Selected from the pages of the Windsor Locks Journal and lightly annotated by Wendy Taylor, Kent Memorial Library.
December 7
Two consignments of fish have recently been placed in Congamond Lake in Southwick to help replenish the rapidly diminishing stock of the pond. The first consignment was received during the early part of November and consisted of thirteen cans containing about 1400 pickerel and 3000 bullheads. The second consignment… consisted of blue gills, considered by experts one of the best table fish.
December 14
A special town meeting will be held in the Town hall…to hear the report of the committee appointed at a special town meeting…to investigate the school needs of the Center district, and to take action upon the same…The need of more adequate accommodations for the children of the Center school is admitted by all. It is not giving the children a chance when several of the grades are kept upon a half-day schedule in order that all may be taught.
December 21
There was a large attendance at the special town meeting… to hear the report of the committee appointed…to investigate school needs…Amos B. Crane, chairman of the committee, made a report of the work of the committee and told of the various sites that had been considered. At the close of his report he recommended the purchase of the Episcopal church property and the property of Hiram Jones, located west of the present school playground, which would give the town about four acres [on Bridge Street]…Mr. Crane stated that the Episcopal church property could be bought for $6,000 and that sufficient material could be obtained from the church to pay for removing it. The Hiram Jones property, he said, could be bought for $8,000, and the house, he said, could be moved to the lower end of the present playground and rented or kept for the janitor or teachers.
With a one-story school building with an assembly hall and six class rooms as well as an office for the superintendent of schools, it had been estimated that the cost would not exceed $105,000.
December 28
A spruce tree growing in the yard of S[amuel R[eid] Spencer at the center of Main street and Kent avenue was decorated last week and has been lighted every night this week. It has been a beautiful sight.
January 4
Victor Rogalski of Thompsonville was found lying unconscious beside the Suffield road about one mile from Suffield Center at 8.55 o’clock Monday night and died four hours later in the Springfield hospital without regaining consciousness…The autopsy showed that Rogalski had been hit on the right side of the head, probably with a blackjack or a club…The supposition is that the party who committed the crime believed that Rogalski had a large sum of money in his possession and did not know that he had deposited money [$330] in the Suffield savings bank early in the day.
January 18
Beginning Thursday, January 24th, the Hartford and Springfield Railway Company will replace the trolley cars running through this town with busses.
The eight young men who were arrested on December 10th, charged with criminal assault on Mildred Franscowski were given a hearing before Justice Sikes…Dr. W. E. Caldwell testified as to the condition of the girl after the affair. The girl also gave her testimony and claimed that she was held til 4 o’clock in the morning.