Friday, Dec. 3, 1915
The managers of 19 Troy movie theaters are warned today by Police Court magistrate James F. Byron not to admit children without adult supervision, The Record reports.
“I intend, where there is a conviction, to punish as severely as possible,” Byron tells the proprietors, “Before, I have given fines of $25 but from now on proprietors guilty of violations are going to jail.”
Byron and Humane Society superintendent Nathaniel J. Walker called the meeting following a complaint from a South Troy clergyman. The magistrate has been receiving complaints for the last six months.
New York State law imposes an effective “R” rating on all movies, regardless of content. Children under the age of sixteen may not be admitted unless they’re accompanied by parents or guardians. Children have tried to get around this restriction by following random adults into theaters, and proprietors have condoned the practice until now.
Byron wants to start fresh with a clean slate. “I want to start you all out on an even footing,” he tells the theater people, “Any violations of the past are wiped out; from today we start out new, and strict attention will be given to this subject.”
During a question-and-answer period, the manager of a Lansingburgh theater asks what he should do if an adult buys tickets and distributes them to children. If the adult isn’t a parent or guardian, the magistrate answers, the children shouldn’t be admitted.
Is it acceptable for parents to write permission slips if they can’t go to the theater with their kids? Byron answers cryptically, “In future send me the note, and you will confer a favor.”
JAIL BREAK INVESTIGATION: Anthony Von Stetina remains at large after escaping the Rensselaer County Jail on November 17. A special committee of the County Board of Supervisors opens an investigation of the escape tonight.
Sheriff William P. Powers provoked the investigation by blaming the supervisors for the escape. Their Building & Supply committee had ignored Powers’s recommendation that the windows of Jailer Anthony Hoogkamp’s private quarters be barred. Van Stetina slipped into Hoogkamp’s room during the prisoners’ lunch hour and went out through the window.
Appearing before the committee, Powers shoots down a rumor that Van Stetina had actually escaped on the previous night, citing an eyewitness who saw the escape from a passing trolley.
Hoogkamp was suspended temporarily by Powers and fined two weeks’ pay, $45.83. Some supervisors think that unfair because the jailer was at the Court House during the lunch hour, but Powers explains that Hoogkamp returned before Van Stetina actually escaped and should have locked his door in any event.