100 years ago in The Saratogian
Thursday, May 3, 1917
An organizing meeting is held tonight at the state armory for a Saratoga Springs unit of the state Home Defense Corps, The Saratogian reports.
The U.S. declared war on Germany last month. Saratoga County’s Company L of the Second New York Infantry regiment is in Schenectady County guarding strategic bridges, canals and railroads. A depot company commanded by Captain Ranulf Compton remains in Saratoga Springs and will be supplemented by the new “reserve militia” company.
The Home Defense Corps is open to men between the ages of 16 and 64 “who are citizens of good moral character and physically fit.” It “offers an opportunity for patriotic services to persons otherwise prohibited from enlistment.”
Organizers expect to raise a company of 100 men in the Spa City. “A considerable number of men” are enrolled tonight, with more expected at the next meeting on May 10.
Meanwhile, four local soldiers from Company L are back in Saratoga Springs after receiving their discharges. Pvt. Roy Barber, Pfcs Clement Clark and James P. Coleman, and Cpl. William B. Ingmire have been exempted from duty because wives or other family members depend on them for financial support.
Suicide attempt in Mechanicville
Mrs. Michael Levine returns from a trip to her husband’s department store just in time to save his life today.
Levine is “a prominent merchant” with a shop on North Main Street. He’s been laid up with neuritis for the last few weeks, and investigators believe that “his lingering illness preyed on his mind and made him temporarily deranged.”
When Mrs. Levine leaves the family’s Francis Street home to check on the store, Michael gets out of bed a turns on a gas jet, apparently hoping to die by asphyxiation.
His wife smells the gas from outside when she returns and breaks a bedroom window to clear the air. She finds Michael unconscious and calls Dr. Purcell for help. Purcell tells The Saratogian that Michael should recover.
Junior bandits
The gang of four boys who robbed three Saratoga Springs stores last weekend are placed on one year’s probation after their parents promise to make restitution for the stolen goods.
The families of Theodore Mabb, Joseph Notman, Pearle Stewart and Frank Washburn will pay $4.75 apiece to W. C. Barton, from whom the boys stole boxes of soap which they attempted to sell in a fundraising scam. The Ouderkirk & Paine store will receive a total of $7 for the paint and brushes two gang members stole.
City judge William P. Delaney shares “some good advice” with the parents, but The Saratogian elects not to share it with readers.