THIS DAY IN 1918 IN THERECORD

Thursday, April 25, 1918. Longtime Troy fire chief Patrick Byron dies this morning at age 77, The Record reports. Byron had been a fireman since 1859, when he joined the Hope Steamer company. He became acting fire chief upon the death of his predecessor, J. Lansing “Doc” Lane, in 1889, and had held the office in his own right since April 30, 1891. The chief “had been confined to his residence practically for about six months by illness, brought about in large measure by hardships met while in pursuance of hid duty fighting fires,” our reporter notes. Most recently, Byron had been badly injured by the Mohican store explosion that killed three firemen on River Street in April 1917. He made his last public appearance earlier this month to review a Liberty Loan parade from his office. “In all of his career Chief Byron, although a man of many years, never asked the more younger firemen to go to a place where he himself would not go,” our writer recalls, “On several occasions he has been injured, but not seriously, but all the bangs and knocks he took philosophically, and on many instances he stood his ground, fighting his battle against the fire, when others would probably have retired to secure medical attention.”

Hastings Trial

After working their way through 200 candidates, lawyers for the murder trial of Marie Hastings finally have a full twelve-man jury this morning.

Hastings fatally shot her neighbor Ignatius Hantow in September 1914. She was declared mentally unfit to stand trial a year later and sent to the Mattewan state hospital. Hastings successfully petitioned for her release from Mattewan earlier this year, knowing that she could face the death penalty if found guilty of killing Hantow. Defense attorney Abbott H. Jones will argue that she was temporarily insane when she shot the man.

Assistant district attorney Fred C. Filley opens the case for the people with an account of the shooting. He tells the jury that the trouble began when Hastings bumped into a cart one of Hantow’s children was sitting in, causing it to hit a post and injure the child’s hand. After arguing with Hantow’s wife, Hastings went into her apartment. When Hantow himself demanded to speak with her, Hastings went into their shared yard with a revolver concealed under her apron. After calling Hantow “a vile name,” Hastings shot him in the stomach.

Jones objects to Filley’s dramatic flourish, “Thus, Mrs. Hantow became a widow and her two little children fatherless.” County Judge Pierce H. Russell refuses to declare a mistrial, but has the sentence stricken from the record.