Editor’s note: Beacon was created in 1913 from Matteawan and Fishkill Landing.
150 Years Ago (May 1875)
Benjamin Hubbard of Matteawan caught a striped bass at Dennings Point that he said weighed 58 pounds and measured 4 feet and 2 inches.
Edward Mullady, a 22-year-old laborer from Matteawan, drowned after suffering an epileptic seizure while sitting atop a pile of lumber at the river’s edge. A few days earlier, he had suffered a seizure on the tracks but an approaching train managed to stop.
The inhabitants of Dennings Point reminded residents of Fishkill that picnics were not allowed without permission.
Fannie Secor, 4, the daughter of Daniel Secor of Matteawan, was seriously burned after she was pushed by another child into a bonfire.
Four burglars escaped from the Newburgh jail by arranging a ruse with one of their mothers. During a visit, she left behind a food tin and asked the janitor to retrieve it. When he cracked the door to ask for it, the prisoners pushed it open, knocked him down and threw pepper into his eyes.
125 Years Ago (May 1900)
Coroner Bailey was called to the Denning’s dock to investigate the death of a man who had apparently been struck by a train and thrown into the river. During his survey, Bailey spotted a second body at the river bottom. [One of the men was identified as a 55-year-old bricklayer from Philadelphia.]
The Verplanck Brick Co. was organized at Fishkill Landing with capital stock of $48,000 [about $1.8 million today].
Lewis Aldridge married Elizabeth Aldridge, his first cousin, which created “a decided unpleasant feeling” toward the couple by relatives, according to a news account, “notwithstanding the fact that both are well-connected and people of money.” The wedding took place at the Fishkill home of the bride, although the only relative to show up was the groom’s mother, who said the ceremony should have been held in the barn.
The Baker Underwear Co. of Fishkill said it would open a factory in Richmond, Vermont, with 50 machines run by an electricity plant that was expected to also bring electric lights to the town.
The Right Rev. Henry Codman Potter, bishop of the Episcopal Archdiocese of New York, visited Fishkill Landing to lay the cornerstone of the newly completed St. Andrew’s Church, which had split off the previous year from St. Luke’s.
A heavy frost on May 9, with ice a quarter-inch thick, threatened the strawberry crop.
The 16 coal heavers in the Highland division of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad went on strike at Fishkill Landing, bringing eastbound traffic to a stop. They demanded a 10 percent raise, to $1.50 [$57.11] per day.
Charles Mitchell, 54, serving a life sentence at the Matteawan asylum, hanged himself using mattress wire. Three years earlier, Mitchell had set a fire in the basement, nearly destroying the prison.
100 Years Ago (May 1925)
The brickyards began production late because of the large supply of unsold bricks from the previous season.
Employees at the Dutchess Hat Works and members of three fire companies battled a blaze in the dryer room for 30 minutes before it was extinguished.
Three girls who escaped from the reformatory at Bedford were spotted in Beacon sitting in a parked car, dressed in their regulation khaki bloomers, tan stockings and black shoes. Witnesses said two men came out of a nearby restaurant with wrapped sandwiches, got into the vehicle and drove away.
William Pearse, the Beacon High School principal, passed the New York bar but said he planned to remain at the school.
The creditors of the late Samuel Beskin, a former mayor, objected that 12 parcels of real estate had been sold by his estate to his widow for $805 [$14,700]. Edwin Poons Inc. of Kobe, Japan, said it was owed $2,869 [$52,400] for straw braid.
Reed Smith sued his brother, Elsworth, in City Court over a $25 [$457] personal loan he said had gone unpaid. The brothers had been convicted in Albany of speeding on their motorcycles; Reed said he covered Elsworth’s fine to keep him out of jail. After his brother bought a new car, Reed decided to sue.
Frank Ryan, 55, was arrested after shooting at Chare Unis, who allegedly had a habit of throwing stones at Ryan’s shack and stomping on his flowers.
Ernest Macomber, newly appointed as mayor to complete the final eight months of a vacated term, immediately said he would launch an investigation of the police department because the station light bill was too high, and changes were needed to shift schedules. He also called a meeting of Beacon lawyers to solicit their suggestions for changing the city charter.
The following weekend, the mayor stood at intersections to evaluate traffic flow and helped clear a few jams. He also noted that, although he did not oppose baseball games or motion pictures on Sunday, he would compel the police to enforce temperance laws.
John Flannery of Beacon, who a year earlier decided it was time to sell his horse and buy and learn to drive a car, told the Poughkeepsie Eagle-News that he had sold the car because it lacked any thrill and he was again in the market for a colt. “He couldn’t bear to face spring and summer without a horse,” the paper said.
Maybelle Westfall, who served in the Army Nurse Corps during World War I was the first woman admitted to the Castle Point Hospital just north of Beacon. Her husband, Lt. H.M. Westfall, was also a patient.
Police responded to a call from John Cassidy, the undertaker, who said he was meeting with a woman at her home on Beekman Street when he realized she was intoxicated and planning her own death. She provided him with instructions on her funeral and began phoning relatives to say goodbye.
William Johnson, 21, of Beacon, was found dead at 12:30 a.m. on the porch of the Phi Delta Theta house at Syracuse University, where he was a freshman. He apparently choked to death while eating. About an hour after the discovery, police raided the fraternity, confiscated liquor and arrested the landlords. While attending Beacon High School, Johnson was the student manager for the baseball and basketball teams.
During his first day back as a machinist at the Green Fuel Economizer plant, the victim’s brother, Arthur Johnson, lost a finger in an accident. The firm attributed the incident to Arthur being distracted by his brother’s death.
