The Westford Wardsman, June 7, 1919
Center. Recent real estate transactions to have passed the final papers are Eliza E. Carter to William R. Carver, land and buildings on Boston road; Anson L. Griffin to Lillie E. Meyer, land, Littleton road.
The Tadmuck [club] is represented this week at the annual meeting of the Federation of Woman’s clubs in Holyoke by Mrs. Herbert V. Hildreth and Mrs. Herbert E. Fletcher.
Mrs. Harold W. Hildreth is attending her class reunion at Mt. Holyoke college this week, being away from Friday until Monday.
Wayland F. Balch and William J. Rafter, of this village, have recently passed their eightieth birthday anniversaries. Mr. Balch has not been well, but was able to take part with the other veterans in the Memorial day exercises, while Mr. Rafter has been busy with his duties on the board of assessors.
Houghton G. Osgood has purchased a new Ford automobile of the sedan type.
The annual children’s Sunday at the Congregational church is being prepared for one week from Sunday.
The Edward M. Abbot hose company held their regular monthly meeting and drill on Wednesday evening.
Members of the state guard held their weekly drill on Tuesday evening, assembling at the town hall and marching to Whitney playground for out-door drill. Plans are being made for an outing and drill this Saturday afternoon at Lake Nabnassett. Owing to changes in the state guard the local company will now belong to Company H instead of Company L, although to what battalion has not been assigned. One of the company’s duties on Tuesday evening was the suspending over Main street [of] the victory fifth liberty loan flag opposite the town hall.
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Knight have recently entertained their grandson, Corp. Oscar Campbell, of Company C, 6th Regiment, who has returned from sixteen months’ overseas service. Entertained with Corp. Campbell at the hospitable home on Sunday was a group of fourteen at dinner.
Westford friends were very sorry to hear of the serious illness of Mrs. Daisy E. Colburn, seeming particularly unfortunate so soon after her husband’s tragic death. [Jonathan Henry Colburn died April 22, 1919, when accidentally hit by a truck on Main St., Westford Center.] Mrs. Colburn was removed to the hospital in Cambridge with a serious attack of appendicitis. An operation was performed and for a time her condition was critical, but word comes to her sister-in-law, Mrs. Norah Colburn, that she is doing well and resting much more comfortably.
The committee chosen to select a proper memorial for the soldiers and sailors of the town who have participated in the late war have held their first meeting and organized with Edward M. Abbot, chairman, and Mrs. Lucy A. Cameron, secretary. The committee requests any person in the town who has any plan to send the same to the secretary of the committee. Later, an open meeting will be held when the committee will be glad to receive suggestions.
An interested guest at the Memorial day exercises was W. D. Anderson, of Walkersville, W.Va., who was visiting at the home of his son, Rev. William Anderson. Mr. Anderson was a veteran of the civil war. He showed a watch which he had carried for the more than fifty years since the war which has always and still is keeping the best of time.
At the last meeting of the Ladies’ Aid society it was voted to omit the meetings in July and August, and next week Thursday the field day will be held at Mrs. G. M. Goode’s camp at Forge pond.
Subject for the morning service at the Congregational church on Sunday morning will be “Christian Conquest of the world,” and in the evening “Broadening our horizons.”
Help was called for a woodland fire in the vicinity of the town farm last Saturday.
Mrs. Mary E. Calvert has returned from a week’s trip out of town which included a visit to New York. Her housekeeper, Mrs. Comstock, spent the week at the home of her married daughter.
The extreme heat this week has been hard for man and beast, especially for those who had to be out in the sun. The streets have not had their coating of oil yet and the dust nuisance has added to the discomfort.
The graduation exercise of the academy will be held in the town hall on Wednesday morning, June 18, at ten o’clock. A reception to the graduating class will follow immediately after the graduating exercise, when luncheon will be served. Guests will be welcome at the reception provided tickets are ordered of Charles L. Hildreth on or before June 10. No tickets can be promised after this date. A business meeting of the alumni will be held after the reception and as many of the alumni as possible are urged to be present as matters of importance will come up.
