Strange Times 113: Bigamy At 70
Strange Times is a newsletter that explores the weirdest news of 1921, one day at a time. If you like it, you will probably like Westside Saints, my latest Jazz Age mystery novel, as well.
Today we have a 70-year-old bigamist and a 5-year-old stone thrower. Sic your rabbit on the clover on…
April 23, 1921
A broken valve unleashes a cloud of phosgene gas, a deadly chemical weapon, across Bound Brook, New Jersey, threatening 5,000 but, after heroic efforts were taken to repair the leak, killing only one.
President Harding announces his intention to take up tennis.
At Harlem’s Kress Department store, a female store detective subdues and arrests a customer accused of stealing twenty pairs of silk stockings.
An American court declares the popular British sex advice manual Married Love to be obscene.
The Weather: Showers today; Sunday, fair; south winds, shifting to west gales, and diminishing Sunday.
Oh, Roscoe.
Roscoe Reich, 70 years of age, of 167 Ninety-sixth Street, Woodhaven, Queens, formerly of Easton, Pa., where he held the position of County Auditor, pleaded guilty to bigamy yesterday before Judge George W. Martin in the Kings County Court. Reich admitted that he had a wife when on Aug. 7, 1919, he married Augusta Helmund. Reich leaned heavily on a cane. Judge Martin in suspending sentence on the aged prisoner said:
“You are surely old enough to realize that any man has all he can do to take care of one wife. Whille you might be admired for your courage, you certainly cannot be commended for your common sense. My advice to you is to forget about women.”
Although the story implies Rev. Gates is making a big deal out of nothing, “Buddy” (love how much nicknames baffle the Times) is plainly a jerk, and deserves to be put in his place. That said, the true heroes of this piece are his parents, whose stance was that no matter how awful their kid is, they weren’t messing with his nap.
SOUTH NYACK, N.Y., April 22.—After failing to arrange a truce with neighboring mischievous small boys or to get the local authorities to listen to her verbal complaints, the Rev. Clara Wolverton Gates, pastor of the Church of Christ in the Clouds, caused the ringing of the police alarm gong here tonight, threw the village of South Nyack into excitement, forced an adjournment of the village Board of Trustees and brought about the arraignment by proxy of “Buddy” Dore, five years old, whom she charged with throwing stones at her, swearing at her and stealing valuable clover from her to feed his pet rabbit.
Mrs. Gates lives on an estate on South Mountain, on the outskirts of South Nyack, where her church is also located. As related afterwards by Police Judge F.S. Ebick, she has complained of “Buddy” for the last three months. According to Judge Ebick, many a dinner has been spoiled for him by notice of an “urgent” telephone call, which would turn out to be another complaint about the boy from Mrs. Gates.
Until tonight nothing happened after any of these complaints. This annoyed Mrs. Gates particularly, because the stones “Buddy” is alleged to have thrown were not ordinary stones, but were collected by her in China, Japan, Mexico, Guatemala and other foreign countries and are in part ore bearing, in part fossiliferous, and in part decorated with inscriptions. Mrs. Gates had placed these stones to form a border for the driveway leading to her home, and their disarrangement by small boys in search of ammunition caused her additional annoyance.
When a piece of fossiliferous rock whizzed by Mrs. Gates’s head about sunset she decided it was time for action. She got it by calling Police Headquarters at South Nyack. The Police Headquarters are in the Town Hall, which houses all the other town and village offices, the jail and the Council chamber of the Board of Trustees, and has living quarters for Harry Lindol, the village policeman, and Mrs. Lindol on the second floor.
Policeman Lindol was out on his beat, but Mrs. Gates prevailed upon Mrs. Lindol to ring the alarm gong, supposed to be sounded only in case of a great emergency. The gong brought Policeman Lindol, also the village Trustees, also Police Judge Ebick and the better part of the population of South Nyack.
Policeman Lindol headed a procession to Mrs. Gates’s home. He heard her complaint and decided to arrest “Buddy.” He went to the Dore home, where Mrs. Dore said “Buddy” was in bed and refused to wake him up.
Mr. and Mrs. Dore volunteered to go to court, and brought along two older boys of the neighborhood to testify for “Buddy.” The Board of Trustees obligingly took a recess to permit Judge Ebick to hold court, and Mrs. Gates presented her formal complaint. She said she would not mind having stones thrown at her if she did not wear glasses, but could not help thinking what a terrible thing it would be if a stone should strike her glasses and destroy her sight. The clover, she said, was a special clover, the seed for which she brought from the West, and she showed callouses on her hands as evidence that she could not plant it fast enough to replace that which “Buddy’s” rabbit ate.
Mrs. Dore said she never knew her young son to throw stones, but admitted that she had heard him swear, which led Judge Ebick to say that he distinctly remembered having used “cuss word” on several occasions in his youth.
Judge Ebick finally decided to have “Buddy” brought before him tomorrow, and said he would admonish him to let Mrs. Gates alone.