Selected from the pages of the Windsor Locks Journal and lightly annotated by Wendy Taylor, Kent Memorial Library.
April 3
There was a good attendance at the beefsteak supper and dance held by the Suffield Grange in Mapleton Hall.
The trout fishing season opened April 1st and many of the local anglers were on the brooks bright and early to get their share of the speckled beauties. No large catches are reported, but the fishermen report a crowded condition of the streams, a large proportion of the fishermen being from Massachusetts. About fifty fishing licenses have been issued from the town clerk’s office in this town, nearly half of them being from Massachusetts. In Thompsonville 250 licenses have been issued, more than half of which it is said are nonresident. The law in Massachusetts does not permit of trout fishing until April 15.
An effort is being made to find out from the Connecticut company just what disposition is to be made of the trolley tracks through the center of the town that have practically been abandoned. Many of the property owners are desirous of having the tracks removed and the space filled in and graded to conform to their abutting property, which will help to beautify the street. Most of the property owners are willing to do this work if the tracks are taken up.
April 10
Very few trout have been caught by Suffield fishermen since the season opened on April first. The brooks about this town have been well stocked the past few years. The cutting off of the timber along the spring brooks has been one of the principal factors in spoiling the trout fishing. After a rain the shade and leaf mold in the woods held back the water and it seeped into the brooks in small quantities for many days after the rains. Now with nothing to hold it back the heaviest rainfall runs off in a day or two and the brooks are too low for the fish to thrive.
April 17
The Village of Suffield voted to buy a motor pumper for the fire department, at a price not to exceed $8,500…at one of the largest meetings ever held by the village. The vote was unanimous.
Thomas L Greer of [Suffield] was painfully injured….in Windsor Locks while assisting in loading a truck with cased tobacco. A case slipped and in trying to get out of the way Mr. Greer struck his back against one of the iron stakes at the rear of the truck. He was given medical attention and removed to his home in Boston Neck and it will be several days before he gets around again.
This town was visited by two thunder showers and the downpour that accompanied them caused several washouts on the dirt roads of the town. One bolt struck a large telephone pole on the West Suffield road [Mountain Road] and broke it off at the ground.
April 24
The body of an unidentified man was found in the Connecticut river…by John Markowski, the gate-tender at the head of the canal, near the farm of J. Edgar Phelps on East street. The body, according to Medical Examiner Caldwell, had probably been in the water more than a year. The body was in such a condition that it could not be identified. And there was no clothing on the body excepting shoes and stockings. Dr. Caldwell ordered the body removed to Cooper’s undertaking rooms and later in the day was buried in Woodlawn cemetery.
Thursday warmed up considerably and the afternoon was as warm as a day in June. Most of the growers have their tobacco beds planted, and report that the plants are starting in fine shape. Considerable fertilizer is coming in and the farmers are hauling it from the cars to the farms. The acreage this year will not be much less than last year, as many of the shade growers are putting in out-door tobacco this year.