Memorial Day. The perfect weather conditions and special significance of this Memorial day made the exercises of a high order and especially worthy of the day. The exercises began when the line of parade started at the Cavalry building on Boston road [20 Boston Rd.] at ten o’clock with Capt. Sherman H. Fletcher, marshal of the day, in command, the Nashua Military band, Company L, M. S. G., with Capt. Charles W. Robinson commanding, Westford veterans of the civil war, Wesley O. Hawkes, commander, veterans of the world war and Sons and Daughters of Veterans. The line of march proceeded to the soldiers’ monument, where the decorating exercises took place with ritual, after which the line of march proceeded to the home of Ai Bicknell [2 Main St.], where a reception was given to this veteran unable to march with the others. The procession then marched to the town hall [55 Main St.], where the exercises of the day were held.
Hon. Herbert E. Fletcher’s word of welcome was especially appropriate and sincere. Prayer was offered by Rev. O. L. Brownsey, Mrs. F. L. Roberts sang “Christ in Flanders,” with Miss Julia H. Fletcher accompanist. “American patrol” was rendered by the band after which Hon. Frank P. Bennett, Jr., gave the address of the day. Mr. Bennett proved himself the man of the hour, knowing how to present conditions and the new meaning of Memorial day, and gave a fine summing up of the three great phases of American history as embodied in the three great wars. Robert J. McCarty then sang “At rest,” a selection was given to the band, and Mrs. Roberts’ second solo was “Our flag,” and the closing number was “The Star Spangled Banner” by the audience and band.
Dinner was then served in the lower hall by the Daughters of Veterans, Mrs. A. W. Hartford, chairman, to the veterans, the band and the entertainers of the day. Company L, M. S. G., was served a dinner at the E. M. Abbot hose company fire house by the D. L. Page Co., with sixty-five men present, under the direction of A. W. Hartford.
At the annual meeting of the veterans Wesley O. Hawkes was elected as commander, and it was voted to leave the program and arrangements for next year in the hands of Sons and Daughters of Veterans.
The band concert on the common in the afternoon was much enjoyed and drew a large crowd of people. An additional feature to the good band music was the duets by Mrs. F. L. Roberts and Miss Etta G. Thompson.
Among a few of the out-of-town visitors noted were the Edwin H. Curriers, of Carlisle, Mr. and Mrs. Lyman E. Wilkins of Cambridge, Mrs. Nellie Hamlett [sic – Hamblett?] of Fitchburg and Dr. McCluskey and family of Worcester.
About Town. The Grange dance last week Friday evening was all that was expected and some more. Sixty-five couples enjoyed the dancing. Joseph Wall had charge, with Mrs. Eben Prescott as an assistant. Hibbard’s orchestra, of Lowell, were at their best as they always are, and the old-time dancing music brought out the old-time cheer.
George C. Moore planted forty bushels of Green Mountain potatoes last Saturday. Amos Polley, of the Prairie farm, did the planting with the Aspinwall planter.
The spring meeting of the Middlesex-Northwest conference of Unitarian and other Christian churches will be held with the First Parish church, Westford, on Wednesday, June 11, and in accordance with the vote of a previous conference the dinner will be a basket lunch. The ladies of the First parish church will furnish the coffee and fruit. This basket dinner will be served in the lower town hall.
West Chelmsford Grange has invited Westford and Dracut Granges to a neighbors’ night next Thursday evening. The invited Granges will furnish the entertainment. Supper will be served in the vestry of the Methodist church.
One of Mrs. McGregor’s cottages is being fitted up for a parsonage for Rev. and Mrs. Moore.
Past masters’ night was observed at the Grange on Thursday evening. A humorous entertainment and supper was on the program.
Forge Village. The many friends of Mrs. George H. Sanborn will be glad to know that she is rapidly recovering at the Lowell General hospital, where she underwent an operation for appendicitis nearly two weeks ago. Mrs. Sanborn’s husband, who enlisted in the navy, was on the Torpedo Boat Palmer that convoyed the seaplane, the NC-4, on its trip to Newfoundland.
