Selected from the pages of the Windsor Locks Journal and lightly annotated by Wendy Taylor of Kent Memorial Library.
May 6
A domestic lecture and practical demonstration of cooking by electricity will be given in the Town hall…by Frank J. Allen, a recognized authority on economic cookery. Mr. Allen will cook a complete meal on an electric range. The public is cordially invited.
The 35th annual May breakfast of the Mapleton Hall Association was held in Mapleton hall… Nearly a thousand people were served…
The hall was elaborately decorated with evergreen and potted plants. The tables, which numbered eleven, were also decorated with vases of snap dragon.
May 13
A Fordson tractor that was being used by Leon Ford on Hill street in removing tree stumps from the ground after dynamite had been used, came very near causing the death of Mr. Ford…when the tractor he was driving, suddenly turned over, pinning him underneath. It is through the steering wheel, which broke off, was what saved his life, although his left leg is badly injured. He was attended by Dr. W. E Caldwell. He will be laid up for some time with his injury.
A severe frost Thursday morning did considerable damage to crops in this section… Tomato, beans and other tender pants were killed and it is feared that fruit buds also suffered…The ground should be so well filled with water that it will stand considerable drouth.
William Cusick has purchased the house on the Stedman place from Mrs. A. L. Strong and is moving it down through the main street of the town to his building lot on Depot street. It will take two or three days more to get the house on its new foundations.
A dance will be given in the Town hall Saturday evening for the benefit of the Suffield baseball team.
May 20
A carriage, driven by John Hierl of Mapleton was smashed into by an automobile near Day avenue…and the back wheels of the carriage were smashed. Mr. Hierl had turned out to pass the house that is being moved to Depot street, when the car which bore a Massachusetts number ran into his.
James Dray broke his right arm…while cranking an automobile at his home on the West Suffield road.
At the Congregational church Sunday morning the Rev. W. R. Steuart will preach on the subject “Who am I? Whither am I going?”
May 27
Suffield and the nearby towns have been under unusual stress the past week or so, owing to the fact that disease, weather conditions or something else caused the destruction of plants in tobacco beds. The prevalence of “wildfire” for the past five years led some of the growers to believe it was this disease that was showing in the beds here…Many of the growers have destroyed perfectly healthy beds by spraying with strong solutions, as a preventative, while others, fearing that the bacteria might get into their beds, have kept the glass covers on so tight that the plants have rotted for lack of proper ventilation.
A truck load of cased tobacco, driven by Thomas L. Greer, tipped over on the driveway near the old cemetery Thursday morning and the driver and load were spilled out. Mr. Greer escaped with bruises on his leg. He turned up the driveway to pass around the house that is being moved in the street and the cases, which were piled three high, made the load a little top-heavy.
The Stedman house, which has been moving through the streets for the past three weeks, has arrived at its journey’s end and will probably be placed on its foundations on Depot street this afternoon.