100 years ago in The Saratogian
Wednesday, Sept. 19, 1917
Supporters of former Saratoga County sheriff Frederick W. Kavanaugh claim victory in today’s Republican primaries, but the actual outcome looks more like a split decision for the county’s GOP factions.
The Saratogian reports that Kavanaugh has effectively been elected Republican county chairman after his allies win a majority of seats on the county committee. Kavanaugh claims 39 seats, and the number may go up to 40 should Lewis M. Jones contest his one-vote loss to Rodney Van Wagner in a Saratoga Springs district.
A Kavanaugh victory at the organization meeting scheduled for next Tuesday would mean the end of state senator George H. Whitney’s control over the county GOP. Whitney beat Kavanaugh in a bitterly-contested senatorial primary last year thanks to support outside Saratoga County.
Whitney may be a virtual lame duck, despite having more than a year left in his senatorial term, but his allies fare better in countywide primaries. County Judge Lawrence B. McKelvey beat his pro-Kavanaugh challenger by more than 1,100 votes, while district attorney Charles B. Andrus eked out a 36-vote victory over John B. Smith. Both incumbents lost Saratoga Springs but relied on Whitney’s power base in Mechanicville and Stillwater to go over the top.
“The primaries were exciting,” one reporter writes, “They marked the first time in the history of the direct primaries in this county that a full set of present officeholders has been opposed by other candidates.”
New fire alarm
A Saratogian reporter “this morning witnessed the uncanny sight of a fire sending in its own alarm as though it was endowed with human intelligence.
“Simply a lighted match held for an instant near a small device, which was no longer than your little finger, and immediately at a distance there occurred a loud ringing of an alarm bell which only stopped when the device was detached from the wires.”
Corliss Sheldon, a local attorney, claims that his invention can sound a fire alarm without human assistance in an empty room.
“The heat from a fire melts a small bit of specially made sensitive solder which fuses when the temperature of the room is just a few degrees higher than that of the human body,” the reporter explains. The fusion closes a circuit and activates the alarm.
While Sheldon envisions commercial use of the device in hotels and other structures, he plans to offer it to the U.S. military free of charge for use on all vessels of war. “Plans have not yet been perfected, but it is probable the article will be placed upon the market in the near future,” the report concludes.