The Misses Grace Litchfield and Mary B. Raynes entertained Mr. and Mrs. Harry Raynes, Miss Shannon and Dr. and Mrs. Harry Bryant, of Lowell, at their cottage at Forge pond over the weekend.
The members of Loyal Self-Help lodge, I.O.O.F., M.U., held a memorial service at St. Andrew’s mission last Sunday. Services were held at ten o’clock. The Odd Fellows marched from Abbot hall, wearing their regalia. After the services the graves of deceased members were decorated.
Mr. and Mrs. William C. Roudenbush, Mrs. O. V. Wells and three children and Mr. Rafter, of Westford, spent Sunday at Forge pond.
Miss Marie Ready has been confined at home by illness this week.
Mr. and Mrs. William Burnett spent Wednesday at Groton Ridges with their daughter, Mrs. Chester Blodgett.
Miss Mildred Parrott, of Lowell, was the guest of Miss Lillian Baker on Memorial day.
Sergt. John Blott, who recently returned from overseas, is visiting his parents here. Sergt. Blott enlisted at South Barre, where the family resided before moving here.
Corp. Herbert Smith has returned from France and is now visiting with his parents and many friends. His brother, Charles Smith, was killed in action last summer.
Graniteville. Both masses in St. Catherine’s church last Sunday morning were celebrated by Rev. Louis Bachaud, O.M.I., who conducted a very successful mission for the French-speaking people here last week, and which came to a close with a very impressive ceremony on Sunday afternoon. The first mass was largely attended and a large number of the children received holy communion for the first time. The regular choir was in attendance and under the direction of Miss Mary F. Hanley, gave a very pleasing musical program for the occasion.
The recent hot spell came as a great surprise to the people here and bathing parties at the nearby ponds were very much in evidence.
W. Carrol Furbush, formerly chief machinist’s mate on the U.S. Destroyer Tucker during the world war, and who has been inspector of machinery in Detroit for the past few months, has been visiting at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Furbush, this week.
Baseball. The Abbot Worsted Company team opened the season here on last Saturday afternoon with a 5 to 4 victory before a large crowd, when they had the strong Lamson Company team of Lowell for opponents. Falls and Liston were the battery for the A.W.C. and did good work. The Lamson team gathered seven scattering hits while fourteen solid drives were gathered from Andrews and Connors. Andrews was yanked in the third inning when five hits in a row, including a two-baggy by Hartford, netted four runs. Liston led with the stick, getting four hits, a perfect batting average. Falls was the next in line with three hits out of four times up, including a three-bagger. Hartford, Carbo and Prinn were also strong with the stick. Connors of the Lamson team, aside from taking up the pitching burden after the retirement of Andrews, led his side in batting with three hits. The Lamsons put up a great fielding game. The A.W.C. team also pulled off some clever plays. Reed and Curley did the umpiring.
The Abbot Worsted Company team will play the Bellevues of Lowell on the Forge Village grounds this Saturday.
The line-up for the two teams on last Saturday was as follows: A.W.C.—Prinn cf., Liston c., Hartford 2b., Falls p., Carbo ss., Belleville rf., Kelley 1b., Brick lf., Perkins 3b.; Lamson Co.—Souza lf., Manning ss., Cunlia rf., McVey 3b., Connors cf., p., McCarthy 1b., Allen 2b., Dillion c., Andrews p., Phinney cf. Two-base hits, Hartford, Connors; three-base hits, Prinn, Falls; sacrifice hits, Carbo, Brick; left on bases, Lamson 5, A.W.C. 2; bases on balls, by Falls 2; struck out, by Falls 3, by Andrews 2, by Connors 2; passed ball, Liston.
The A.W.C. scored four runs in the third inning and one in the seventh, made fourteen hits and three errors. The Lamsons scored one run in the first and third innings and two runs in the eighth, made seven hits and no errors.
