Selected from the pages of the Windsor Locks Journal and lightly annotated by Wendy Taylor, Kent Memorial Library.
March 6
A heavy downpour of rain… washed out the dirt roads in some places and there has been considerable complaint of water seeping into cellars and miniature lakes were formed in all depressions. Wells and springs are showing the effects of the rains and the water shortage is somewhat relieved.
The earth tremors which were general over the eastern part of the United States and Canada…were felt by many people in this town. The shock seemed more severe in the western part of the town, but was felt in nearly every section. No damage was reported. [On March 1, there was an earthquake in St. Lawrence, Quebec registering 6.2 on the Richter Scale.]
St. Joseph’s Polish Society and a number of friends and townsmen of Walter Dresnik [sic], who lost several cows from poisoning a short time ago, presented him with a purse of several hundred dollars this week.
A runaway horse…caused Alexander Marcowski, a farmer living at the upper end of the Feeding Hills road, to suffer two broken ribs and lacerations about the head and face. The horse, hitched to a top carriage, became frightened at a stalled motor car on top of the mountain and when being led by it suddenly jumped and ran away. Mr. Marcowski,in trying to hold the animal in check, was dragged cross lots into the woods near the place and falling was trampled upon by the horse. The harness and wagon was almost totally destroyed and the animal was caught later in West Suffield. Marcowski was given medical attention and will be confined to his home for several days, owing to the two fractured ribs which he sustained.
March 13
A meeting of the board of finance was held…to fix the tax rate on the list of 1924, and after going over the figures, placed the rate at 12 mills, the lowest in several years.
The principal factor in lowering the tax rate was the increase in the amount of the corporation tax received from the state.
One of our local sportsmen added to his kennel…a genuine Belgian bait hound. Before the fishing season opens it is expected that the dog will be thoroughly trained to corral the neighborhood chickens in the garden and then drive them off as they bring the early worms to the surface. The animal arrived …duly crated and stamped and attracted much attention from the crowds around the post office.
March 20
J. Edgar Phelps was painfully burned at his home on East street this week. He discovered a pile of tobacco twine ablaze in one of his barns and tried to remove it without loss of time and carried it out in his arms into the yard. As a result of the experience he suffered two badly burned hands, a burned forehead and had most of his hair singed. He will be laid up for several days and is receiving medical attention.
March 27
The tobacco growers are beginning to prepare for the season’s crop and have already started sterilizing tobacco beds, and some are drawing their fertilizer.
There is considerable agitation in this town for the purchase of a pumping engine for the fire department. A petition is being circulated for a special Village meeting to see what action can be taken toward the purchase of a pumper. It is claimed by some that it would be the better plan to have the village own the truck and have charge of the fire department and to charge the town for all fires attended outside of the district. The past year the department was called to twenty fires outside of the district.