any curiosity regarding the true meaning of the expression, however, just ask some of the boys who were "back on the earth the first time", along about 50 or 60 years ago. They'll know. Back in the days when they were foot loose and looking for excitement, "the Ave." could mean nothing else than Post Street. A sort of romance hung over the street in those days. "Shady?" To be sure, but all the more interesting because of it. Little of the history has ever been compiled in book form, being written mostly in the police court blotter, but in the mind of every Utican who is approaching the Psalmists span of life, there lingers memories of "the Ave." in it's palmy days, when summer evenings saw every porch along the narrow street filled with dusky belle's and their colored swains; when the air was filled with the echoes of plantation melodies, the tinkle of the banjoe and the plaintiff notes of the violin; when sounds of riotous rejoicing came from the open doors and passing policemen took a tighter grip on their clubs and nerved themselves for quick and strenous action, Now the ancient glory has departed. Before the march of progress, all of the old dwellings except one have fallen. Some years ago Eli Atkins, the only remaining one of all the old colored residents, passed over Jordan's stormy banks. "the Ave" belongs to the past. Requiesat in pace. (to be continued)
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Post by Dave on May 12, 2010 23:45:37 GMT -5
Fiona, that's an interesting piece. It's the first mention we've seen of Post Ave. finally called Post St. as we know it today. Also, going among "the colored" in 1905 has been written about in the newspapers of that time (1890's, 1905) as an entertaining if not somewhat scandalous experience, at least for "men about town." I don't remember Liberty St. in my youth as a place where we felt very welcome. We probably were not, and would have believed we were intruding on someone's territory. Although there was a bar there where we went once or twice and they were nice to us white boys if we kept a civil tongue and didn't stare too much. Can't remember the name, but it was I think on or near the corner of Liberty and Seneca or Hotel.
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Post by Dave on May 12, 2010 23:47:19 GMT -5
Mrs. Worhworth: "There were no marks of violence on the body." What body? Dagwell and Miller didn't find a body.
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Post by jon on May 13, 2010 2:00:23 GMT -5
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Post by jon on May 13, 2010 2:13:17 GMT -5
Mrs. Worhworth: "There were no marks of violence on the body." What body? Dagwell and Miller didn't find a body. I think it was realized there were no marks on the body at the undertaker's |
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Post by Dave on May 13, 2010 5:19:24 GMT -5
Jon, I think the above building fronts on Liberty. Maybe it was the building on the corner of Washington in the center of this Bing shot.  |
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Post by jon on May 13, 2010 11:15:38 GMT -5
WIFE AND BABIES
TURNED INTO STREET
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PITIFUL, CASE OF POVERTY SEEN IN CITY COURT[/size]
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HUSBAND OUT OF WORK[/size]
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Jesse Gwilt and James Wilson Went to Jail for a Month for Sleeping in William Pritchard's Barn - Cruelty Case Dropped[/size]
A pitiful case was presented in City Court this forenoon when Mrs. Clinton Martin appeared with her two infant children to confront her husband, whom she charged with non-support. One of the children, a baby, she held in her arms; the other, a child and smited and crowed in ignorance of the poverty and grief that oppressed its mother.
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Post by jon on May 13, 2010 11:17:32 GMT -5
"I must have a home of some kind." said the young wife, "on account of the children. I can't stay out on the street with them. We had a room, but we couldn't pay the rent and had to give it up."
The woman went on to say that she stayed last night at the house of a friend and added that no one wanted to receive a woman and two little children. The husband said he had been employed at a nickel plating shop on Post Avenue, but lately had been able to get work only a few days each week. He expressed a willingness to support his family, if he could get work, and he received a sharp lecture from judge O'Connor on the responsibilities of persons who bring children into the world and then fail to provide for them.
The family first came to the attention of the city authorities some weeks ago when they were living in the Imperial Block on Columbia street. At that time they received some assistance from the Charity Buress and Ovarmeer of the Poor Bachelor offered to place the two young children in an institution, but the mother could not bear to part with them. She has one child who is older and who is living with her husband's parents over the Halfway Bridge. Martin said that, if his wife would go to her father's home for the present, she would be taken care of. She assented to this, saying that she would go there for a week to give her husband a chance to look for work. The case was adjourned until May 13 with the understanding that the husband must find some way to support his wife and little ones.
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Post by jon on May 13, 2010 11:18:09 GMT -5
Jenne Gwilt was in court to-day and it was explained that Jesse had been caught last night sleeping in William Prichard's barn, from which ten hobos were taken the night before. Jesse pleaded for mercy saying that he was not drunk but merely sleeping in the barn when arrested. He was sent to jail for 30 days. James Wilson, another barn lodger, took a similar sentence.