Ayer
News Items. At the soldiers’ club next Tuesday evening at 7:45 dancers from Mrs. Wyman’s danceshop in Boston will furnish the entertainment. There will be exhibition dancing.
Nace Set Free. Major General Henry P. McCain on last week Thursday ordered the release of Paul L. Nace from arrest and the vindicated soldier was set free. Nace left the guardhouse of the 36th Infantry at three o’clock, restored in his former status as an honored member of the army. Steps were taken to obtain his back pay which amounts to $390 for thirteen months, and he will be paid on the next pay muster by the camp disbursing quartermaster.
Nace became a casual soldier in the casual company of the camp and will be transferred to the camp nearest his home for discharge or he may be granted an honorable discharge from this camp. If he desires a furlough in order to go home and show his family that he is fully vindicated and that his experience as the prisoner of German spies bears the official mark of truthfulness, it will be granted him.
Consistent in his retiring modesty, Nace had nothing to say regarding his acquittal other than that he was glad to see an end to his troubles.
District Court. Officers Beatty, Pirone, Wall, Blood, Mills, Schofield and Devereaux, assisted by Officer O’Connell of the department of justice and six military police raided three tobacco and fruit stores last week Friday night. The stores were those of J. Paul Hamel on Main street, John George on Merchants’ row and George Nassif on West Main street. The raids were all made at the same time. At the store of Nassif on West Main street two quarts of cider were found, while at the other two were found a number of Jamaica ginger bottles and empty cartons. No date has been set for the trial of the proprietors of these stores.
Camp Notes. The officers’ training camp opened Tuesday with the establishment of headquarters by Col. Guy G. Palmer in the headquarters previously used by the 101st, 73rd and 302nd infantry regiments. The school is a distinct unit within the camp and under the direct command of the war department. Col. Palmer announced that the attendance would be 600 or more. He was in command of the 341st Infantry regiment, 86th division, in France.
The thermometer registered 102° in the shade Tuesday, the hottest it has been this summer. In places exposed to the sun the glass read 112°. Despite the heat soldiers performed their regular duties and the recruits were drilling on the parade field.
The base hospital will close July 1, and all but its regular army personnel will be discharged. The soldiers in the medical detachments are the last drafted men to be released from military service. A camp infirmary will be maintained to accommodate cases originating within the camp. The overseas sick and wounded veterans are nearly all back from France, and will practically all be returned by July 1. The patients now in the hospital will be discharged from the medical department, although they may not be sufficiently convalesced for discharge from the army, on July 1.
The last of the drafted men and volunteers scheduled for shipment here include 20,000 troops on the vessels Winifredian, U.S.S. New Jersey, President Grant, Luckenbach and Mongolia, which arrive in Boston, and some other thousands coming from other embarkation ports.
The war department in a letter to Congressman Olney of Dedham Monday rejected the proposal made by Brig. Gen. John H. Sherburne to include the artillery range at Camp Devens in the permanent military training establishment. The army already has completely equipped ranges at Fort Sill, Oklahoma; Camp Bragg, North Carolina, and at Knox, Ky., and it will be the policy of the war department, it was stated, to provide artillery training at these camps rather than to invest money in expensive equipment to be installed at the several camps scattered over the country. Congressman Olney has not pressed the proposal, because he has been informed that there was a strong sentiment against the inclusion of the artillery range in the government purchase in the towns near Camp Devens. If the war department took the property over it might be necessary to close an important road, which would isolate from ready communication a considerable section of the country near the camp.
Elimination shoots began Monday on the rifle range to pick a team of five expert riflemen to participate in the national rifle meet at Camp Dodge in June. The team will represent the 36th infantry. Former members of overseas divisions will compete.
Attilo Glondani of Springfield, a civilian who was injured by the overturn of an automobile in which he was a passenger on May 20, between Harvard and Ayer, died at the base hospital. The other two men escaped with less serious injuries.
Wednesday saw the hottest weather on record at the camp with the thermometer at 108° in the shade in the afternoon. This is six degrees hotter than Tuesday, when the mercury reached 102° in the shade.
