Phase Five contractors recently found crumpled newspaper from 1920, used apparently as impromptu insulation to fill a hole around pipes in a second floor bathroom (between bedrooms five and six). The date discernible on some of the pages of the Buffalo Commercial Evening is March 20, 1920. This would suggest that the stuffing coincided with the changes made to the second floor in that year, when the south wall was moved outward and the northwest cantilever filled-in to create a trunk room.
This accidental time capsule yields some interesting snapshots of that day in the life of Buffalo and the nation. The bold headline on the front page declares RESOLUTION TO DECLARE PEACE REPLACES PACT, a reference to Congressional rejection of the Treaty of Versailles and the United States' unilateral treaties negotiated with Germany and her allies to bring the American involvement in World War I to an official close.
Local news was somewhat more frivolous: one story tells of a quirky heist, and it bears publishing in its entirety:
Auto Thieves Steal Pretzels, Machine, Too
Automobile thieves yesterday stole a large automobile truck loaded with 600 pounds of pretzels, property of the Lititz Pretzel Bakery, 111 Grey Street. The machine and baked goods were pilfered from the corner of Hertel Avenue and Niagara Street while the driver, James Sweeney 40 years old, 611 Wyoming Street delivered goods in a saloon at that point.
Sweeney came out of the saloon in time to see the truck going west on Hertel Avenue and cross over the canal bridge passing down the towpath toward Tonawanda.
The truck was recovered by police of Tonawanda early this morning. It was abandoned and several hundred pounds of the pretzels were missing. The tires were stripped from the machine also.
Perhaps the Tonawanda police should have put out an APB for crooks seeking to hijack a mustard truck...
Of course those were before the days of duct tape, no doubt. ;-) --Joanne
ReplyDeleteyes - but fortunate for us because the accidental time capsule was certainly intriguing!
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