100 years ago in The Saratogian
Thursday, June 28, 1917
Former Mechanicville policeman Dennis H. Nolan is free on $10,000 bond today after a jury failed to agree on whether he murdered Michael Haggerty last April.
Today’s Saratogian reports that jurors reported themselves deadlocked at 4 p.m. yesterday. Ordered to continue deliberating, they had not reconciled by 5:30 p.m., when Judge Lawrence B. McKelvey ordered Nolan discharged.
No one disputes that Nolan shot Haggerty to death on April 7. At issue was whether the killing counted as second-degree murder. According to initial reports, Nolan and Haggerty got into an argument over the U.S. declaration of war with Germany in a local saloon. The saloonkeeper escorted Haggerty home after Nolan had threatened to whip him for taking Germany’s side. Nolan confronted the two men as they crossed a footbridge and fired the fatal shot after Haggerty knocked him down.
While those early reports made Nolan sound like the aggressor, testimony during the trial “tended to show that Haggerty was the aggressor,” at least in the saloon. None of the jurors held Nolan guilty of murder. Instead, nine favored acquittal while three wanted to convict Nolan of manslaughter.
HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI
The 41st annual reunion of the Saratoga Springs High School Alumni Association at Masonic Hall tonight is highlighted by the announcement that 37 members are currently serving in the U.S. military.
“Some of these men are already in actual service, at the front or in training camp,” The Saratogian reports, “Others are on the reserve, awaiting the call. A few of the latter were present and received greetings of applause when their names were read.”
The earliest graduate on the roll of honor is Dr. George H. Fish of the Class of 1894, currently in the Officers Medical Reserve Corps.
Gerald A. Cummings is elected president after Evelyn M. Barrett decides not to seek a third term. In her farewell speech, Barrett praises the alumni on the honor roll for passing “the supreme test of a man, for they know from the staggering lists of dead reported that their fate in the trenches of Europe is forecasted as a mere chance.
“These alumni have declared that they are willing to die for their country if needs be. As I read the names of these friends of ours, many of whom were at the banquet last year, our thoughts will go out in silent tribute to them.”
Alumnus Rev. James A. Perry urges alumni to donate to allied war relief, arguing that the more effectively America’s allies fight, the fewer Americans will have to risk their lives in Europe.