Brig. Gen. Merch B. Stewart reported at camp Wednesday. He arrived at New York last week Friday from France, where he commanded an infantry brigade in the 88th division. As commandant of the New England section of the Plattsburg camps and chief of staff of the 76th division for ten months, Brig. Gen. Stewart became one of the best-known regular army officers. He went to France last August. Maj. Gen. Wm. Weigel, who commanded the depot brigade and for a time the 76th division, commanded the 88th. Brig. Gen. Stewart’s brigade moved up to the Metz front November 7 and was prepared to launch a new offensive when hostilities ceased. It had previously been in the Belfort sector.
Soldiering deluxe awaits the lucky candidates picked to attend the officers’ training camp. The youths from the colleges and high schools will have sheets, real mattresses, pillows, table linen, silver, plates, cups and glasses. The requisitions went through Wednesday and the camp quartermaster nearly passed out when he saw the comforts demanded for the boys who are to give their time this summer to the study of military science. The other ideas for the training of the candidates contemplate recreation in every popular form. There will be swimming, riding and games. Hell pond will be opened to the students. The remount depot has offered the use of horses. The games will be those chosen by the students with baseball as a leader.
The deadly grind which marked the Plattsburg camps and the other officer’ training camps at this and other camps will be lacking. There will be drills of course, but not too strenuous. Neither will the candidates be loaded with text books. There will be vivid demonstrations of each subject taught to excite the interest and pleasure of each student. This school will train candidates from New England and New York state educational institutions having R.O.T.C. units. It is a perpetuation of the S.A.T.C.
Uncle Sam’s latest market quotation on labor was announced at headquarters, Monday, giving the rate of pay to be given every kind of civilian labor employed in camp. Major General McCain issued an order that these wages will be adhered to.
A board of officers, including Lieut. Col. E. F. Harding, Major George H. Schumacher, Capt. H. P. Dempsey, Capt. Charles A. Cassin and 1st Lieut. J. H. Cassidy, recorder, made a classification of eighty kinds of work. The civilian employees are given living quarters in camp under certain conditions, but received no other compensation than the scale published today. Most of the civilian employee are former service men and are now receiving more than they were paid while in the army for identical work.
The rate of pay per month as fixed in the army quotation is: Blacksmiths $100, bookkeepers $125, blacksmiths’ helpers $100, foreman carpenters, $180, sub-foreman carpenters $166.40, carpenters $145.60, clerks, technical or accounting $100 to $125, clerks, stock and checkers $83.33 to $100, clerks, principal $115 to $145, clerks $100, chemists, chief, operator, filter $150, cooks $100, corral foreman $105, draftsmen and estimators $150, foreman electricians $165, sub-foreman station $125, linemen $145, electricians’ helpers $83.33, electricians $135, stationary engineers $170, assistant engineers $125, farrier $100, assistant firemen $83.33, firemen, operators $110, foremen clothing repair shop $135, labor foreman $100, water department foremen $150, road foremen $150, shoe shop foremen $135, hatters $105, clothing inspectors $125 to $150, janitors $75, common laborers $75, labor overseer $90, laundry superintendent $150, machinist $150, automobile mechanics $110 to $135, typewriter mechanics $160, messengers $75, office superintendents $150, filter plant operators $125, pumping station operators $125, foremen plumbers $175, journeymen plumbers $150, plumbers’ helpers $83.33, pipe coverers $135, printers $130, pressmen $100, painters $160, saddlers $100, steamfitters $150, steamfitters’ helpers $105, shoemakers $110, stablemen $75, stenographers $100 to $125, storekeepers $83.33 to $125, subsistence inspector $150, chief storekeeper $140, typists $100, tailors $115 to $125, teamsters $90, waiters $65, wagon master $115, wagoner $100, watchman $90, foremen watchmen $100, warehouse helpers $75, file clerk $115.
There are men employed in every one of these occupations in camp and the pay check issued for May will be based on the above rates. To what extent local conditions affect the pay is not estimated. According to the army belief the men in each line are sufficiently paid.