Monday, Sept. 23, 1918
The body of William Blum, the soldier who disappeared while boating on Snyder’s Lake two weeks ago, is found in the water early this morning, The Record reports. Blum was last seen alive on September 9. Returning to Troy on furlough from Camp Meade, Maryland, he visited friends and co-workers before renting a boat from Edward Carl that afternoon. Officials at Camp Meade had reported Blum as a deserter, but the news from Snyder’s Lake will almost certainly clear his name. “The remains are badly decomposed from exposure in the water so long a time,” our reporter notes. Coroner Thurman A. Hull performs an autopsy later today and will report tomorrow that there are no signs of foul play on Blum’s body. Approximately two dollars and “several photographs of himself” are found in Blum’s clothes. Whether Blum suffered an accident or committed suicide remains unclear. The people who met him on September 9 drew dramatically different impressions of him. Blum’s former landlord, Ellis Berrick, and co-workers at the Smith & Goldstein store claim that “he was in good spirits and joked about service in the army,” but Ed Carl says that Blum “appeared depressed as he hired the boat.” Carl noted at the time that Blum hadn’t brought any bait for his supposed fishing trip. When he pointed that out, Blum supposedly told him that “it did not matter about bait.”
Colonel Andrews Tells of the War
Colonel James M. Andrews commands the 105th U.S. Infantry regiment, formerly the Troy-based Second New York National Guard regiment. His father, James M. Andrews of Saratoga Springs, shares some recent letters from France with Record readers today.
Col. Andrews recently got to shake the hand of King George V when the English monarch visited 27th Division headquarters.
“I am told by the British officers that the king looks much better and not so careworn,” Andrews wrote, “but to me he looks like a man who has been under a great strain. He seemed much pleased at the appearance of our men, and asked many questions which showed that he was thoroughly familiar with what we are doing.”
Describing recent American successes, Andrews wrote: “So far we have been able to continually advance our lines, a little bit at a time, without many casualties, but the time will come when we will take a big slice, I hope.
“And I really feel that the tide has turned for good and all, and that from now on we will always be pursuing the Boche [i.e. the Germans] farther and farther back until he has got to surrender to live.”
— Kevin Gilbert