After 50 years in operation, the New York Rubber Co. closed. Creditors had attempted to keep the plant going to make it easier to sell. About 150 people lost their jobs and a judge ordered the company’s assets sold at auction.
A woman was arrested for stealing a bolt of cotton cloth from Mr. F. Smith’s store at Main Street and Fishkill Avenue. After being alerted by a customer, Mrs. Smith had chased the suspect, but the couple chose not to press charges because the woman was elderly (she was 55). A few days later, the Smiths noticed two bolts of silk were missing.
Police investigated a series of auto thefts, including a car stolen from in front of the Main Street theater and a vehicle stripped at the Nazarene Church while the owner attended services.
Howard Joyner, stabbed in the chest during a fight at the Brockway brickyards, refused to tell police who assaulted him.
The City Council agreed to lease the auditorium of the new Memorial Building for $3,500 [$64,000] annually to an entrepreneur who planned to show movies and stage vaudeville shows.
The Rev. Dr. Kinley criticized the City Council at a Memorial Day address at the Soldiers’ Memorial Building for leasing the building to merchants. “Would you rent the Washington Monument for commercial purposes?” he asked.
75 Years Ago (May 1950)
Firefighters using ladders rescued a mother and her two children from the apartments over the Beacon Pharmacy at 175 Main St. after a fire in the cellar filled the building with smoke.
The school board agreed to pay $13.25 per ton [$176] for buckwheat coal and $18.50 per ton [$245] for stove coal during the 1950-51 academic year.
The Beacon Airtrailers model airplane club held a Sunday afternoon show at Memorial Field on Wilkes Street. The announcer was Carroll Moon, former contest director for the Academy of Model Aeronautics. The 50 models, with wingspans from 1 to 7 feet, included experimental jet-powered planes.
After deliberating for 10 minutes, a jury awarded a former Beacon woman $11,195 [$149,000] in a lawsuit against a Poughkeepsie businessman whom she said had taken illegal bets on horse races over six months from her husband, who owned a hat factory. She introduced as evidence canceled checks that ranged from $200 to $2,090 [$2,600 to $28,000]. The man denied being a bookmaker.
50 Years Ago (May 1975)
John O’Leary, who decided not to run for a second, 5-year term on the school board, jumped back into the race after Robert Ost Sr. dropped out. O’Leary said he felt the remaining candidates — the Rev. John Lindenauer, the rector at St. Luke’s Church, and Charles Moore, a teacher at an Ulster County prison — were not qualified. O’Leary won with 46 percent of the vote. Voters also approved a proposal to shorten the terms of future trustees to three years.
A county judge sentenced a 21-year-old Cliff Street woman to two years to life in prison for taking $10 from an undercover police officer for heroin, although she never returned with the drugs. Asked by the judge if she wanted to say anything, she replied: “What can I say? I’m not a drug pusher.” She was led from the courtroom sobbing.
Lionel Frank, the director of the Beacon-Fishkill Chamber of Commerce, blamed unnamed wealthy “environmentalists and conservationists” for obstructing the construction of a second span for the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. He also claimed a Con Ed project proposed for Storm King Mountain had been “stopped by one guy who lives there.”
Patricia Paulin, 15, of Beacon was runner-up in the annual Hudson Valley Miss U.S. Teen Talented Pageant.
Daniel Liberty, 16, a Beacon High School junior, and his brothers, Brian and Kevin, who attended Rombout Middle School, were awarded $50 [$300] for helping to capture an inmate who escaped from the Elderly and Handicapped Unit of the Fishkill Correctional Facility. Early in the morning, the boys saw a man limping through a field behind their home. “He said he could use something to drink or eat,” Brian said. “He looked real tired and cold. I got him a glass of water.” Meanwhile, Daniel called the prison; officers arrived within minutes. The inmate, Raul Rivera, 30, had escaped two days earlier.
Their father, George Liberty, was a guard at the prison but was transporting an inmate to New York City. He said his sons knew about the escape and that “there was a picture of Rivera on the hall table. We all understand there is a lot involved with rehabilitation, that nobody is totally bad. The boys have met inmates, supposed criminals. I’m sure this understanding helped them react the way they did.”
The City Council approved a special permit for the Bank Square Tavern on Main Street at South Avenue, although several residents argued it was too close to the South Avenue school.
An 18-year-old Beacon man was charged with burglarizing his girlfriend’s apartment, although his attorney questioned the indictment, noting that his client was in the courtroom holding hands with his girlfriend.
After being closed for three years for repairs, the Mount Beacon Incline Railway opened for the season.
25 Years Ago (May 2000)
A jury in Poughkeepsie awarded $28.3 million [$53 million] to a 31-year-old Staatsburg ironworker injured in 1995 during construction of the Beacon Municipal Building. He had fallen about 13 feet from the top of a wall when a reinforcing rod pulled loose, fracturing his left ankle and disabling him. Although the City of Beacon was named in the lawsuit, it expected the judgment would be paid by the Bronx subcontractor that hired him.
Loretta Simmonds celebrated her 100th birthday with her two children, eight grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
The Beacon High School baseball team hit four home runs in the first inning (including two by Jason Ubel) en route to an 18-8 victory over Spackenkill.
Because of a record increase in state education aid that included $156,000 [$290,000] more than the Beacon school district had expected, the board lowered its proposed tax-levy increase from 4.4 percent to 3.8 percent.
Elizabeth Gluck of the Lourdes High School softball team threw a perfect game in a 1-0 win at Beacon. At the same time, Bulldogs pitcher Janelle Meyer held Lourdes to three hits. The winning run came on a throwing error.
