100 years ago in the Record
Wednesday, June 5, 1918
A twenty-year veteran of the U.S. military is the latest Troy man reported killed in action in the war against Germany.
Today’s Record reports that John J. Delaney of 484 River Street received word last night that his brother, Corporal William H. Delaney, died “Somewhere in France” on May 18.
“Enlisting in the army when a youth he saw service in the Spanish-American war with the Fourth field artillery,” our reporter details, “later he was on duty in the Philippine islands and fought in the Boxer uprising [China, 1900] with the Nineteenth, Sixteenth and Thirteenth infantry.”
Corporal Delaney was among the first Americans to join the action in Europe after the April 1917 declaration of war against Germany, arriving with the Twenty-Sixth U.S. Infantry regiment. He “had seen in the front line trenches for some time,” our writer notes, “It is thought he was killed in one of the successful raids by the Americans against the Germans on the western front.”
Troy Boys at Spartanburg The Collar City’s newest soldiers have been assigned to the Second Pioneer Infantry regiment, now training in Spartanburg SC, according to acting Corporal Harry Kullman’s letter home to his friend N. L. Nielson.
The largest group of draftees to leave town since the U.S. entered the war headed for Spartanburg late last month. Camp Wadsworth previously hosted Troy’s former National Guard regiment, now the 105th U.S. Infantry, which is now believed to be in or en route to Europe.
The new men “expect to be sent ‘across’ following a short training,” Kullman writes, “though this is only a rumor.”
City Water Was Unfit For Use
Troy’s water supply has been “such as to render it unfit for any use whatever” for the last two days, but the waterworks department only explains the situation this morning. “Trojans throughout the greater part of the city were put to a great deal of inconvenience because of the condition of the water,” The Record reports, “Many of them were forced to eat cold luncheon last night, the water being unfit for culinary purposes.” A waterworks department representative explains that the problem “was due to the fact that the large feed main leading from the Tomhannock had been in process of cleaning, which must be done at stated intervals.” This work should be finished, and the water restored to normal, by tomorrow morning. “General indignation is expressed over the failure of the waterworks department to notify the public of the proposed cleaning operations in time to permit consumers to draw a supply to be held in reserve,” our reporter notes.