100 years ago in The Saratogian
Saturday, Aug. 25, 1917
A mother and daughter are fatally burned by an explosion in the kitchen of their Victory Mills home this morning, The Saratogian reports.
Five year old Nellie Heinarski dies shortly after arriving at Saratoga Hospital. Her mother, Mrs. Andrew Heinarski, succumbs to burns later this afternoon.
Mrs. Heinarski is preparing breakfast at 5:50 a.m., before she has to go to work at Victory Manufacturing. Her kitchen has an oil stove and a range, and “it is believed that the heat in the range ignited the kerosene in the tank of the oil stove. Burning oil was thrown about the room by the explosion, setting fire to the house, and striking the parents and children.”
Andrew Heinarski suffers burns on both arms. Fourteen year old Carrie Heinarski is upstairs when the explosion happens. She jumps out a second-story window and escapes without injury. The Heinarski house on Herkimer Avenue is “badly damaged” before neighbors manage to extinguish the blaze. A double funeral for the fatalities will be held on Monday, August 27.
RACIAL INCIDENT?
Today’s front page updates the story of a race riot involving black soldiers in Houston, in which 34 people were killed on Thursday, August 25. The soldiers blamed for the killings are taken to Columbus NM under heavy guard today, while Houston remains under martial law.
Closer to home, a racially charged incident takes place at the border of Saratoga and Albany counties, a bridge linking Cohoes to the Northside section of Waterford.
According to the Troy Sunday Budget, “A number of colored soldiers doing guard duty on the railroad bridge … fired several shots [Saturday] night between 10 o’clock and midnight at what they supposed to be intruders on the bridge.”
One day later, Monday’s Saratogian tells a different story. “Further trouble between white and negro soldiers located at Cohoes culminated Saturday night in a shooting affray at the D. & H. trestle….A score or more shots were fired but no one was injured.”
Three soldiers from the Fifteenth U.S. Infantry, an all-black regiment, are arrested by Cohoes police, the Budget reports, “it being alleged that they had no reason for doing the shooting, and that the guards were intoxicated.” The Fifteenth includes a company recruited in Saratoga County and commanded by Captain Ranulf Compton, who commanded the Saratoga company in the Second New York Infantry during their 1916 border-patrol duty in Texas.
WHAT’S HAPPENING
“The Whip,” with scenes shot in Saratoga Springs during last year’s track season, finishes a weekend run at the Broadway Theatre tonight. “The Universe has never looked at as big a masterpiece,” today’s ad claims.