100 YEARS AGO Break in whiskey thefts 50 YEARS AGO Destructive behavior
With the arrest of Edward Oley, of 242 Elk St in Albany, and the capture of a two-ton auto truck, identified as the property of Michael Oley, also of Albany, federal authorities and state troopers believed they had partly solved the mystery surrounding the theft of a quantity of whiskey from the Albany Terminal warehouse. Edward Oley was arrested in a barn on Ridge Road just outside Rensselaer by federal agents after he had first pulled a revolver.
The agents, having heard that bootleggers were storing whiskey in a barn on a vacant farm along a rarely traveled road, set out to round them up, but discovered a crowd of well-armed men hidden inside the barn. Outnumbered, the agents requested help from state troopers, who arrived with rifles and revolvers. In a skirmish, the bootleggers escaped into the nearby woods, except Oley, who was handcuffed to an automobile.
Meanwhile, a truck reported stolen by merchent Michael Kenefic of Lyon Block in Albany, was found in Rensselaer. This led federal authorities to believe they were close to breaking up a band of bootleggers with headquarters in Albany.
Vandalism plaguing the Capital Region’s city neighborhoods and rural school districts, churches and temples, private homes and individuals appeared to lack not only justification but also provocation. A Niskayuna High School student said some of it was deliberate but most of it sort of happened and was “something you think of as funny at the moment.” Those of the older generation did not share the view. A middle-age woman, whose house in Albany had been one of 80 dwellings stoned, did not understand why they would do it since “we’ve never bothered those kids.” Talking about a wave of vandalism a few years ago that had culminated in 47 broken windows at Van Schaick School, a Cohoes police captain said, “One of them threw a rock and the rest were ‘chicken’ if they didn’t join in.” The culprits were six boys, ages 9 to 12. The destruction to area public and private property ran into tens of thousands of dollars every year.