George Washburn, driver of a coal wagon for Harrison Gilmore & Son, was arraigned on a charge of driving on the sidewalk owned by a man named Reilly on Burnett street. The owner of the walk stated that his patience had been exhausted by the frequent trespassing of drivers who broke the flag stones. The driver protested that he had never driven on the walk at all. The case was set down for trial next Monday at 10 o'clock.
No one appeared against Charles Brate who was charged with cruelty to animals, a case adjourned from last Monday and the defendant was discharged. His horse had been killed with his consent and the case was dropped.
UTICA HERALD DISPATCH - MAY 08, 1908
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Post by Dave on May 13, 2010 14:43:15 GMT -5
Mrs. Worhworth: "There were no marks of violence on the body." What body? Dagwell and Miller didn't find a body. I think it was realized there were no marks on the body at the undertaker's I didn't see the beginning of the story on page 7 of this thread. Now I understand. Thanks, Dave |
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Post by Dave on May 13, 2010 19:48:59 GMT -5
We spend time here thinking about the comings and goings of the likes of Roscoe Conkling and his privileged relatives that we risk forgetting about the common folks, although Fiona mentions them in her pieces written for On Genesee Hill. (Bridget is a familiar spirit.)
Mrs. Wormworth's story reminds me that there was a time when no social security or workman's comp was available to tide families through a period of sickness. You got sick or injured, put out of work and sat around and watched your family starve. The church might help, but likely it consisted of workers like yourself who could afford little more than what they put in the basket each week to take care of the priest or minister. The wealthy churches were often financed by money left to them by wealthy local barons who might have done their souls better by leaving all that money to their workers. But doing so in that time would have invited charges from their peers of being too liberal and interfering with the natural forces of social Darwinism, a concept that celebrated the survival of only the fittest in a market economy, but neglected to mention that you captured all the capital resources first and then declared yourself a success. It would take many years of protracted "liberalizing" of the government before the working man began to get paid his due, and many more before he reached a stage of forgetfulness such that he began to believe he was self-made and those below him on the economic ladder were all layabouts. But I digress.
Mrs. Wormworth was black, but she has inspired a character in my mind who is Irish and at times in her life has been just as destitute as E. Pauline Wormworth. I call her Katie Gallagher Quinn and she is also a 29 year old destitute mother who plans suicide in the canal. Rather than post the sketch here, I've put it on the OGH thread. Let me know if you think it might fit in the OGH story.
Dave
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Post by jon on May 13, 2010 20:58:13 GMT -5
ANTI-SALOON LEAGUE MEETING
An aggressive campaign has been inaugurated by the NEW YORK Anti-Saloon League in this county, to secure the enforcement of existing laws and the support of our representatives at Albany for the city local option bill. In Bethesda Church Monday a county conference convention will be held. Sessions will commence at 10 a. m. and 8 p.m. Plans of organization will be discussed and adopted and several prominent men in the Anti-Saloon League work will be present to give advice in their specialties. In the evening there will be several local speakers beside Dr. P. A. Cool of Buffalo who will give his address the "Gates of Hell."
Many meetings are being held all over the country in preparation for this convention. The Utica mass meeting will be held Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock in the First M. E. Church. The Rev. C. M. Dodge of Bethany Presbyterian Church will preside. Thomas H. read, attorney for the New York Anti-Saloon League will speak and a chorus under the direction of E. L. Griffith will sing.
UTICA HERALD DISPATCH - MAY 08, 1908
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Post by Dave on May 13, 2010 22:03:24 GMT -5
You know, today most of us laugh at the Anti-Saloon movement, but there was a serious drinking problem in society. Some of us think there still is, but be that as it may, in the 1800's and into 1900's the game was to get a man sober enough to work, pay him and then take his money in a saloon after working hours. I've drawn a scene in my story "Sue" where the kids are sent out on payday to find Da before he drinks up his earnings. And when the women would organize and raid the saloons to drag their husbands home, or at least his earnings, the goons who worked for the saloon owners would start beating up the ladies. (Dave is leaving the pulpit.  ) |
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Post by jon on May 14, 2010 14:06:21 GMT -5
REAL "LIVE WIRE"
SHORT CIRCUITED
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LITTLE FALLS MISS MIXED IT UP FOR HIM[/size]
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HE WAS TOUCHED FOR $27[/size]
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Nellie Babbitt of Rocky City Released in City Court Case Promises to Leave the City - Another Raid on the Avenue - Junk Case[/size]
Nellie Babbitt, a buxom lass from Little Falls, came to Utica Saturday night looking for a good time, and she found it already prepared for her with a "good thing" on the side.
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