From the pages of the Windsor Locks Journal, selected and lightly annotated by Lester Smith, Historian of the Town and the Suffield Historical Society.
September 1
Felix Pictal, 2-years-old son of Mrs. Alexander Pictal, who live on the Fernando Granger place, died Wednesday morning after a few hours’ illness with infantile paralysis. The case was reported to Health Officer Caldwell as soon as the attending physician saw it, but the child died before the health officer reached it. . . . This is the third death in town from the disease.
The highway from the trolley terminal at Spencer’s corner [Main Street at Kent Avenue] to the state line is getting badly worn and needs resurfacing. This is part of the “trunk line” road, so-called [South Street, Main Street, Mapleton Avenue], and the repairs are made wholly by the state.
Frank Tenro, a Polish resident, created considerable disturbance at the home of a fellow-countryman near the oil mill bridge in Boston Neck [East Street over Stony Brook] last Saturday morning, and ended up by jumping through the window without raising the sash.
September 8
A conference of the Baptist clergymen of the Eastern states was held at the Second Baptist Church Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Clergymen were present from all of the New England states, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. There was an attendance of over 100 ministers and the delegates were entertained [housed and fed] at the Suffield School.
[A single-car accident on Suffield Street with one killed and two injured] is the first serious accident to occur at the underpass, although the spot is a dangerous one. The road is not traveled much since the new stone road through Boston Neck was completed, as most of the tourists follow the macadam.
Owing to the alarm among some parents over the infantile paralysis epidemic the question of changing the date of opening the schools was discussed [at a meeting of the school board]. Health Officer Caldwell was called in conference and it was finally voted to postpone the opening of the schools until Monday, September 25th.
September 15
A number from this place have been in attendance at the State fair in Berlin this week.
Tobacco growers have been hustling all this week taking advantage of the splendid weather to get as much of the crop under cover as possible before the predicted frosts come.
September 22
The annual reports of the selectmen and other town officers is now in the hands of the printer and will be ready for distribution next week. [The 1915-1916 fiscal year ended on August 31.] The report is very complete and goes into detail of most of the large items of the past year. The statement of town indebtedness shows that all of the bonded indebtedness has been paid, and the town indebtedness is confined to notes which amount to $13,294.86, less cash on hand, $1,524.52 leaving the net indebtedness $12,156.70.
Randall Salisbury and family, who have been spending their vacation at their summer home here, have returned to Orange, N. J.
September 29
Suffield School opened Tuesday with a full registration, 94 boarding pupils being in attendance. This is the best start for a long time and shows that the school is giving what it advertises.
Mr. and Mrs. Howard T. Cone took an automobile trip to Boston this week, taking their daughter, Miss Florence Cone, to Wellesley College, which she enters this year.