100 years ago in The Saratogian
Thursday, Nov. 14, 1918. Imagine learning that the world war was over, and probably taking part in the mass celebration of peace, only to learn days later that your loved one in uniform had not survived the war.
Many Americans are undergoing that experience this week as the federal war department struggles to update its casualty lists from the final weeks of fighting. The war ended with the signing by Germany of an armistice agreement on November 11.
In Saratoga Springs today, three letters from local soldiers in Europe indicate that Sergeant John Carl “Dub” Weed of Company L, 105th U.S. Infantry, was killed in action in France on September 29. The war department has not yet officially confirmed Weed’s death, but a comrade, Corporal Alois Munn, tells his parents, that “he was instantly killed by a shell exploding right beside him.”
Weed was a 23 year old Clark Textile employee who served with Company L during its border-patrol duty in Texas in 1916. He married the former Mary Franklin of Cottage Place in August 1917 before leaving with the regiment for trench warfare training at Camp Wadsworth, South Carolina. A cashier at the Cottrell & Leonard store in Albany, Mrs. Weed “is showing herself to be a brave soldier and has been able to continue at her duties while endeavoring to get some official word from the government,” The Saratogian reports.
Company L apparently took heavy casualties during intense fighting between September 29 and October 4. Friends and family of Corporal Ralph E. Tabor of Mechanicville learn today that he also fell on September 29. Sergeant Everett W. Lee of Saratoga Springs was wounded at the same time but in “an unusual act of bravery” remained on the battlefield in a desperate attempt to save Tabor’s life.
Another Mechanicville soldier, Clarence Bull, has been reported killed in a letter received by his parents, but the government has yet to confirm the story.
Convicted in Court for Defending His Country
Former Day town supervisor Cyrus W. Brownell receives a suspended sentence in county court today after a jury reluctantly convicted him of third-degree assault yesterday.
On September 16 Brownell had a confrontation in his West Day store with Ethel Beattie, a schoolteacher who had been forced to resign for allegedly slandering President Woodrow Wilson in her classroom. During the confrontation, as Beattie denied making the controversial remarks, Ira Putnam came to her defense with “very abusive language.”
Brownell reportedly ordered Putnam to leave his store and removed a child from Putnam’s lap. Putnam then took a swing at him, only to get knocked down and tossed out the door.
— Kevin Gilbert